Source: The Chicago Tribune
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2009-05-14-0905140288-story.html
Andrew Chronister will graduate from the University of Notre Dame this Sunday, but the theology major from suburban La Grange will not be at his own commencement ceremony, choosing instead to attend a prayer service for the unborn.
"This president stands for many pro-abortion or pro-choice policies that are in direct conflict of my Catholic faith," Chronister said. "Notre Dame has prepared me to live out my life as a Catholic, and this is one of those ways that I am doing that."
As President Barack Obama prepares to speak at the school's spring commencement -- and receive an honorary doctorate from what many consider the cathedral of Catholic education -- the debate remains robust on campus and well beyond whether such a prominent supporter of abortion rights and embryonic stem cell research should be welcomed.
Chronister, 22, who plans to attend the prayer service with his parents, said he suspects that 20 to 50 of his fellow seniors also will boycott an appearance that has triggered protests from students and others, brought condemnations from bishops and closed the checkbooks of some graduates.
As students have busily studied for final exams, the debate has played out in curious ways under the iconic Golden Dome -- and above. A small plane has been flown across South Bend in recent days, pulling behind it a banner displaying the remains of an aborted fetus.
While the opponents have generated plenty of news coverage, many students and Roman Catholics are supportive of the university's decision, a point White House press secretary Robert Gibbs sought to make earlier this week. "The vast majority of students and the majority of Catholics are supportive of the invitation the president accepted, and I know he's greatly looking forward to it," Gibbs said.