We support Bishop Kevin Rhoades in his condemnation of Notre Dame’s award of the Laetare Medal to Vice President Biden, and in solidarity with Notre Dame Right to Life, the Identity Project of Notre Dame, the Irish Rover student newspaper, Militia of the Immaculata, Jus Vitae, the St. Thomas More Society, and the Catholic Graduate Community, we will offer our prayers at 2:00 PM EDT, Sunday, April 17 wherever we happen to be “for a greater respect for human life, and especially for Notre Dame’s commitment to its Catholic identity and to protecting the sanctity of life at all stages.”

Vice President Biden is the country’s most prominent Catholic pro-choice politician, advocate of public funding of embryonic stem cell research, and supporter of the government's abortifacient/contraception mandate that scores of religious organizations, including Notre Dame, are challenging in court as a violation of conscience. In addition, he led the way in the administration in support of same-sex marriage. Nevertheless, Notre Dame is giving him what it describes as “the highest honor an American Catholic can receive” for “illustrat[ing] the ideals of the Church.” It is, as Bishop Rhoades declares, a scandal.