The Pro-Life Action League and Citizens for a Pro-Life Society rallied hundreds of faithful pro-lifers from the Chicago and Michigan areas to join in a massive protest of President Barack Obama’s commencement address at the University of Notre Dame on May 17. Four full bus-loads—well over 200 volunteers—from Chicago were joined by hundreds of others who drove on their own, as well as three busses of volunteers from Citizens for a Pro-Life Society in Michigan.

Together, these hundreds of pro-lifers sent a clear message to both the University of Notre Dame and President Obama that abortion is an abominable betrayal of both the Catholic principle of the sanctity of life and the American principle of an inalienable right to life.

A pro-life “road trip” from Chicagoland

The protest day began in the early morning hours of Sunday, May 17, in three locations throughout Chicagoland—the League office on the northwest side of Chicago, St. Thomas More Church on the south side, and Aurora Central Catholic High School in the western suburbs—where hired busses picked up staff and volunteers for the ride to South Bend, Indiana.

During the bus trip, League bus captains briefed the volunteers on the plans for the day, how to deal with passersby, police and the press, and other key details. The highlight of the bus trip was passing by one of the League’s two billboards on the Indiana Toll Road, right at mile 57, which read, “Notre Dame: Obama is pro abortion choice. How dare you honor him.”

Meanwhile, protest coordinator Eric Scheidler traveled to South Bend ahead of the busses with a cargo van packed full of “Face the Truth” and picket signs, along with his sons Nate and Sam and friend Jason Klaske. Eric arrived shortly after 9:00 a.m. and staked out the protest area, looking for anything that might require a last-minute change to his “battle plan” worked out during the preceding weeks.

Powerful League presence at Notre Dame

By 10:00 a.m., volunteers began arriving at St. Joseph High School at the corner of Angela Boulevard and Michigan Street, the protest headquarters, graciously offered for League use by Principal Susan Richter. Wave upon wave of eager pro-lifers were quickly put to work by protest coordinator Eric Scheidler, assisted by Matt Yonke, John Jansen, Nate Scheidler, Sam Scheidler, Jeff Eschbach, Steve Klaske, Annie Casselman, Corrina Gura and Ann Scheidler. The League team—wearing bright, safety-green t-shirts and red “Choose Life” caps—quickly deployed hundreds of pro-life signs.

By the official protest start time of 10:30, a powerful display of more than 130 large, graphic abortion signs was in place, spanning over nearly a mile north of the intersection and three-quarters of a mile east, right up to the main entrance of the university. Hundreds of smaller signs reading “Stop Abortion Now,” “Shame on Notre Dame” and “Obama = Abortion” were interspersed throughout the protest, especially at the intersection of Angela and Michigan and at the university entrance.

The League protest dominated the main route into campus from the Indiana Tollroad, reaching thousands of passersby, including those streaming in for the commencement ceremonies. The League was far and away the largest of the pro-life groups to descend on South Bend. Pro-life blogger Jill Stanek posted a video of the full length of the Tour. It took her over seven minutes to drive from one end of the tour to the other!

Those arrayed along Angela Boulevard faced some resistance from local homeowners, some of whom counter-protested in favor of Obama from the comfort of lawn chairs in their yards. Several turned sprinklers on, and one even went so far as to stack a pile of filthy garbage bags up on the edge of her lawn. The pro-lifers prayerfully ignored all these distractions.

League group joins Vigil at Grotto

By 12:45 p.m., anyone coming for the commencement was already on campus, and League staffers began to escort volunteers from the extreme ends of the protest back to headquarters for lunch. Hundreds of sandwiches were distributed to the group while the League staff stowed the large signs and prepared for the quick trip on campus to join the prayer vigil on campus at 2:00 p.m.

The vigil was held at the beautiful Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes, and was led by Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life. League National Director Joe Scheidler, a 1950 graduate of Notre Dame and former teacher in the journalism school, was already there to greet the League arrivals, after a visit to the Rally for Life taking place on the South Quad during the League’s protest off campus.

As the group of 600 pro-lifers prayed the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary at the Grotto, together with hundreds more joining in by video from the South Quad, the League’s Eric Scheidler scoped out the activity elsewhere on campus by bicycle. He saw and heard snippets of the speeches by university president Fr. John Jenkins and Barack Obama, which were being broadcast throughout campus, visited the protest continuing at the university entrance, and rode by the Joyce Center as Obama was speaking, where he offered a prayer for the presidents conversion.

The vigil concluded at 3:30 p.m. and the League protest team led the group back to the waiting busses for the return trip to Chicago. The mood on the journey home was extremely upbeat. All felt grateful to have been a part of such a significant and effective pro-life witness—a true turning point for the pro-life movement. On the Aurora bus, passengers sang the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” and other hymns, accompanied by a concertina.

Obama values tone over truth

It wasn’t until returning home that the League protesters could find out what President Obama had said during his commencement address. “Obama made a show of addressing the controversy surrounding his invitation to Notre Dame, but really said nothing of substance,” remarked Eric Scheidler. “Instead, he offered praise of those with ‘open hearts’ and ‘open minds’ who use ‘fair-minded words’—clearly suggesting that those opposing his speech are hard-hearted, close-minded and shrill.

Scheidler said he agrees that civility is important—the League’s new handbook, Sharing the Pro-Life Message emphasizes that—but “Civility is not an end in itself. Ultimately it is more important what you say than how you say it.” But Scheidler is not surprised by Obama’s fixation on externals. “The President can offer no defense of his radical support for abortion—even voting to deny medical care to infants who survive an attempted abortion. No wonder he would rather be judged for the tone of his voice than his actions against the sanctity of life.”

Scheidler pointed out that Obama’s speech was laced with irony. “He cited the golden rule, but failed to see how it would teach each of us, nurtured in our own mothers’ wombs, to respect the life of every unborn child. He lamented that ’strong too often dominate the weak’ without realizing that the unborn child is the weakest of us all, so ‘dominated’ by the abortionist that her life is taken from her brutally.”

N.D. “opposition” to Obama policies rings false

The League’s Ann Scheidler was more troubled by university president Fr. Jenkins’ introduction to President Obama. “Fr. Jenkins said that ‘President Obama is not someone who stops talking to those who differ with him’ and then said ‘Mr. President: This is a principle we share’—and yet he steadfastly refused to meet with pro-life leaders like Joe Scheidler who respectfully requested meetings with him after the Obama invitation was announced. He wouldn’t even meet with the pro-life student group.”

Fr. Jenkins also praised Obama for being willing to accept his invitation, despite knowing that “we oppose his policies on abortion and embryonic stem cell research.”

However, Eric Scheidler pointed out that, despite this purported opposition, the audience erupted in applause when Obama referred to parents who think embryonic stem cells might help their ailing children. “Clearly the problem at Notre Dame goes far deeper than this semester’s controversy over Barack Obama,” Scheidler remarked.

Mission accomplished: Obama linked to abortion

Despite the efforts of Fr. Jenkins and President Obama to demonize their pro-life opponents as uncivil and closed-minded—even while calling open-mindedness and a respect for others’ views—Scheidler considers the League’s protest to have been an overwhelming success.

“Throughout last year’s presidential campaign,” Eric Scheidler noted, “Barack Obama’s radical pro-abortion agenda was covered up. Thanks to the Notre Dame controversy, Americans are learning that their Barack Obama is the abortion president. Mission accomplished.”

Ann Scheidler also pointed out that the Notre Dame controversy has galvanized the pro-life movement like no other issue in years. “If Fr. Jenkins and Barack Obama had set out to wake up the sleeping giant of pro-life Americans, they couldn’t have done a better job.” She believes that a turning point for the pro-life movement was reached in South Bend, Indiana on Graduation Day 2009.

League protest in the news

The Pro-Life Action League was featured in many news stories surrounding the protest of Barack Obama at Notre Dame, including interviews of Joe, Eric and Ann Scheidler. League signage was to be seen in nearly all the footage broadcast about the protest:

• Assosciated Press video featuring Eric Scheidler
• WGN News video featuring Ann Scheidler
• ABC News video featuring Joe Scheidler
• Interview with Joe Scheidler from CBS News
• Washington Post article featuring Eric Scheidler
• Associated Press article featuring Eric Scheidler
• South Bend Tribune Article featuring Joe Scheidler
• Fox News article featuring Corrina Gura
• Slideshow of pictures from the days events
• Watch Obama’s commencement address on YouTube (Part 1)
• Watch Obama’s commencement address on YouTube (Part 2)

As of this writing, the South Side bus is full, and only a couple of seats are left on the Western Suburbs bus. Pro-lifers from the Chicago area have responded with zeal to the call to take action against the scandalous commencement address by Barack Obama at the University 0f Notre Dame.

You can register for one of the remaining seats on the bus here.

Father John Corapi, of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity, has joined the voices speaking out against President Obama’s appearance at Notre Dame.

Listen to this powerful teacher of the Faith as he clearly and concisely outlines the problem with Notre Dame’s scandalous choice and the way forward to repentance and healing.

The billboards were funded by the Pro-Life Action League with help from Citizens for a Pro-Life Society.

The billboards read, “NOTRE DAME: Obama is pro abortion choice. How dare you honor him,” along with a picture of a baby in utero sucking its thumb. They also list the address of this website, NotreDameProtest.com, so motorists can get information on the protests planned during the graduation weekend at Notre Dame.

“These billboards will be seen by hundreds of thousands of motorists, including most of the families coming to Notre Dame for the graduation exercises,” said Eric Scheidler, the League’s communications director. “They will help make the direct and irrefutable connection between Barack Obama and abortion.”

Billboards reach traffic in both directions

One of the League’s billboards will be located on Interstate 80/90 east, half a mile east of the Elkhart exit No. 92, about 15 miles east of the Notre Dame exit, and the other on Interstate 80/90 west near Rolling Prairie, about 25 miles west of the Notre Dame exit. The League has rented the two billboards for 30 days each, so they will be in place for two weeks leading up to the Notre Dame commencement, as well as two weeks afterward.

The video was released this weekend in advance of the official announcement of ND Response’s plans on campus for graduation weekend. Meanwhile, our plans here at N.D. Protest are already in place for a massive demonstration off campus, after which we will join the ND response group on campus.

Sign up for the protest buses from the Chicago or Detroit areas

If you plan on joining us in South Bend on May 17 and are coming from either the Chicago or Detroit area, sign up now for a seat on one of the chartered buses from those locations.

His Eminence Justin Cardinal Regali, Archbishop of Philadelphia (pictured to the left), is one of the most recent of the fifty-two Catholic Bishops, Archbishops and Cardinals have publicly expressed the disappointment and outrage over Fr. Jenkins’ invitation of President Obama to give the commencement address at the University of Notre Dame.

Bishops ranging from Bishop D’arcy of Fort Wayne, Fr. Jenkins local bishop, all the way up to Francis Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago and President of the USCCB have written Fr. Jenkins letters, made public statements and appeared in television interviews explaining why they disapprove of Fr. Jenkins’ choice and why it adversely effects the Bishops’ effort to spread the gospel of life.

Here at NotreDameProtest.com, we’ve gathered excerpts from the comments of each of these courageous leaders of the Church. They can be found on our Catholic Teaching page, along with selections from important documents that clearly explain the Church’s teaching on life issues.

Take a look at what the hierarchy of the Catholic Church has to say about this event and make sure to follow the links for more information about the Bishop’s statements and links to the full text of the Church documents.

Though we disagree, we can at least sympathize with their desire to protect children from the harsh reality of abortion. More difficult to sympathize with—or even comprehend—is the conclusion by the editors of the Notre Dame Observer that college students need to be sheltered from the truth about abortion, too.

Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, one of the sponsors of this website and the protest of President Obama’s appearance at Notre Dame, made the bold move of purchasing a full page ad [PDF] in The Observer, the Notre Dame campus paper, including photos of an aborted baby.

The Observer reviewed an advance copy of the ad on April 17 and informed Dr. Miller that it was set to run in the April 22 edition. Five days later—only hours before the ad was set to be printed—Dr. Miller received an e-mail from The Observer informing her that the ad was “too graphic” and refusing to run it.

Dr. Miller argued that the photos were in fact quite tasteful and offered to crop the photos to make them more palatable. She was eventually told by Observer staff: “We will print no pictures of any aborted babies of any kind.”

Dr. Miller had no choice but to redesign the ad without the graphic abortion pictures. The redesigned ad [PDF] ran today, Tuesday, April 28.

Additional Resources

• The original ad rejected by The Observer [PDF]
• The sanitized ad published by The Observer [PDF]

The Laetare Medal is the highest honor the University gives. It is awarded to the Catholic layperson “whose genius has ennobled the arts and sciences, illustrated the ideals of the church and enriched the heritage of humanity” each year.

Professor Glendon’s letter to Father Jenkins declining the award also seemed to imply that she did not appreciate being used to balance out Notre Dame’s outrageous choice of President Obama to give the commencement address:

A commencement, however, is supposed to be a joyous day for the graduates and their families. It is not the right place, nor is a brief acceptance speech the right vehicle, for engagement with the very serious problems raised by Notre Dame’s decision—in disregard of the settled position of the U.S. bishops—to honor a prominent and uncompromising opponent of the Church’s position on issues involving fundamental principles of justice.

Read the full letter at the First Things blog.

Both the League’s Joe Scheidler, a Notre Dame graduate and former teacher, and Citizen’s Monica Miller, a professor of Sacred Theology at St. Mary’s College of Madonna University, have been unable to convince University President Fr. John Jenkins, CSC, to cancel his invitation to Barack Obama to speak at the commencement. Both Scheidler and Miller, veteran pro-life activists, agree that there is no choice but to protest on graduation day.

More information will soon be posted here about protest groups coming from the Chicago and Detroit areas, and other details of the May16-17 protest activities.

Meanwhile, check out the pages here on Barack Obama’s abortion record and Catholic teaching on abortion and politics, including excerpts from the more than thirty statements from our nation’s bishops in opposition to the President Obama’s appearance at Notre Dame.