Who Speaks for Catholics? Not Obama, Not Terry

The graduation ceremony at the University of Notre Dame was, ultimately, about the graduates. The majority of the students, parents, friends and relatives cheered long and loud when President Barack Obama praised their selfless efforts for others and their maturity in handling the circus that their special day almost became.

They listened as Obama offered advice for what comes next, as graduation speakers have always done. "Have confidence in the values with which you've been raised and educated," Obama said. "Be unafraid to speak your mind when those values are at stake. Hold firm to your faith and allow it to guide you on your journey. "

Obama acknowledged the controversy, hoping for common ground on abortion, but he thankfully didn't envision an eventual resolution. "While we know that the views of most Americans on the subject are complex and even contradictory, the fact is that at some level, the views of the two camps are irreconcilable. Each side will continue to make its case to the public with passion and conviction. But surely we can do so without reducing those with differing views to caricature."

On a university campus, even a Catholic one, that's about as much as can be expected. Obama spoke to the graduates as the grown-ups they now are.

I'm not sure how much the graduates learned from Randall Terry, who will take his sideshow and his bloodied photos to the next controversy. Can anyone who watched the headliners who flocked around the cameras say with a straight face that politics had nothing to do with it?

As a graduate of a Catholic university (and high school and elementary school), I proudly wear my bona fides. With a name like Mary Cecelia, could I deny them? And yes, I believe that life begins at conception. I'm not the first to say that so many who are protective of life lose interest when a child is born and needs care and concern.

I've always appreciated the consistency of the Catholic Church's position that honors life from conception to natural death, backing up that belief by supporting social and economic justice and opposing the death penalty. Is anyone actually pro-abortion? I doubt it. Working to reduce the number of abortions is something that everyone can agree on.

We must "find a way to live together as one human family," Obama said.

That's one lesson I learned in my Catholic university, where even our Jesuit instructors argued and debated. I graduated with an ability to think and with principles intact.

The president does not define my life as a Catholic, and neither does Randall Terry. The difference is that the president doesn't try to.