Obama Picks Xavier University for Katrina Speech; Catholic Critics Are Mum

President Obama will make his centerpiece address on Sunday's fifth anniversary of the Hurricane Katrina disaster at Xavier University, a Catholic school in New Orleans. But unlike his highly controversial appearance at Notre Dame last year, this event appears to be generating far less outrage from bishops and the Catholic right.

All the elements for a dust-up are certainly there:

The Catholic hierarchy strongly opposes Obama's positions on abortion rights and stem cell research, for example, issues they say override the many agreements they have with him on domestic and foreign policy. Moreover, Obama is far less popular today than he was in May 2009 when he was the commencement speaker at Notre Dame, and he has taken steps that have infuriated Catholic leaders, most notably passing health care reform.


In addition, Xavier officials did not even bother to invite New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond.

"He was not in any way consulted, invited -- nor will he attend the event with President Obama at Xavier," Sarah McDonald, spokesperson for Aymond, told Fox News. McDonald directed inquiries about the matter to the White House, which isn't talking.

Guests will include other prominent Louisiana Catholics, including Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal, freshman GOP Congressman Anh "Joseph" Cao," and Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu and her brother, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu.

So what's going on?

Several factors seem to be at work in making this something other than the Obama-Catholic flashpoint many would expect.

One is that the speech is connected to the Katrina recovery more than Obama himself, and Obama's response to the disaster -- and the the Gulf Spill -- has been praised by Jindal and many others. Katrina was such a trauma to the Crescent City that even Obama's detractors are unlikely to use the occasion of his visit to criticize him and thus detract from the celebration of the city's recovery, exemplified by the remarkable strides made by Xavier University itself since 2005.

"The archbishop did note . . . that this is not a political speech, but one that is a gesture of compassion for and solidarity with the people of New Orleans, and Xavier University of New Orleans is often used by the mayor and public officials for such events," McDonald told CNSNews.org, also a conservative media outlet.

Moreover, Xavier is the nation's only historically black Roman Catholic institution of higher learning, and Obama was awarded an honorary degree and delivered the commencement address in 2006, after the bishops had adopted a 2004 policy against Catholic institutions honoring any pro-choice pols. Catholic officials seem to recognize that blasting Xavier for hosting the first African-American president now would strike a discordant note, to say the least.

Even the head of the Cardinal Newman Society, a watchdog group that often leads protests against Catholic colleges for their choice of speakers or for not promoting orthodoxy and conservative values, conceded that the context of the Katrina remembrance had tempered efforts to make the Xavier appearance controversial.

"Notre Dame was much greater of honor, happened immediately after a hotly contested election and it was Notre Dame -- much more attention to it," said Patrick Reilly, head of the society.