Enjoyed President Obama’s Notre Dame speech

To the editor:
    The University of Notre Dame makes me very happy and proud to be a Catholic. Father John Jenkins, Notre Dame’s president, graciously welcomed President Obama with enthusiasm. He said we’ve been hearing so much media hype about Notre Dame giving President Obama an honorary degree, it’s time we hear about President Obama accepting the degree. He said President Obama was not the kind of president who stops talking to people who disagree with him and neither was he.
    In his speech, President Obama referred to 92-year-old Father Hesburgh, the famous former president of the university who was sitting in the first row. He said, “… Open hearts. Open minds. Fair-minded words. It’s a way of life that has always been the Notre Dame tradition. Father Hesburgh has spoken of the institution as both a lighthouse and a crossroads. The lighthouse that stands apart with the wisdom of Catholic tradition, while the crossroads is where ‘… differences of culture and religion and conviction can co-exist with friendship, civility, hospitality, and especially love.’ And I want to join him and Father Jenkins in saying how inspired I am by the maturity and responsibility with which this class has approached the debate surrounding today’s ceremony.”
    President Obama added, “… Maybe we can’t agree on abortion, but we can still agree that it is a heart-wrenching decision for any woman to make, both with moral and spiritual dimensions. So let’s work together to reduce the number of abortions by reducing the number of unintended pregnancies, and making adoption more available, and providing care and support for women who carry their child to term.
    “… Understand — I do not suggest that the debate on abortion can or should go away. 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 the subject of stem cell research, President Obama said, “… Those who speak out against stem cell research may be rooted in admirable conviction about the sanctity of life, but so are the parents of a child with juvenile diabetes who are convinced that their son’s or daughter’s hardships can be relieved.”
    I have always wondered how many people know that the only stem cells scientists are allowed to use are those that will be destroyed in any case. Every year, thousands of frozen stem cell owners decide they will not use them. These doomed stem cells are the only ones used in research.
Elbridge Gagnon
Houlton