I’m writing this letter to the Notre Dame community to express my complete disillusionment with what I thought was my beloved alma mater. When I was at Notre Dame (under the leadership of Fr. Theodore Hesburgh), we stood for the rights of all people — especially the downtrodden, the oppressed and the poor. Our community was one that I was very proud of. Now, I’m reading in my local paper that Notre Dame has asked Mike Pence, and was considering Donald Trump, for Commencement speaker. How can the great Notre Dame community endorse these people who have consistently lied and exhibited varying degrees of disregard for the inclusiveness and love that was preached by Jesus and has been preached by our current beloved Pope? The Catholic endorsement of the anti-LGBT rhetoric is undermining the message of love and inclusiveness that should be sent around the world. The Catholic endorsement of the policies of President Trump and his administration is terrifying to me. Has the Catholic position of anti-abortion allowed everyone to ignore all of the other positions of this new administration and blinded everyone to its evils? How can an educated population such as the Notre Dame community not see the deception and greed in this current administration? They have no qualms about lying and then saying that it’s someone else’s fault when the lies are exposed. Some of the most “trusted” advisors in the White House are part of the “alt-right” movement that has been spreading messages of hatred, misogyny, discrimination and racism throughout the country. Where are the peace-loving activists of the ’60s and ’70s? Are they being replaced by greedy nationalists and white supremacists? Why aren’t more people — especially Catholics — standing up for all of our less fortunate members of the human race, such as immigrants, blacks and Hispanics? Since when did it become the “right” of an American to keep and build as much wealth as possible, especially to the detriment of those who are less fortunate than them? We don’t have a right to this land or this land’s wealth — we took it from the Native Americans. We built wealth using the African American slaves and we “gave” it to the white soldiers returning from war (read about the housing policies of our Administration in the ’50s). The Trump administration stands for greed and wealth. How many millionaires are included in this current administration? Who is looking out for the less fortunate? And I haven’t even mentioned the stewardship of our earth — who is protecting our world for our children? The current administration is stripping away all of the policies that have been put in place to try to stop the polluting of our air and water — all in the name of economic development (aka corporate greed). Do we want to destroy our earth, and our children’s future, for the sake of more money? The religious right in this country are giving away the heart and soul of our country in return for what? No anti-abortion policy is worth all that we are losing. Is this what the Catholics of this country want to be remembered for?
Barbara Sennett Franko
class of '78
Mar. 6
