Over at the Vox Nova blog, Morning's Minion has posted a long, thoughtful reflection on l'affaire Notre Dame. In case you can't read the whole thing right now, here's the outtro:

The Catholic right may think they have won a major tactical victory with the watershed moment over Obamas appearance at Notre Dame, but nothing could be further from the truth. More and more, the core life issues of abortion and ESCR will be seen as the domain of the crazy fringe, and will become more disassociated from the broader culture of life issues that define Church teaching. The reaction of many supposed pro-life Catholics to Iraq and to torture will not be forgotten. And that is an absolute disaster ifCatholics have any hope of persuading the general culture that abortion is nota right to be cherished, much as Catholics have slowly but surely been turning the tide against the death penalty. When I see the lists circulating on the right pertaining to Obamas abortion sins, these lists seem dominatedby the fact that he is appointing people who support legalized abortion to various posts. What is left unsaid is that he is appointing people whose views on these matters are very much part of the mainstream. And because of the utterly failed tactics of the Catholic right, they will remain part of the mainstream. And that is the real tragedy.

We made a similar point in our editorial "Obama & Notre Dame." It bears repeating:

The church is not simply the prolife movement, and to the extent that every interaction between the church and our political system is held hostage to the demands of the most confrontational elements of that movement, the churchs social message, including its message about abortion, will be marginalized and ineffectual. The respect and honor owed the office of the president does not depend on any particular presidents merits.... That respect is, among other things, a powerful affirmation of the willingness of Americans to live together peacefully, despite profound disagreement. Notre Dames invitation to President Obama is perhaps best understood in that light.

Grant Gallicho joined Commonweal as an intern and was an associate editor for the magazine until 2015. 

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