Bishop Robert Finn

As Tom Hoopes noted yesterday here at the Daily Blog, the University of Notre Dame allowed President Barack Obama to make arguments about abortion without being challenged.

Head over here to the Catholic Key blog to see Obama’s arguments critiqued by an authoritative commentator: Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo.

Here is an excerpt from the Catholic Key interview with Bishop Finn:

Was there an overriding message to the commencement proceedings that came through strongest?

Bishop Finn: I think the message of the day was this — that the president of Notre Dame said that they had invited the president of the United States and decided to honor him for the sake of dialogue. And then the president got up and said that the differences that we have on abortion — namely the Catholic Church’s staunch opposition to abortion and his staunch support of abortion were “irreconcilable.” And at that moment, it would seem to me that the dialogue came to a screeching halt. Father Jenkins’ expressed desire for dialogue, whether it was well-founded or justified, at that point got thrown back in his face. The president shut the door on dialogue by saying that there was not going to be any change in his position on abortion and he understood that there was not going to be any change in the Church’s position on abortion. To me, that was the lesson of the day. I am glad that Mr. Obama was so clear.