Mary Ann Glendon (CNS)

In his statement criticizing the University of Notre Dame for honoring President Barack Obama, Bishop John D’Arcy has indicated there could be a surprise in store for the president.

The surprise: what could be said to Obama about his anti-life agenda at Notre Dame’s May 17 commencement by esteemed Catholic jurist Mary Ann Glendon.

Glendon, like Obama, is a law professor. And like Obama, she will be honored at the commencement ceremony — she’s this year’s recipient of the Laetare Medal awarded by Notre Dame to honor Catholics “whose genius has ennobled the arts and sciences, illustrated the ideals of the Church and enriched the heritage of humanity.”

But the similarities between Obama and Glendon pretty much end there. While he has made promotion of abortion his preeminent political agenda, she has defended the sanctity of human life throughout a life of distinguished service to her profession, her country and her Church.

In his statement today, Bishop D’Arcy said he will not attend the commencement as Notre Dame’s diocesan bishop. He’s staying away to communicate the reality that the university has chosen “prestige over truth” by conferring honor on Obama, a man who has “separated science from ethics and has brought the American government, for the first time in history, into supporting direct destruction of innocent human life,” in the words of Bishop D’Arcy.

But Bishop D’Arcy also indicated he has spoken with Glendon and has encouraged her to attend the commencement to accept her well-deserved Laetare Medal — and to provide a human-life lesson to Obama and the university while she’s there.

Said Bishop D’Arcy in his statement, “I have encouraged her to accept this award and take the opportunity such an award gives her to teach.”

Few are so well equipped to teach the truths the Catholic Church proclaims about the sanctity of human life as Glendon. Among her long list of credentials are a Harvard law professorship, leadership of the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Social Scientists and of the Vatican delegation to the U.N. Conference on Women in Beijing, and a just-concluded stint as United States Ambassador to the Holy See.

So let’s hope President Obama comes to Notre Dame prepared to learn a lesson about life (unless, of course, the university comes to its senses and rescinds its invitation). Mary Ann Glendon certainly has the capacity, and the courage, to deliver one.