Bishop Daniel Jenky of Peoria, Ill., in mid-April warned that the Obama administration’s actions limiting the religious liberty of churches and church agencies could lead to the “shutting down” of “all our public ministries,” including Catholic schools, hospitals and Newman Centers. ” But a comparison of America in 2012 to aspects of Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia upset some observers.
“Hitler and Stalin, at their better moments, would just barely tolerate some churches remaining open, but would not tolerate any competition with the state in education, social services and health care,” the bishop said at an annual Catholic men’s event in Peoria. “In clear violation of our First Amendment rights, Barack Obama — with his radical, pro-abortion and extreme secularist agenda, now seems intent on following a similar path.”
Lonnie Nasatir, the regional director of Chicago’s Anti-Defamation League, found the bishop’s remarks to be “outrageous, offensive and completely over the top.” Nasatir demanded an apology from the bishop, and said, “Clearly, Bishop Jenky needs a history lesson. There are few, if any, parallels in history to the religious intolerance and anti-Semitism fostered in society by Stalin, and especially Hitler, who under his regime perpetuated the open persecution and ultimate genocide of Jews, Catholics and many other minorities.”
This week, 143 Notre Dame professors wrote to the university’s president, Holy Cross Father John Jenkins, saying the bishop’s comments “demonstrate ignorance of history, insensitivity to victims of genocide and absence of judgment.” The signatories, including several history professors, called on the university to distance itself from Bishop Jenky’s “incendiary statement.” “Further,” they said, “we feel that it would be in the best interest of Notre Dame if Jenky resigned from the University’s Board of Fellows if he is unwilling to renounce loudly and publicly this destructive analogy.”
Another Notre Dame professor, however, came out in support of the bishop. “It was not ‘incendiary’ but simple truth for Bishop Jenky to say that the trajectory of the Obama regime is along a ‘similar path’ in regard to ‘education, social services, and health care,” wrote Charles Rice, retired professor of law at Notre Dame.
Holy Cross Father Wilson Miscamble also supports Bishop Jenky. A history professor at the University of Notre Dame, Father Miscamble serves as president of the Notre Dame Chapter of University Faculty for Life.
Register news editor John Burger spoke to him April 26 about the controversy that has emerged over Bishop Jenky’s remarks.
Do you know Bishop Jenky?
I do, indeed. He’s, of course, a member of the Congregation of Holy Cross, and I’ve known him since I came to the order as a seminarian 30 years ago. He’s a terrific priest and a great bishop.
Have you worked with him closely?
He was the rector of Sacred Heart Basilica in my younger days as a priest here on campus and was the superior of the Holy Cross community here during my early days on campus. That was in the late ’80s and early ’90s, when I was part of the community of which he was local superior.
But then he was taken away from us and made auxiliary bishop here in Fort Wayne-South Bend, and then was made bishop of Peoria about 10 years ago. So, for the last 15 years or so, I’ve seen him periodically. He comes back to visit, and so on.
What do you think of this brouhaha over his remarks?
I have found the reaction of my faculty colleagues quite embarrassing — embarrassing because these academics disgracefully misused Bishop Jenky’s words by taking them out of context. It has been a little disappointing, to say least. Bishop Jenky was making remarks about the religious-liberty issue, and some of my colleagues implied that Bishop Jenky was suggesting that President Obama was on his way to adopting the entire Hitler-Stalin agenda. It’s a mischaracterization that is unworthy of supposedly serious scholars.
You’re a historian, albeit your specialty is American history.
I am a historian, and I challenge the signatories to this letter criticizing Bishop Jenky to point to one part of his homily that is historically inaccurate.
Is he historically accurate?
Absolutely. By the way, Bishop Jenky was a history major when he was an undergraduate here at Notre Dame. He’s read quite a bit of history in his day. And he is a good student of it.
Why do you think they would take his remarks out of context?
Well, this is to engage in speculation, and I probably shouldn’t go down this path myself; one should be cautious. But I think this very poorly crafted letter says more about the rather predictable and ideological bias of the signatories than it does about Bishop Jenky’s courageous homily.
But do you feel that he might have overstepped any kind of line?
No. His homily was a courageous homily which pointed to a pattern of behavior of a number of regimes to limit religious freedom and to attack religious institutions.
Is there any way you might characterize the professors who signed the letter? Do they have something in common?
Most are concentrated in the College of Arts and Letters. I would say that there’s a kind of a piling-on mentality at work here.
What do you know of Bishop Jenky’s contributions as a member of the board of fellows at Notre Dame, particularly regarding the university’s Catholic character?
The board of fellows is the key decision-making group that selects the trustees at Notre Dame. It’s comprised of six members of the Congregation of Holy Cross and six laypersons, and I think Bishop Jenky has always been an engaged and active member of the board of fellows and also the board of trustees. (When you’re a fellow, you’re also a trustee.) He deeply loves Notre Dame and has sought to build up Notre Dame’s Catholic mission and identity, has defended Notre Dame for the good things that go on here, and deeply wishes the best for Notre Dame. So he’s been a valued contributor to the work of the board of fellows and board of trustees.
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This is just another instance of far left liberals and socialists twisting themselves into all kinds of mental contortions to try and justify their support for Obama. They may kid themselves but they won’t kid the rest of us. Obama is what he is, a European type socialist who has no regard for religion.
Would that those same “outraged” professors been as adamant about the invitation extended to President Obama, whose agenda is contrary to much of Catholic teaching. I believe that these same professors have chosen their “god” and it seems he is not the one professed in scripture.
Thank you for this article and for interviewing Father MisCamble. I’m grateful to see that he is standing with Bishop Jenky! Now is the time for all Catholics to take up the cross and fight for our religious freedom, or much like Sodom and Gomorrah, we will perish! I pray that our religious Leadership will embrace Bishop Jenky’s passion and defend our rights!
It is hysterically humorous that anyone at Notre Dame University thinks they can speak for everyone, including Holy Mother Church. While they still have a sliver of reputation, perhaps, someone within their walls should take time to think before further tarnishing that which someone else built. His Excellency, the Bishop’s authority comes from a much more reliable Source than the temporal noisemakers desperately trying to gain credibility where none exists. It is pitiful to see intelligence wasted on their faulty yet carefully planned, and executed effort to destroy. They will fail.
The bishop is not comparing Obama to Hitler, the author of the Holocaust. The bishop is comparing Obama to Hitler, the author of the Reichskonkordat treaty. In 1933, the Catholic Church had viewed the Nazis as a barrier to the spread of communism from Russia. In this year, Hitler and the Catholic Church signed an agreement that he would not interfere with the Catholic Church while the Church would not comment on politics. However, this only lasted until 1937, when Hitler started a concerted attack on the Catholic Church arresting priests etc. The Church in Nazi Germany was subjected to as much pressure as any other organization in Germany. Any perceived threat to Hitler could not be tolerated – and the churches of Germany potentially presented the Nazis with numerous threats. In 1937, the pope, Pius XI, issued his “Mit brennender Sorge” statement (“With burning anxiety”) over what was going on in Germany. However, there was never a total clampdown on the Catholic Church in Germany because it was a world-wide movement with much international support. Not so with the Protestant Church which was really a collection of a number of churches – hence they were easier to deal with. The Protestants themselves were split. In 1936, the Reich (Protestant) Church was created. This did not have the Christian cross as its symbol but the swastika. The Bible was replaced by “Mein Kampf” which was placed on the altar. By it was a sword. Only invited Nazis were allowed to give sermons in a Reich Church. So what started out as some simple agreements evolved into a very slippery slope. Anyone who can not see the parallels needs to study the history of the Church in it’s relationship to any world government. The point the bishop is making is about the (at first) seemingly innocuous and eventually insidious nature of government interference with the Church. In November 2011, Catholic bishops met with President Obama and he assured them that health-care provisions would respect Catholic conscience rights. That promise has been broken. We Americans live in a paradigm that say it can’t happen here. It happened in England, Ireland, Mexico, France, Germany, Poland, Russia and many other countries in the last few centuries. It happened innocuously and than insidiously. When the horror of of it all finally reared it’s ugly head it was too late. Thank God for Bishop Jenky. Notre Dame may already be lost. May Our Lady pray for that university and it’s fallen leadership.
A practicing Catholic could possibly commit a mortal sin by sending his children to today’s Notre Dame… an environment hostile to the Magisterium and an incubator for heretics.
Thank you, James, for your comments. We’ve been heading down this slippery slope as a country for far too long. It’s time to stand in support of our bishops.
“Lonnie Nasatir, the regional director of Chicago’s Anti-Defamation League, found the bishop’s remarks to be “outrageous, offensive and completely over the top.” “
That’s CHICAGO’s Anti-Defamation League. Who else do we know from Chicago?
God bless the Bishop. He has the courage of a martyr!
Enough with the ‘demand an apology’. If someone feels a statement is historically inaccurate, then offer a rebuttal using appropriate discourse and a presentation of the differing perspective or facts. Let’s enhance public and private discourse and have dialogue rather than simply demand things. I say tht to all, as both political parties have adopted dialogue to manipulate conversation and cry foul if anything goes awry. I would have prefers the person making demands to have stated the “facts”. Or am I really describing thin journalism and the person has provided the info. Hard to say sometimes.
Amen to James Leo Oliver’s posting, to Father Wilson Miscamble, to Bishop Daniel Jenky and to this article. Prays are needed in these rebellious times. May God help us and help us now. Transform us to work toward Your will oh Lord. Humble our hearts.
Pray for the day that Catholics are in charge at Notre Dame.
It is very clear from reading the biography of Dietrich Bonnhoffer, a Lutheran Pastor in Germany during Hitler’s reign of terror, that what happened there can happen here in America. A slow deliberate erosion of religious rights when compiled amount to the total loss of these God given rights. Once the Church is out of the way then we have seen how man becomes the giver of rights and God is further pushed out of the so-called common square. Pray through our country’s Patroness, Mary Our Mother, to intercede on our behalf to change our direction and restore the principles and values of the Founders. Thank you Bishop Jenky and Frs. Rice and Miscamble for your courage to speak out and stand up for our Church and His Body.
I found the Bishop’s remarks offensive.
In the name of the Holy Spirit, I found the Bishops remarks purposely inciting and offensive.
I found Pesqueira’s remarks offensive.
I feel that it would be in the best interest of this article if Pesqueira resigned from the comments section if he/she is unwilling to renounce loudly and publicly his/her offensive remarks.
What I see are the equivalent of Catholic “Chamberlains” that look to keep “peace in our time” by trying to maintain a realtionship with a party that long ago discarded any pretense of true social justice and reform for the poor working poor, and instead has become the party of “sexual politics”. A powerful minority has taken control of the party, and it has made everything about sex. Think about it…are we talking about Obamacare in the sense that there is a fight about how to care for millions of women who need care for the various ailments that they might encounter as women and human beings? No…it has become about contraception and abortion. The genocide is already happening…it’s happening to the unborn, who, like the Jews in Germany of the 1930s and 40s, have been deemed less than human, less than persons. Places like Colorado celebrate the offspring of racist thought in Planned Parenthood, and that would be akin to celebrating the gas cahmbers of the concentration camps as “a good choice”. You see, the Germans of Nazi Germany didn’t do anything, because what Hitler was doing was “the law”, and was doing it for “their own good”. The language that the left uses with regard to abortion is eerily similar to that of the Nazi Party. Calling unborn children “parasites” is similar to the language used against the Jews, calling them “vermin”. A child, according to Obama, is a “punishment”...this he said when referring to his own daughters. Much like the Germans calling the Jews a “plague”...
Offended? No, I think Bishop Jenky called out the truth into the light of day…
I like Father Miscamble’s use of the phrase “rather predictable and ideological bias” which sums up not only what is wrong at Notre Dame but throughout most of American academia. Academia purportedly is about the pursuit of knowledge. Instead, today most academics seem to be chiefly concerned about ideological purity and attacking ideas that offend their preconceived prejudices. This is a direct betrayal of the very purpose of higher education and is part of a goal of too many in academia to replace education with indoctrination.
“In the name of the Holy Spirit, I found the Bishops remarks purposely inciting and offensive.”
You’re referring to the casual vs. committed Catholic comment, right?
I call for Notre Dame to be stripped of it’s Catholic identity and to be forced to change it’s name so as not to further sully our Lady. I also call for anyone who is “offended” by His Excellency’s remarks to go jump in the lake.
Appeasing flakes, modernists, leftists, and heretics has never worked and will never work. The good Bishop clearly understands this. God bless him.
I support Bishop Jenky 100 percent. After the outrageous, secular irreligious non Catholic show put on for our president by Father Jenkins and his band of liberal supporters at Notre Dame several years ago,I have little respect for any Notre Dame professors, including the 143 unnamed Professors who have just jumped into the controversy. The Bishop is outspoken and avoids unclear speech. We need more Bishops like Bishop Jenky who have the courage to formulate opinions and make them known in a positive way. I recommend that Notre Dame stop calling itself a Catholic University so it can more openly agree with more of the detractors of the Catholic Bishops. My best wishes go to Bishop Jenky for the leadership he has shown.
The “offended” professors at Notre Dame…Were they offended by the arrest of the pro-lifers? Are they offended by the slaughter of the innocents?
I found the Professors’ remarks purposefully inciting, yet effectively hackneyed.
God bless Bishop Jenky! Stay strong! You are in my prayers.
Thank you for publishing this article. God bless Bishop Jenky, Fr. Miscamble, and Charles Rice for their courage in speaking the truth. The university ostensibly named for Our Lady needs faithful souls like them. May prayer bring authentic conversion to all who work against Christ’s Church.
Politics or your Faith. You cannot serve two Masters. Faith cannot be reconciled with political beliefs. The hypocrisy in doing so is not apparent to most. Again in the name of the Holy Spirit. No one else in this forum wishes to swear in the presence of God what they hold true. To me that speaks volumes.
The defense of the Bishop’s remarks are that they represent a progression of what might be constued as future possiblility and not direct correlating of the President to despots. So does the Bishop claim a gift of prophecy? If not he has falsely maligned the President. May I remind everyone that Presidents are not despot by virtue of the Constitution that limits their power. President are not lifetime appointments to authority as others are. With that being said, to malign another is tantamount to the sin of false witness. I do not condone that. Neither should anyone else. In the name of the Holy Spirit.
143 professors? Good, that takes the guesswork out of who the heretics are. Time for the church to start with the rot from within. If the Church can appeal to the Vatican for a study on American Universities with Norte Dame to start with and clean out that rat’s nest, then the others will start to rethink what they are doing. If not, then what have the church to lose other than heretics?
I cannot imagine Catholic bishops “shutting down” the public ministry of the Catholic church in America. I might imagine non-compliance with unjust law leading to forced closure against the will of the Catholic Church and her bishops. How could we close things that we as a church support and need? These things are done in His name, or not at all. The latter scenario seems more likely and more faithful to the teachings of our Lord, and to the history of His Church. Modern America is a chapter in that history.
Dear Editor,
Through good fortune I came across a recent homily by the Most Reverend Daniel R. Jenky, Bishop of Peoria . In it Bishop Jenky reminded me of the miracle of Christianity and how it’s fabric is now under attack by Barack Hussein Obama II and his radical appointees. Obama’s assault on Christian places of warship, healing and learning are unconscionable. But the truth is that this same president has also placed the homeland of the Jewish people in a desperate situation. It matters not what Obama’s motivation is. Regardless of whether his actions are from ignorance, arrogance or part of a sinister agenda, we can’t afford 4 more years of this. If America is going to survive economically, or culturally, we must vote with our God given Constitutional rights in mind. We must vote for someone whose parents loved this country.
Too many people have died protecting our inalienably , God given rights to let Obama or anyone else ignore them. Despite Obama’s statements to the contrary, America is a Judeo-Christian society.
I don’t just think the Bishop’s comparison of President Obama to Hitler and Stalin is “insensitive.” This would imply that while what he said was true he just shouldn’t have said it. In fact, the Bishop’s statements are just a dumb, hysterical right-wing rant without an ounce of truth. The Bishop should spend much less time listening to Rush Limbaugh and more time reading the New Testament and maybe even some history books.
The good Bishop looks like a man who can take critics by the shovelful. God bless him and his Holy cause. The coming generation of Holy Martyrs and Saints will eat these crabby wimpy spoiled university faculty brats for lunch.
If those who signed the letter are not happy they should resign.
James Leo Oliver’s comments are spot on. Perhaps most spot on is the sentence where he writes that we live in a paradigm where we often pat ourselves on the back, convinced that “it could never happen here.” Classic American exceptionalism.
God bless Father Miscamble. He is Notre Dame, not those leftist sheep that signed the letter. And God bless Bishop Jenky, who shows the bravery and spine so rare at Notre Dame.
The professors and others who signed the Jenky protest letter have soiled themselves. And forever tramp-stamped themselves. At least now, we know who they are. We’ll warn our incoming Freshmen about them.
When you cross reference the signatories of the letter in question with the “Unacceptable” letter signed by over 500 supporters of the USCCB to stop the HHS mandate (http://www.becketfund.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Unacceptable-4-11.pdf), which includes over a 100 ND faculty and staff, only one individual who has signed on in support of both letters.
Bismarck, Clemenceau, Hitler, and Stalin ALL limited religious liberty, just as the Obama Administration is trying to do with its mandate for abortion and sterilization. I am unable to see anything historically inaccurate in Bishop Jenky’s statements to that effect in his April 16th homily.
It says a lot that the protesting Notre Dame professors fail to identify the Bishop’s alleged historic inaccuracies.
It appears that my grandchildren will be spiritualy and morally better off with a State University Newman Club than at Notre Dame.
Notre Dame class of ‘54
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