Many Catholics were justly upset when the University of Notre Dame awarded an honorary doctorate to President Barack Obama last year. But there are some good things happening at the school as well, and they should be recognized and encouraged. Most recently, the Notre Dame Fund created the Notre Dame Evangelium Vitae Medal, established “to honor individuals whose outstanding efforts have served to proclaim the Gospel of Life by steadfastly affirming and defending the sanctity of human life from its earliest stages.”
The first recipient is longtime pro-life warrior Richard Doerflinger.
A leader in the pro-life movement for more than 30 years, Doerflinger has been involved in every life issue, including embryo research, abortion, physician-assisted suicide, and euthanasia, at the highest levels in federal and state governments. His efforts were integral to the conception, passage, and continued vitality of parental notification and consent, unborn victims of violence, and born-alive infant protection laws, partial birth abortion bans, conscience protections, the Weldon Amendment (which prevents patenting of human embryos), and abortion funding restrictions, such as the Hyde Amendment and the Mexico City Policy. He also was instrumental in the ultimately unsuccessful campaign to protect the unborn in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Orthodox. Faithful. Free.
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Congratulations to Richard for an honor well-deserved, and kudos to those at Notre Dame responsible for creating the medal.