50,000 Letters Sent to Notre Dame Alumni re Obama; In Letter, Bishop Gracida Urged Former U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican Mary Ann Glendon to Refuse Award
SOUTH BEND, Indiana, April 27 /
Christian Newswire/ -- 50,000 hand addressed letters were sent to Notre Dame Alumni, and 100,000 post cards for Vatican and Notre Dame officials, urging ND Grads to fight against Obama's scheduled speech.
Randall Terry and local Notre Dame Alumni sent 50,000 letters to Alumni from '88 and back. (Older Alumni were selected because they tend to be more conservative.)
The post cards are designed to be sent to Vatican and Notre Dame officials.
Link to the Letter, and PDF printer ready version of postcards below.
Following are excerpts from Randall Terry's letter to the alumni, beginning with an endorsement from Bishop Rene Henry Gracida, with his exhortation to Former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican Mary Ann Glendon:
"Randall,
I have visited your website and have signed the petition. I congratulate you on starting this initiative and I pray that it is successful. I urge you to expand this initiative to also persuade Ambassador Mary Ann Glendon to refuse to accept Notre Dame's Laetare Award. Blessings!"
+Rene Henry Gracida, Bishop Emeritus of Corpus Christi
The following excerpts should be attributed to Randall Terry:
I know that some cautious souls fear "strident" rhetoric, or "controversial" images. I ask those friends to remember the Gospels: remember Jesus turning over tables; chasing people with a whip; calling Pharisees the children of hell, a brood of vipers, white washed tombs, and sons of the devil.
In considering an appropriate response to killing babies and hurting mothers, remember Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Nathan, and other prophets – who rebuked kings and priests – who fearlessly condemned child-sacrifice in their day. They used rhetoric and images equal to the crimes they condemned. Shouldn't we follow their example? Are we above them? Or do we and our leaders have an unholy attachment to our "reputation" and "dignity" that shackles and muzzles us?
In the fight to end slavery, Frederick Douglass said, "It is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced...
...But I am not naïve...there are many faculty and alumni who have bought into the confusion of the death movement. They place unity and peace above justice – and therefore do not like our actions as we cry out for the babies and moms. Still others support the President speaking at Notre Dame!
Randall Terry states: "We honor former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican Mary Ann Glendon, for her courage and integrity, as she refuses to share a platform at Notre Dame with President Obama. We pray that great is her reward in heaven.
"Our phones are ringing off the hook with praise and complaint, with joy from some and rage from others. I guess we really hit a nerve!"
