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He explains his pride in the honorary degree while emphasizing Catholic Social Teaching’s view of universal health care as a human right. He also defends the lawsuit as a lawful, high-brow dispute and frames Notre Dame’s mission as reconciling intellectual inquiry with 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did the honorary degree to President Obama cause controversy?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"The decision sparked a firestorm because Obama supported abortion, which critics saw as contradicting Notre Dame’s Catholic identity.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What legal issue did Notre Dame challenge in the lawsuit?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Notre Dame sued over the contraception mandate requiring employers, including Catholic educational institutions, to fund contraception insurance for employees.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"How does Fr Jenkins describe Notre Dame’s core mission?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"He argues the university must reconcile intellectual inquiry with faith, helping students wrestle with the questions that arise rather than simply repeating church doctrine.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},431571,1790795065,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":44,"category_name":45,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":81,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":14,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":24},3985747870947,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_3d24733baf745e90a7e4bdd5f77d97b2","# AMERICANUNVERSITIFSINFOCUS The Tablet Interview\n\nFR JOHN JENKINS  \nThe president of one of the foremost US Catholic universities tells Michael Sean Wintershow he is working to create a 'rich sense of what a Catholic university should be’  \nFR JOHN Jenkins CSC,the presidentof the University of Notre Dame inthe United States since 2005,has aunique distinction.He is the onlyper-    son to have awarded President Barack Obana an honorarydegree and to have subsequentlysued MrObamas Administration over an edicton contraception that is part ofthe President'shealth-carereform.It is not the kind of dis-tinction the self-effacing Fr Jenkins sought.  \nThe decision to invite MrObama to addressthe university's graduating class of2009 andreceive the honorary degree touched off afirestorm because ofMr Obama's supportforabortion.Archbishop Charles Chaput,thenof Denver andnowin Philadelphia,said NotreDame was“prostituting [its]Catholicidentityby appeals to phony dialogue that mask anabdication of our moral witness”.  \nThe decision to sue the Administration overits requirement that employers,includingCatholic educational institutions,fund con-traception insurance for employees earnedapplause from those who criticised the hon-orary degree.Conversely,many ofthose whoapplauded inviting MrObama to the gradu-ation ceremony were surprised the schoolentered the legal fray over the contraceptionmandate.Few applauded both decisions.  \nIn a recent interview,I asked Fr Jenkinswhat he makes of his odd distinction and ifhe has any regrets.“I am proud we gavePresident Obama an honorary degree,\"FrJenkins said.“He is an impressive person.Hewas the first African-American elected Presi-dent.\"Fr Jenkins said that although he andhis school opposed the contraception man-date,Catholic Social Teaching had long heldthat universal access to health care is a fun-damental human right and that Mr Obama's  \neffort to promote health-care reform was aworthyeffort.\"Besides,\"he added,“personally,the President is awarmand generous person.\"  \nFrJenkins also makes no apologies for thelawsuit.In an earlier interview,when the suitwas filed,he told me that he thoughtthe con-traception mandate violated the integrity ofthe university's mission and he still believesthat.\"But we think ofthese lawsuits as high-brow brawls and that is not quite right,\"hetold me.\"I reject the idea that we have todemonise our opponents in a public policydebate.This is how we resolve certain typesof problems in this country,in the courts.”  \nFrJenkins knows that both situations haveless to do with him than they do with NotreDame's iconic place in the landscape ofCatholichigher education in the United States.  \nThere are larger Catholic institutions,suchas DePaul University in Chicago,and thereare older ones,such as Georgetown inWashington DC.But,for a variety of reasons,when Americans think of Catholic highereducation,they think of Notre Dame.  \nThe film,Knute Rockne,All American,about a football player and coach at the uni-versity,was abox-office hit when it premieredin 1940.Notre Dame's football team continuesto play a big role in the university's publicidentity-it is the only university to have allits games televised nationally-and in 2013its team vied for the national championshipagain,a trophy that no other university hasclaimed more times.  \nFr Theodore Hesburgh,who led the uni-versity from 1952 until 1987,was one ofthe  \n\n| the medieval,Catholic cnlture,\"he said.\"God  \u003Cbr>nation's foremost academic leaders,a civil-  \u003Cbr>created the world and he created us in his  \u003Cbr>rights champion,the first priest to serve on  \u003Cbr>image.This leads to an intellectual commit-  \u003Cbr>Harvard's governing board and,in 1962,he  \u003Cbr>made the cover of Time magazine,a signal  \u003Cbr>ment,doesn't it?\"Hethinks it is a university's  \u003Cbr>job to \"reconcile intellectual enquiry with  \u003Cbr>mark of public stature.  \u003Cbr>faith,to wrestle with the questions that arise,  \u003Cbr>During his tenure,Notre Darme went from  \u003Cbr>asmall liberal arts sc","cbCaisUFnhsrZbVv","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaisUFnhsrZbVv","pdf",217799,"English","# The Tablet Interview\n## Honoring President Obama\n## Legal challenge over the contraception mandate\n## Notre Dame’s mission and academic identity","[{\"question\":\"Why did the honorary degree to President Obama cause controversy?\",\"answer\":\"The decision sparked a firestorm because Obama supported abortion, which critics saw as contradicting Notre Dame’s Catholic identity.\"},{\"question\":\"What legal issue did Notre Dame challenge in the lawsuit?\",\"answer\":\"Notre Dame sued over the contraception mandate requiring employers, including Catholic educational institutions, to fund contraception insurance for employees.\"},{\"question\":\"How does Fr Jenkins describe Notre Dame’s core mission?\",\"answer\":\"He argues the university must reconcile intellectual inquiry with faith, helping students wrestle with the questions that arise rather than simply repeating church doctrine.\"}]","AMERICANUNVERSITIFSINFOCUS The Tablet Interview - FR JOHN JENKINS | PDF",1790655968]