First Notre Dame, then Georgetown, and now Xavier, down in New Orleans. The list of Catholic institutions honoring pro-choice political figures — and sparking controversy as a result — continues to grow.

From the Washington Post:

Another bishop has declined to attend another graduation ceremony at another Catholic university because of plans to bestow an honorary degree on another pro-choice politician. This time it’s New Orleans Catholic Archbishop Alfred Hughes who says he will not attend next month’s graduation at Xavier University of Louisiana, which plans to award an honorary degree to Donna Brazile, a Democratic strategist, Louisiana native, Roman Catholic and abortion rights supporter.

Hughes is joining in protest a dozen other Roman Catholic bishops who plan to boycott next month’s graduation at the University of Notre Dame, which plans to give an honorary degree to President Obama.

Are the bishops taking a moral and courageous stand or merely grandstanding? They’re not just playing politics. Obama and Brazile are Democrats, but back in 2005, for example, Cardinal William Keeler of Baltimore boycotted graduation at Loyola College of Maryland when it bestowed an honorary degree on New York City Mayor and pro-choice Republican Rudy Giuliani. Last month, an Indiana bishop boycotted a speech by GOP leader Michael Steele.

In fact, according to the Cardinal Newman Society, bishops have boycotted dozens of graduation ceremonies since 2004 when they issued the document called “Catholics in Political Life.” In the document, they said Catholic institutions “should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. The should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.”

Apparently, those “fundamental moral principles” apply only to the issue of abortion, and not to other “life” issues such as imposition of the death penalty, support for the war in Iraq, policies that imperil the environment, or the widening gap between the world’s rich and poor, all of which have been condemned by the Vatican and the bishops.

Timothy A. Dolan, Archbishop of New York, in a recent interview with the New York Post, explained that abortion is considered intrinsically evil while war and the death penalty are not. “There’s a big difference,” Dolan said. “There are some issues where the Church has weighed in, that one must be very sensitive to the morality of some issues, but they’re not intrinsically evil. An intrinsic evil (abortion) means that something is always and everywhere wrong.”