After first hinting at this idea during her appearance on “In the Arena” last weekend, Elizabeth Scalia has now expanded and refined it in a compelling piece for Pajamas Media.

A snip:

Several bishops have argued well against the invitation, and Bishop John D’Arcy, of Fort Wayne and South Bend, has said he will not attend the event. For many pro-life Catholics, myself included, the thought of President Obama addressing the upcoming commencement exercises at Notre Dame just scalds.

It scalds, but as my email fills up with angry press releases from various pro-life groups and with appeals to sign anti-Obama petitions, I find all the fire-breathing just a bit scalding, as well.

I understand and support the duty of Catholic bishops to register strong disapproval of the president’s anti-life positions, and I further believe that teaching the truth is always imperative, but Catholic universities have never been intellectual ghettos, offering only narrow exposure to ideas. On the contrary, Catholic universities have been bastions of rigorous debate with the application of reason triumphant over trends, sentiments, or policies. Because I believe that, and because I believe in the rightness of the Catholic position on life and the ability of the Holy Spirit to use surprising people and circumstances to do God’s will, I keep thinking, “Why are the Catholics approaching all of this with outrage and apparent fear, instead of confidence in battle?”

Visit the link and read the rest. She makes some good points.

UPDATE: The man selected to address graduates at Catholic University, Mark Shields, has just published the following:

Notre Dame is honoring Barack Obama as president of the United States and as a major political leader, not as a champion of legalized abortion.

Obama did not campaign in 2008 on the issue of abortion. When questioned, he answered directly that he was pro-choice. He regularly added that he wished to work with others to reduce the number of abortions. The economy and health care and Iraq, not abortion, were major issues in the last campaign. On Nov. 4, 2008, a majority of Catholics voted for Barack Obama.

The reality is that Roe v. Wade is not going to be overthrown. Americans remain uncomfortably ambivalent on the thorny issue of abortion. Our complicated position is best described as pro-choice and anti-abortion. A majority is clearly unwilling to criminalize a woman — after consulting with her conscience, or her confessor, or her physician — for making that agonizing decision. At the same time, no candidate has won election promising to work for more abortions.

I want President Obama to give the commencement address at my alma mater. I want him to spend time with graduates who are enrolled to become commissioned officers in the Marine Corps, Navy, Army and Air Force, and where more than 10 per-cent of the class will commit a year or more of volunteer work in Teach for America, the Peace Corps, the Jesuit Volunteer Corps and the Alliance for Catholic Education, and on a campus where four out of five of the students participate in volunteer work in South Bend and around the globe.

I want the President to personally encounter Catholic teaching that champions public policies with a clear priority for poor families, for the unemployed worker, the undocumented immigrant, for the vulnerable child and the forgotten elderly.

I believe that Notre Dame will be good for President Obama and that President Obama will be good for Notre Dame. They both will benefit from the visit.

You can read the rest of his column here.