Dean Roche, Kerry, Bush, and abortion: A Year Later

Time flies.  It was just over a year ago (Oct. 11, 2004) that my colleage here at Notre Dame, Dean Mark Roche, published an opinion piece in the New York Times, "Voting our Conscience, not our Religion," in which he wrote that "[h]istory will judge our society's support of abortion in much the same way we view earlier generations' support of torture and slavery."  Dean Roche also emphasized, though, that "politics is the art of the possible," and proposed that, in fact, voting for and electing Senator Kerry was probably a better way to reduce the number of abortions, and also that Democratic policies with respect to a range of issues better reflected and promoted Catholic teachings.  The Dean's piece occasioned, of course, a great deal of attention, comment, and discussion in the public square -- and on Mirror of Justice.

On Wednesday, the campus newspaper here at Notre Dame published this essay, "Of Ray Siegfried, Mark Roche, and the child we once were," by Tony Lauinger, reflecting (critically) on Dean Roche's piece and its anniversary in the context of the recent death of Ray Siegfried, a long-time Notre Dame benefactor and trustee.  A response, "Focusing on the possible," was published in the same paper yesterday by my colleague, Prof. Don Kommers.

Rick