In response to the ongoing controversy over the University of Notre Dame’s invitation to President Barack Obama to deliver this year’s commencement address, Hugh W. Cleary, C.S.C., superior general of the Congregation of the Holy Cross, has written an open letter to the president. While preliminary copies of his letter have been circulated on the Internet, Cleary asked America to post the official text of his letter on our Web site. That text can be found here.

Also, John R. Quinn, archbishop emeritus of the Archdiocese of San Francisco and former president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (formerly the N.C.C.B.), has addressed the controversy with the following exclusive commentary for America.

Drew Christiansen, S.J.

Drew Christiansen, S.J., served as the editor in chief of America from 2005 to 2012. He was a Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Human Development at Georgetown University and a senior fellow with the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs. He was co-editor with Carole Sargent of A World Free from Nuclear Weapons: The Vatican Conference on Disarmament (Georgetown, 2020).