Weigel on the real political game playing out at Notre Dame

I've read plenty of commentary on the Notre Dame situation, including the claim from the some that Catholics who oppose the invitation are merely playing a political game. I've already said that I don't think this is the case. I think they'd be thrilled if Obama became pro-life, and actively pray for it.

But all that doesn't mean some sort of political game isn't in fact being played - for instance, this very shrewd one that George Weigel points out:

"The Obama administration is full of very smart political operators. Reading last November’s electoral entrails, they’ve sensed the possibility of driving a wedge through the Catholic community in America, dividing Catholics from their bishops and thus securing the majority Catholic vote Obama received in 2008. And they’ve shrewdly judged that the soft underbelly of Catholic resistance to the Obama administration’s radical agenda on the life issues is composed of Catholic intellectuals, their prestige institutions (like Notre Dame and Georgetown), and their opinion journals—the very people and opinion centers who claimed last year that Obama was the true pro-life candidate. It’s a clever move on the political chessboard, and barring extraordinary actions from the bishops, it will likely meet with considerable success."

Politics aside, however, Weigel spends the majority of his column for the Denver Catholic Register asking, "What ‘Church’ does Notre Dame belong to?"

That's also a question worth asking.