HAMMOND | A Hessville Knights of Columbus council is sponsoring a series of anti-abortion advertisements on a South Bend television station this weekend in opposition to President Obama's giving the commencement address Sunday at the University of Notre Dame.
William J. O'Connor, a member of the St. Alfred Council, said they've purchased more than a dozen 30-second spots on WNDU-TV, the NBC affiliate in South Bend formerly owned by the university.
"They will have an exclusively positive message," O'Connor said. "Condemning and criticizing the opposition has never been effective."
The advertisements, taped at O'Connor's Hohman Avenue law office and featuring him along with images of his four children, use familiar football metaphors to promote the Catholic fraternal organization's anti-abortion stance.
O'Connor said council members gave the ads their unanimous support, agreeing to spend about $2,200 on the advertisements that began running Thursday morning and will continue through Sunday.
"The realistic hope is that we will have a positive impact of some nature," he said.
Various anti-abortion groups have already descended onto the school's campus, voicing opposition to the Catholic university's awarding the president an honorary degree, in spite of his support of abortion rights and embryonic stem cell research. One group, led by former Republican presidential candidate Alan Keyes, was arrested on trespassing charges earlier this month.
O'Connor said the commercials, which are running during local broadcasts of "The Today Show," "Live with Regis and Kelly" and "The Tonight Show" as well as the station's newscasts and other programs, are the council's way of getting its message across peacefully.
"I'm very proud to say that my council is actively participating and not sitting on the sidelines," he said.
A 1974 Notre Dame graduate, O'Connor said he remembers similar controversies when he was on campus, namely during his freshman year when a noted feminist author gave a speech laden with anti-Catholic rhetoric.
"The policy then and now is that they don't prohibit ideas," he said. "There are no thought police."
