my Notre Dame degree and would not trade it for anything. Whether or not my children go there is another matter, based on their own desires and out of control costs. Though at this stage of the game, I think it is fair to ask the question "Is an ND (or any private school for that matter) education worth $75k/year (and rising)?"
I don't know how long you have been here on NDNation, but I have been here since the early days and was one of the CFC signers. I don't say that to brag as if I think that makes me important, but to emphasize that as stakeholders, my fellow alumni and I wanted to ensure ND stayed true to it's tri-fold mission. Catholic identity was one of those.
Point by point:
-I don't follow the Newman Society, I only vaguely know that they have a Catholic college ranking system and are labeled by most to be "conservative". So I am thus unfamiliar with this Reilly guy, and wasn't attempting to suck up for him. What got me was the "right-wing" moniker. I am sick of the Catholic faith being described as "right wing" and "left wing". I just want to be Catholic. Period.
-At the time, I was vehemently against the Obama invite, and Fr. Jenkins' embarrassing handling of it (the dialog that never happened), and equally embarrassing attempt to smooth it over by playing Ms Glendon only to have her turn down the Laetare medal. However, I've moved on from continually bringing it up. Water under the bridge. Now, if the Hesburgh movie was also about events that occurred after his retirement but they left that part out, then that is indeed a glaring omission.
-Notre Dame is not like Georgetown or Boston College, schools that are actually embarrassed about their Catholic roots (e.g., Georgetown covering crucifixes). But again, as stated above, as a stakeholder the whole point is to prevent ND from coming to that end. There must be vigilance and oversight.
-The problem with American Catholic Education (and Catholicism generally in recent decades) is that it forgets that the Catholic (true Christian) religion is a both/and religion. Jesus was 100% God and 100% man, not 50/50. Love God and love your neighbor. The cross has both a vertical pole (pointing to God) and a horizontal beam (pointing to fellow man). We have been focusing so much on the Corporal Works of Mercy (though many probably forget they are called that; feed the hungry, water the thirsty, clothe the naked, visit the sick, shelter homeless, visit imprisoned, bury the dead) that we have as a whole neglected the Spiritual Works of Mercy (to instruct the ignorant, counsel the doubtful, admonish the sinners, bear patiently wrongdoings, forgive offenses, comfort the afflicted, pray for the living and the dead)
Instruct. Counsel. Admonish. Those 3 require robust, unambiguous teaching of the true Faith. As Chesterton says "The difficulty of explaining “why I am a Catholic” is that there are ten thousand reasons all amounting to one reason: that Catholicism is true. " Not because it feels good, or makes me happy. If it isn't true, and is just one self-help program among many, then it isn't worth anything, and certainly not worth a sacrifice on a cross.
As for the bishops, my opinions on them have been known, and I have no blind obedience to the guilty. But the Church has always been in the hands of sinful men, and is a great mystery. One difference is, back when there were pedophiles among the clergy (and there have been scandals before indeed), we could trust the Inquisition to imprison them or burn them at the stake.