When the death of a disabled infant will lead to the birth of another infant with better prospects of a happy life, the total amount of happiness will be greater if the disabled infant is killed. The loss of happy life for the first infant is outweighed by the gain of a happier life for the second. According to Catholic teaching, man has a serious duty to God, but not to the animals, to make a right use of animals without being cruel or inflicting needless pain. The move to confer legal rights on animals themselves, however, is based on a denial of the special nature of the human person. The secularist and relativist premises on which he operates and which he carries to their logical conclusion, have decisively influenced American academics and jurisprudence for most of this century.
Singer is the poster boy of that pagan culture of death.
The traditional mission of Notre Dame was primarily undergraduate education in the Catholic tradition, with graduate studies and research playing an important but complementary role. The objective was admission to the club of the monied and prestigious universities. I do not intend to minimize the importance of research, especially in the sciences. And our leaders act entirely in what they see as the best interest of Notre Dame. In terms of teaching and of variety and accessibility of courses, no one can reasonably claim that the quality of undergraduate education at Notre Dame is more than twice what it was two decades ago.