Learning From Notre Dame: Catholic Identity is Not Optional
the Professor in the classroom, first view themselves as disciples, lifelong learners, followers of the Teacher, Jesus Christ.
This response is lived within His Body, the Church, into which they have been incorporated through Baptism. That Church is by its very nature, a teacher, and they participate in her educational mission. In speaking of herself, the Church often notes that she is an “expert in humanity” who “walks the way of the person”. The Church is, both “Mater et Magister” “Mother and Teacher.” Education is not something the Church adds something to, as though the process of educating were some kind of nakedly secular pursuit which the Church somehow makes “religious”. Rather, education is at the core of the Churches’ saving mission.
The Catholic College President
The articulation and sustenance of this vision and mission are the primary responsibility of the Catholic College President. Such a President must understand his/her task as pedagogical, pastoral, catechetical and developmental. All leadership within the Catholic College is a part of the Catholic ecclesial community and participates in the leadership of the Church. Catholic College Presidents need to understand the uniqueness of Catholic leadership, believe it, and live it. Catholic identity should be the first criterion considered in choosing Presidents and the measuring stick for their regular performance review. It should motivate their service, and inform everything that they do in discharging their office. The Catholic College President is at the service of the Catholic Church and then through her called to prepare leaders for the world. He or she should understand the implications of the faith on the entirety of the educational mission. They are not simply secular professionals offering their skills in a Catholic College. They participate in the saving mission of the Catholic Church. The students entrusted to their care are “living stones being built into a spiritual household” (I Peter 2:5) who have been called to build the future. Their call as Catholic College Presidents is to articulate a compelling vision and mission in word and deed and help the academic community placed in their care along the Catholic way.
I have seen how clear vision and leadership can transform a Catholic College. I will end by sharing a brief part of my personal experience. The full story can be found in several books. As a young man, after almost two years in a Benedictine monastery, I finished my College education in a little College in Ohio. I followed a priest friend there. He had been invited to save the school from impending disaster through becoming its President. It was already morally and spiritually bankrupt and would soon be financially so without a rescue plan. He prayed intensely about the invitation and offered to accept upon a condition. The Board had to give him freedom to rededicate the school as a Catholic school to Jesus Christ as the Way, the Truth and the Life with full adherence to the Magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church. The Trustees agreed.
When I arrived on campus three of the four dormitories on campus were empty. The theology major had been cancelled for lack of interest and there was talk of discontinuing daily Mass due to lack of attendance. I moved into an empty dorm and led one of the first “faith households”, the nucleus of a new model of student life implemented as a part of the vision of this Catholic College President. Students were to live a common Christian life in the wing of a dorm which included attending Mass, studying the faith together, engaging in mission and supporting one another to live full Catholic lives within a College environment. That wonderful little College became the Franciscan University of Steubenville. Under the leadership of Fr. Michael Scanlan the College of Steubenville was built into a dynamically orthodox global Catholic University. Now it is only one of many jewels in the growing Crown that is the recovery of Catholic higher education. What happened at Steubenville is not an isolated story. It is happening in other Catholic Colleges. It requires a rediscovery of and full commitment to Catholic identity. We need to learn from Notre Dame: Catholic Identity is Not Optional
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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.
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It's all about money! These universties must cater to everyone. That's why I think that's why they have become so watered down!
forgive me, I ended prematurely.
As I was saying in response to Mr. Ready:
The Holy Father has declared that, "...Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia. For example, if a Catholic were to be at odds with the Holy Father on the application of capital punishment or on the decision to wage war, he would not for that reason be considered unworthy to present himself to receive Holy Communion. While the Church exhorts civil authorities to seek peace, not war, and to exercise discretion and mercy in imposing punishment on criminals, it may still be permissible to take up arms to repel an aggressor or to have recourse to capital punishment. There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia." So, I believe this makes your argument specious, at best and cynical at worst.
The Blessed Mother weeps...Notre Dame, change your name.
Thank you...and please pray for everyone connected to this issue on both sides.
Well, I see the Notre Dame apologists have finally mobilized. Daniel Amiri calls Franciscan University "Jesus Camp"...demonstrating his self-proclaimed "kindness and respect..." but instead insulting Jesus, Franciscan and himself. Daniel, have you ever been to Steubenville? Do you know anything about it really? Then Mr. Tim Ready Then leaps into the fray saying that if we disagree with him then we "...do not know Notre Dame..." Respectfully, Mr. Ready, I'm one of those ignorant Catholics who has donated well into the high five figures to NDU over the past couple of decades...likely paying your salary and subsidizing your scholarship(s). I always appreciate being told that a Catholic institution should compromise its values for the greater seculer and worldly good by the likes of you. Incidentally, the holy Father stated clearly and unambiguously that not all moral issues carry the same weight.
its really a shame to be honoring someone who prefers to kill innocents who cant defend themselves...
It is interesting to note that the University of Arizona will NOT honor Mr. Obama with an honorary degree when he speaks at their commencement on May 13th. Their stance is that they do not honor someone who has no body of work behind them. What a further embarassment for ND!
Thank you for this article.
I too am proud to be Catholic and I pray for this continued re-discovery of our Catholic Identity and way of life, not only in the Colleges but in the life and home of every Catholic.
Jesus is making everything new again - a new springtime in the church and in the world. It is a wonderful time to be alive. Where Jesus is - there is hope for Jesus is the Way the Truth and the Life.
Thank you
God Bless
As a Catholic community we need to ask for the resignation of Notre Dame's President.
Our lives as Catholics is to know God, love God, and serve God. Place our will secondary to His. Sacrifice our lives for His purpose. It is easy to do otherwise and hide behind reason, or mutual respect, or exploring yourself. It is what we practice that makes us, "in Christ" - which is difficult to do when your leaders follow sin. God knows all of us more than we know ourselves, and He is fighting for our souls through us - well, those of us whom choose to let Him reign in us. I applaud the ND student whom chooses to follow His will while in college, you are awesome! Thanks for the hope and faith.
A clear presentation on the responsibilities of Catholic universities and their great potential.
Were it not for the powerful witness of The College of Steubenville now Franciscan University, I might never have become a Catholic convert in 1980. And that was just from reading about the college in New Covenant magazine. The first time I visited that campus as a recent convert, it was like a foretaste of heaven. My husband and I attended a conference on marriage and family where an Italian Monsignor impressed me with some very powerful words: "All our monuments will someday crumble, the White House, the Kremlin, even the buildings of the Vatican. In the end only two things will remain, Gods Glory and the beauty of your person." I pray that somehow those directing the future of Notre Dame will come to understand that message.