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Feature
The Salvaging of Notre Dame
(Page 2 of 2)
The decisions made in the ’60s have haunted Notre Dame ever since. Conservatives faced the temptation to give up on the school time and time again. When Fr. Richard McBrien, an abortion-supporting and oft-censured dissident theologian, became chair of the theology department in 1980, they despaired. The same department became a safe harbor for liberation theologians who flirted with Marxism. The liberalization of faith roiled the students the most—in 1969 their excesses were curbed, of all things, by the South Bend police, who raided the campus to confiscate a pornographic film intended as part of an exhibit on pornography. Alumni from the ’70s and ’80s remember “cake masses” and “pizza masses”—when the priests saying Mass in the dorms would use cakes and pizzas instead of bread hosts for the Eucharistic liturgy. Needless to say, such practices are doctrinally invalid and illicit.
The atmosphere at Notre Dame was to a large extent a function of the liberal politics of the ’60s that pervaded the Church as much as the broader culture. The school’s disregard for traditional faith was clearly related to the upheaval in the Church hierarchy. The order of the Holy Cross was certainly not immune, and neither were university professors. After that tumultuous period, the school stabilized: now McBrien is a pariah on campus, the theology department is headed by the eminently sensible John Cavadini, and the South Bend police break up mild house parties, not porn showings. As I can attest, a “pizza mass” on campus at Notre Dame is simply unthinkable. The students who organized the weekly Latin Mass would never allow it
ONE LEGACY OF 1967 appears irreversible, though. Hesburgh’s commitment to academic recognition at any price entailed hiring faculty without regard for religious affiliation. As a result the number of Catholic faculty at Notre Dame has fallen steadily, from around 80 percent at the time of Land O’Lakes to just above 50 percent today. Of that slim majority, only a minority are more than nominally Catholic.
As the historian and Holy Cross priest Wilson Miscamble has pointed out in America magazine, the declining percentage of Catholic faculty spells doom for Notre Dame’s Catholicism. As a practical matter, the Church document Ex Corde Ecclesia, written by Pope John Paul II regarding Catholic colleges and universities, demands that “the number of non-Catholic teachers should not be allowed to constitute a majority within the Institution.” Notre Dame’s own mission statement imposes a similar requirement: “The Catholic identity of the University depends upon, and is nurtured by, the continuing presence of a predominant number of Catholic intellectuals.”
In order, then, to fulfill the mandate of Ex Corde Ecclesia and the requirement of its own mission statement, Notre Dame must maintain at least 51 percent Catholic faculty. Because most of the Catholic faculty are older, without a change in hiring practices attrition will soon make Catholics a small minority. Simple math dictates that to meet the Church’s and its own criteria for a Catholic school, Notre Dame would have to start hiring Catholic faculty at a rate of about 66 percent.
To the administration’s credit, it has made a concerted effort to attract and hire academically excellent faculty, using endowed chairs to poach prominent Catholic scholars whenever it can. Most hiring decisions, however, are made by the departments. As Fr. Miscamble documents, Catholic candidates often lose out to comparable scholars with Ivy League pedigrees. In some cases outspoken devotion can even be a disadvantage. Miscamble offers the example of the English historian Eamon Duffy, whom the history department passed over for being “too much of a ‘Catholic apologist.’ ”
The problem with a liberally Catholic or secular faculty becomes manifest when it is cheerleading for The Vagina Monologues or the invitation to Obama, both decisions deeply antithetical to religious authenticity. The gradual secularization of the faculty is exactly the pattern that other schools have followed on their path to general religious abandonment. Indeed, Kevin Hart, a noted Catholic scholar, fled Notre Dame’s English department in 2007 for the University of Virginia, predicting, based on his experiences with faculty hiring, that Notre Dame had 10 years before turning into another Catholic-in-nameonly institution like Georgetown.
Hart left because Notre Dame has nothing to recommend itself but its faith. The few professors and students who pick Notre Dame over Ivies or Stanford do so only because it is Catholic. It can never compete with Harvard or Yale at their game, so why should it follow them in abandoning the faith of its founders? Indeed, it is because Dartmouth is no longer Congregationalist nor Chicago Baptist that Notre Dame attracts committed religious scholars who are not Catholic. One of my professors in literature, for instance, won an award specifically for preserving the Catholic character of the university—and he is Orthodox Jewish.
THE SURPRISING UPROARS OVER Obama’s scheduled appearance at the Joyce Center highlights the fact that people still look to Notre Dame as an exemplar of religion in public discourse. The reason for the uproar was not Notre Dame’s academic excellence: Not even Iranian tyrant Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s 2007 speech at the more prestigious Columbia University elicited such national interest. People are interested in Obama at Notre Dame because it is a scandal that the nation’s best example of Christian witness at the highest levels of education would disregard its own religious leaders’ directives and side instead with the secular mainstream.
Fr. Edward Sorin intuitively understood what would make his school successful. Shortly after founding Notre Dame, he wrote his superior, “Sometimes when I think of the good that can be done throughout the country, had we a College conducted according to Catholic principles, my desire to erect such a building torments me and disturbs my rest.”
Although the past 150 years have vindicated Sorin’s belief, Jenkins is apparently wiling to sell out the distinctive feature of his school to satisfy the requirements of liberal faculty members and the college guide rankings. At exactly the moment when, on campus and around the country, a generation of young people that cares about religious authenticity is looking for leadership, the administration is instead choosing to side with the establishment and the tired spirit of the ’60s.
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Face Cream| 6.3.09 @ 6:55AM
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Doorgunner| 6.3.09 @ 7:25AM
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Melvin| 6.3.09 @ 7:39AM
Instead of getting into the minutia of whether or not Notre Dame is exhibiting good Catholic practices, it should be asked is Notre Dame even Catholic anymore?
I guess it kind of boils down to traditions. Americans are casting off traditions that have sustained us through our history. Christmas for example has been completely rendered into something we don't even recognize anymore.
Christmas has been marketed and re-marketed to the point that family tradition to it has been broken and Americans don't know what it is or what to do with it.
Catholic religion in my opinion is suffering a similar fate. Many of the traditions that drew the faithful have been changed to reflect a more modern, cool religion.
Growing up I used to see nuns wearing their habits all the time and even though I wasn't Catholic I respected them immensely. Now, I can't even count on one hand in the last twenty years how many times I have seen a nun period.
I miss the old Catholic Church that had mass in Latin and all the Catholic traditions that went with midnight mass and the old ancient white haired padre who could rattle off history like an ancient version of Wikipedia.
I guess as a person gets older, we tend to miss allot of things don't we?
JP| 6.3.09 @ 7:58AM
"Certainly Hesburgh was right that Notre Dame could achieve more. Thanks to him, it is ranked among the top 25 universities and boasts a multibillion dollar endowment."
I'm not sure what Notre Dame has done to rank in the top 25. In state, both Indiana Univ and Purdue have much better business schools and engineering schools, respectively. Just north of Notre Dame in Ann Arbor, the Univ of Michigan has ranked in the top 10 nationally for its science, engineering, liberal arts and business schools. Despite charging over $40,000 a year tuition, Notre Dame is outclassed by 3 Big Ten schools just a few hours away.
Fr Hessburgh and his followers did one thing right: like Pepsi, GE, and GM they carefully created and protected a brand. The ND brand, and the mystique that followed it, is one of the main reasons ND has a $6 billion dollar endowement.
And no, Notre Dame has not gotten as bad as St Louis or Boston College in stripping its Catholic cirriculumn, but it is close. If one truely wants an authentic Catholic education, he/she must travel to St. Thomas Aquainis College in California, or St Johns in Annapolis.
Fr Hessburgh and Fr Jenkins got what they wanted -a photo op with the 1st black American President -who just so happens to be the most pro-abortion politician of our times. To do it, they had acted in direct disobedience to the local ordinary, not to mention the Magesterium. Thus begins the final process of removing the "Catholic" from Notre Dame. It isn't the faculty or administration that continues to give the university its Catholic identity- the students do that. What will happen if those kind of students stop arriving every year? And from the looks of the graduation ceremony (an emotional standing ovation for the President, followed by a strong endoresemnt from ND's top graduate), I would say that even the student body overall is not all that orthodox.
What people think of Notre Dame is mainly the result of carefully orchestrated PR, and market branding. Don't let the grotto and basilica fool you.
KMB| 6.3.09 @ 8:58AM
During this entire Notre Dame mess, I re-read C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters. How prophetic- I’m sure Screwtape,Slubgob, and all the other Disgraces and Gentledevils are rejoicing over this and probably giving great speeches and toasts at the Annual “Tempters’ Training College” dinner over their victories!
Kevin| 6.3.09 @ 9:11AM
Here is a great blog on the Notre Dame controversy, from a black conservative http://theblacksphere.blogspot.com/2009/05/notre-dang-angels-and-demons.html
Jeannine| 6.3.09 @ 9:30AM
JP: St John's College in Annapolis, MD & it's other campus in NM or AZ is not Catholic but Episcopalian. Nevertheless, an excellent liberal arts program!
KB| 6.3.09 @ 10:19AM
It appears that Notre Dame may pay for their decision to honor Obama.
The local ordinary- Bishop D’Arcy stated in an interview on EWTN with Raymond Arroyo on May 22:
“…I have written a note to Cardinal George in the hope that when the U.S. Bishops meet in June in San Antonio, Texas that the matter will be discussed, and I’ve asked to speak there. We want to be careful, we want to be gentle, but we want to be firm.
In addition, D’Arcy states: “There’s a lot of beautiful things at Notre Dame: the sacramental life of the children, the young people; the theology department so strengthened in recent years; you go into that basilica and so many (students) going to confession. But truth is truth, and I think something precious was lost.”
At the conclusion of the interview D’Arcy says: “If some good comes from it, I’m all for it…The price paid is too great…I love Notre Dame with my whole heart. It’s been a privilege to be associated with it, but they paid too great a price.”
Let’s see what happens in San Antonio this month.
Douglas| 6.3.09 @ 10:26AM
As a Notre Dame dad, I decry this otherwise fine university's straying from Catholic principles. Nothing unusual there, except that I'm not even Catholic. As long as they do not shun nice protestant lads like myself, I'd like to work with them to preserve and advance the cause of Christian higher education in this country. The awarding of an honoris causa law degree on a supporter of partial birth abortion was a tough one for me.
Jack Hughes| 6.3.09 @ 10:37AM
I will be skipping my 50th class reunion at Notre Dame this weekend - as will many others....
Jack Hughes ND '59
Gill O’Teen ✝✡| 6.3.09 @ 11:38AM
It is my understanding that the religious order running Notre Dame is directly under the authority of The Pope, and so, like the Jesuits, are not answerable to local Bishops. If so, Benedict needs to upbraid his subordinates in the sternest manner possible. But I don’t expect much from a religion that tolerates ‘good’ Catholics such as nancy pelosi, joe biden, ted kennedy, kathleen sebelius and claire mccaskill giving daily scandal to its teaching. Even the Holy Father must eventually answer to God.
Tony in Central PA| 6.3.09 @ 12:23PM
The decline and dissolution of Catholic universities in America is pervasive. My Mom graduated many years ago from a small Catholic college in northeastern PA. When she didn't send the school her usual contribution this spring, they contacted her. She informed them that their decision to host a speaker who was the president of a same - sex marriage lobbying organization cost them her support, at least for that year. She got a sniffy, self - justifying follow - up from the college about " diversity ", " tolerance " and " engagement ". Now she's considering cutting them off for good.
There was an aspect of utter absurdity to Obama's apperance at Notre Dame ; a university President who obviously doesn't believe in his own faith, and a large segment of the graduating seniors who apparently don't know theirs. It would seem to many at Notre Dame that one's faith has nothing to do with any claims of truth, its simply a personal preference like a favorite color or a place you like to eat.
Lost in all of this was a very clever ploy by this Administration to expose divisions on the issue of abortion in what appears to be its strongest foe - - the Catholic Church. I'm sure there are hopes in the White House that this may shift much of the abortion debate from the public square to behind church walls, paving the way for FOCA. I wonder how many of the ND students who cheered as Obama received his honor will look back twenty years from now and realize what fools they were ?
Schneider| 6.3.09 @ 4:13PM
Jeannine writes: "St John's College in Annapolis, MD & it's other campus in NM or AZ is not Catholic but Episcopalian."
Well, no:
"Despite its name, St. John's College has no religious affiliation."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._John's_College,_U.S.
M. Schneider, B.A., St. John's College (Santa Fe, New Mexico), '01
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Bob McGrath| 6.3.09 @ 11:12PM
Notre Dame like the majority of so called Catholic Universitiesl are better at recruiting rather then converting. Say your penance and go in peace.
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Richard Baker| 6.4.09 @ 5:43PM
As a 1992 St. Louis University grad, I agree with the idea that SLU is no longer a meaningful religious school. Father Biondi, who runs the university, has done a great job maintaining the physical plant but as a Catholic I found that the only religious aspect of the school was the beautiful Cathedral on Grand Avenue. Sadly, Father Hesburgh, Land O' Lakes, and Vatican II were the death knell of "Catholic" education in the US. When it comes to serving God or Mammon, the Catholic schools chose Mammon.
Pingback| 6.5.09 @ 7:15AM
The Salvaging of Notre Dame | JoeWebb.com links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
ann| 6.7.09 @ 1:27PM
Let's not turn our backs on Notre Dame university,but be a voice to get it back as a catholic university again
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