Faith and Service // Notre Dame News // Notre Dame News

Graduating seniors honored for commitment to postgraduate service

2012-05-24T13:00:00-04:00

One hundred fifty-nine University of Notre Dame graduating seniors embarking on a year or more of service in this country and abroad were honored during the University’s annual Senior Service Send-Off ceremony May 19 (Saturday) in the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center’s Leighton Concert Hall.

Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., president, commended the seniors for their commitment to service whether mentoring AIDS orphans in South Africa, helping protect and preserve our environment, serving the economically poor or marginalized, fostering spiritual formation in the nation’s parishes, or providing a host of other services that match the mission of Notre Dame.

Katie Bergin, a 1994 graduate who did her postgraduate service as a Holy Cross Associate, offered three insights to the graduates. She reminded them to be “gentle” with their parents who might be feeling a little fear for their child’s safety and to be innovative and adaptable with their lives to allow their vision to evolve. Finally, she extolled the seniors to pay attention to their service, because “genuine engagement in your service work, your careful listening and focused attention will guide your responses to the vital question: ‘Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?’”

Graduating senior Kenenna Amuzie, who will serve with the Lasallian Volunteers; senior Greg Woods, who will serve with the Holy Cross Overseas Lay Ministry Program; and senior Marilyn Blasingame, who will spend two years with the Peace Corps, introduced Father Jenkins, Bergin and Rev. William M. Lies, C.S.C., executive director of the Center for Social Concerns, who will be leaving the Center on July 1 to become the vice president of mission engagement and church affairs.

Father Lies, in addressing the graduates, said: “This moment is for YOU — but it is for your parents and families, too.” Turning to the parents, Father Lies said, “You’re the ones who planted and nurtured in them hearts for service, born of faith. You’re the ones who gave them and nurtured their intellectual curiosity, their compassion and their zeal. That’s why they’re really here today.”

Among the service programs in which this year’s Notre Dame graduates will participate are Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education, which provides teachers for understaffed parochial schools in dioceses across the United States; Notre Dame’s Echo Faith Formation Leadership Program, which trains and provides religious educators for Catholic parishes; the Peace Corps; AmeriCorps; and Teach For America.

Many of the graduates became involved in service and social action through the programs and courses of the Center for Social Concerns. They join a community of more than 4,000 Notre Dame alumni who have chosen postgraduate volunteer service since the Center for Social Concerns was founded in 1983.

Contact: Mike Hebbeler, director, Senior Transitions Programs, Center for Social Concerns, 574-631-5779, Hebbeler.2@nd.edu

Holy Cross designates Day of Prayer for donors

2012-05-22T13:15:00-04:00

The Congregation of Holy Cross, the international Catholic religious order whose members founded the University of Notre Dame, is remembering more than 700 friends of the Province in daily prayers and Masses today (May 22) on a special Day of Prayer to thank its benefactors.

Priests and brothers in all U.S. Province Communities, in seven countries on three continents, will thank all those who have offered financial and prayerful support over the past three years through the event, which is the culmination of Phase I of the “Following in the Footsteps of a Great Band of Men” Campaign.

Rev. David T. Tyson, C.S.C., provincial superior of the U.S. Province, said the Footsteps Campaign has energized and strengthened the Holy Cross Community.

“I have witnessed through this Campaign new friendships forged and old relationships strengthened; I have seen the priests and brothers of Holy Cross energized in their ministries, knowing that so many people care enough about their work to support it; and I can attest to what our founder, Blessed Basil Moreau, found essential to the foundation of Holy Cross, that being a close collaboration with the lay faithful,” Father Tyson said. “These intangibles define success for Holy Cross, and we are so very blessed our benefactors chose to be part of the campaign’s success.”

In November 2011, eight months ahead of schedule, the Footsteps Campaign surpassed its Phase I goal of $6.5 million. To date, more than $17 million has been raised. Notre Dame played a significant role in helping the U.S. Province push ahead of its Phase I goal, as did the University of Portland. Both are educational ministries of the Congregation.

The Congregation still wishes to raise $14 million in the coming years in order to meet the overall $30.9 million goal and projected needs for:

• Religious formation, education and advanced studies ($12 million)
• Holy Cross House, retirement, assisted living and wellness ($10.5 million)
• International missions ($8.4 million)

The U.S. Province is a healthy and vibrant Catholic religious community fortunate enough to have diverse age groups – from men in their 20s to men in their 90s – fulfilling Blessed Father Moreau’s vision to educate minds and hearts through a commitment to education, parish and mission. The Footsteps Campaign will allow Holy Cross to remain vibrant and carry out that vision.

A special message of gratitude has also been produced in video, as well as a presentation of names of benefactors, on the Holy Cross website.

Contact:Stephanie Gattman, Office of Communications, Congregation of Holy Cross, 574-631-9452, sgattman@holycrossusa.org

Voters’ views of Mormonism still stumbling block for Romney, new study shows

2012-05-22T07:00:00-04:00

Though the social barriers of race and gender were largely overcome during the last U.S. presidential campaign, religious affiliation (in this case, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormonism) is still a significant hurdle, according to a new study by University of Notre Dame Political Science Professor David Campbell and colleagues from Brigham Young University and the University of Akron.

Campbell also is co-author of “American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us,” (Simon and Schuster, 2010).

A “stained glass ceiling” — one that John F. Kennedy famously shattered in 1960 — may still be an obstacle to Mitt Romney’s 2012 bid for the White House, just as it was for his 2008 presidential aspirations, according to the study, published today in the journal “Political Behavior.”

To many voters, Mormonism remains unpopular and mysterious because of the relative social insularity of the group — that is, followers are most likely to marry within their religion and have the fewest friends and family members outside of the faith. The lack of social contact means that most people have little personal knowledge and experience with Mormons, and are thus susceptible to persuasion by negative information about the group in question.

Campbell and his colleagues conclude that Romney’s religion is likely to remain a potential stumbling block in 2012 unless public attitudes toward Mormons change. Such changes have occurred in the past, as with Kennedy and Catholicism in 1960.

“In 1960, John F. Kennedy famously said, ‘For while this year it may be a Catholic against whom the finger of suspicion is pointed, in other years it has been — and may someday be again — a Jew, or a Quaker, or a Unitarian, or a Baptist,’” Campbell says. “In 2012, we can add ‘Mormon’ to that list. However, our research shows that ‘the finger of suspicion’ can be overcome through meaningful relationships between Mormons and their non-Mormon neighbors, co-workers, friends and family members.”

Previous research suggests that sustained contact across religious boundaries — interreligious bridging — fosters religious tolerance in the political sphere. This study, however, takes that one step further by showing that passing contact with a religious out-group can exacerbate unease with that group, at least as it applies to electoral politics. Furthermore, this analysis underscores that campaign information does not circulate in a vacuum. The impact of the framing and counter-framing of Mormonism depends on a voter’s personal experience with Mormons.

Contact: David Campbell, 574-631-7809, Dave_Campbell@nd.edu

ND Expert: Religious liberty lawsuit to 'vindicate constitutional commitments'

2012-05-21T15:00:00-04:00

Today, the University of Notre Dame, along with a diverse group of universities and schools, health care providers and social welfare agencies, filed federal lawsuits challenging the Obama administration’s rule that requires many religious employers to provide coverage to their employees for sterilization, contraception and some abortion-causing drugs.

The lawsuits are efforts to “vindicate the country’s constitutional and traditional commitments to religious freedom and pluralism,” according to University of Notre Dame Law Professor Richard W. Garnett, whose teaching and scholarly research focus on constitutional law and religious freedom matters.

“These latest lawsuits, like the many others that had already been filed, are asking the courts to enforce the Constitution and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and to protect religious liberty and conscience from a regrettable and burdensome regulatory mandate,” says Garnett, a past clerk to former Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist. “This mandate imposes a serious and unnecessary burden on many religious institutions’ commitments, witness and mission. It purports to require many religious schools, health care providers and social welfare agencies to compromise their institutional character and integrity. In a society that respects and values diversity, as ours does, we should protect and accommodate our distinctively religious institutions and welcome their contributions to the common good.”

Garnett emphasizes the lawsuits do not challenge or object to the broad goals of the Affordable Care Act and do not seek to limit any employee’s access to the drugs and procedures in question.

“These lawsuits are not asking the courts to endorse the plaintiffs’ religious views, only to respect and accommodate them,” he says. “Religious institutions are not seeking to control what their employees buy, use or do in private; they are trying to avoid being conscripted by the government into acting in a way that would be inconsistent with their character, mission and values.

“In a pluralistic society, people will often disagree about values and policies,” Garnett says, “And it will not always be possible to accommodate those who object in good faith to regulatory requirements. At the same time, a society like ours — with a Constitution and federal religious-freedom protections like ours — will often regard it as both wise and just to accommodate religious believers and institutions by exempting them from requirements that would force them to compromise their integrity. This is such a case. We Americans do not agree about what religious freedom means, but we have long agreed that it matters and should be protected through law. True, there will sometimes be tension and conflict, and trade-offs and compromises. Given our deep-rooted commitment to religious freedom, though, our goal as a community should always be to strike the balance in a way that honors that commitment.”

Contact: Richard W. Garnett, 574-631-6981, rgarnett@nd.edu

Notre Dame files religious liberty lawsuit related to HHS mandate

2012-05-21T11:00:00-04:00

The University of Notre Dame filed a lawsuit Monday (May 21) challenging the constitutionality of a federal regulation that requires religious organizations to provide, pay for, and/or facilitate insurance coverage for services that violate the teachings of the Catholic Church.

Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, the lawsuit names as defendants Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, and their respective departments.

The federal mandate requires Notre Dame and similar religious organizations to provide in their insurance plans abortion-inducing drugs, contraceptives and sterilization procedures, which are contrary to Catholic teaching. It also authorizes the government to determine which organizations are sufficiently “religious” to warrant an exemption from the requirement.

Notre Dame’s lawsuit charges that these components of the regulation are a violation of the religious liberties guaranteed by the First Amendment, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and other federal laws.

“This filing is about the freedom of a religious organization to live its mission, and its significance goes well beyond any debate about contraceptives,” Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., Notre Dame’s president, wrote in a message to members of the campus community. “For if we concede that the government can decide which religious organizations are sufficiently religious to be awarded the freedom to follow the principles that define their mission, then we have begun to walk down a path that ultimately leads to the undermining of those institutions."

Notre Dame’s lawsuit was one of 12 filed Monday against the federal government by 43 plaintiffs challenging the constitutionality of the regulation.

Father Jenkins’ message and the lawsuit are available online.

ND Expert: The legacy and challenge of a landmark decision

2012-05-18T15:00:00-04:00

Reflecting on the recent anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision, John Schoenig, director of the University of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) Program for K-12 educational access, insisted that serious challenges to the equality of educational opportunity remain.

“On May 17, we commemorated the 58th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, arguably the most important civil rights decision in Supreme Court history,” Schoenig said.

“It was through Brown that the deplorable legacy of ‘separate but equal’ that had been enshrined in Plessy v. Ferguson was formally prohibited in America’s public schools. This year’s anniversary is a particularly special one, insofar as Brown is now as old as Plessy was when Brown was decided.”

According to Schoenig, “The Brown opinion invoked the spirit of Justice John Marshall Harlan, who wrote a passionate dissent in Plessy on the repugnancy of segregation. ‘Our Constitution is color blind,’ said Justice Harlan, ’and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law.’”

Schoenig said that “it is difficult to reflect on Brown and its legacy without being struck by the degree to which we have failed to make good on its promise. In our work here with Notre Dame’s ACE program, our interest in and passion for expanding educational options for at-risk children is animated by a belief that the promise of Brown may never fully be realized until we take deliberate steps to ensure that at-risk families have the same opportunity to determine their child’s education — be it in a traditional public school, a faith-based or secular private school, or a charter school — as the opportunity enjoyed by more privileged families.

“A veritable ocean of ink has already been spilled on the the manner in which equal educational opportunity is systematically denied to at-risk minority children,” Schoenig continued, “and the debate over the causes of this situation are as fierce as any in contemporary civic discourse. But on this, the 58th anniversary of Brown, we would be well served to ignore the white noise for a moment and acknowledge that empowering at-risk children with as many quality educational options as possible is a simple and straightforward matter of social justice.”

Contact: John Schoenig, 574-631-8709, Schoenig.1@nd.edu

Play Like a Champion Today, Athletics to travel to Uganda to promote youth sports

2012-05-14T14:50:00-04:00

As most college students are packing to return home for summer vacation, 12 University of Notre Dame students will be leaving to share the experience of sports with the children of Uganda. This trip, sponsored by Play Like a Champion Today (PLACT) as part of the Institute for Educational Initiatives and by the Department of Athletics will focus on promoting youth sports as well as educational research.

Heading this international effort are Kevin Dugan, manager of youth and community programs for the athletics department, and Clark Power, professor of education and psychology and founder of PLACT, a program developed to champion character development through youth sports. “The purpose of the whole effort is to work with the Catholic Church and the (Ugandan) Ministry of Education and Sports to share ideas on how sports can be used as a platform for positive social development,” Dugan said.

The group of students, led by Dugan and Power, will arrive in Uganda’s capital city, Kampala, to meet with Penny Kabenge, secretary general of the Uganda Olympic Committee, and then continue on to Kkindu, a small village outside the city of Masaka, and Jinja over a two-week period. During this time, the students will assist with PLACT research, run a variety of sports camps for children and provide support during PLACT sessions specifically adapted for Ugandan youth and their world of sports.

Also involved with PLACT Uganda are Notre Dame football head coach Brian Kelly and his wife, Paqui, who provide support through the Kelly Cares Foundation. When interviewed on this initiative, Brian Kelly said, “My wife, Paqui, was passionate about this effort and, as it relates to athletics, we’re committed to anything we can do to generate that kind of camaraderie and bring people together.”

Both Dugan and Power believe this Notre Dame trip will expose students to a very different version of Uganda than that portrayed in “Kony 2012,” a film that went viral in March. “I think our students will really be encouraged by the talents and gifts of Ugandan youth,” Dugan said. “We have been very thoughtful about engaging the people of Uganda in ways that complement what they are already doing there to improve physical education in schools, and providing more outlets for personal and character development through sports.”

Promoting that exact outcome is what led to the alliance of Athletics and PLACT staff two years ago. This is the second trip connecting the Athletics Department and PLACT, and all involved hope this service and educational opportunity will grow in coming years. This year, in addition to introducing PLACT to Ugandan children, Power will also conduct a two-day workshop with Uganda Martyrs University, where he is working on a joint research project with faculty and staff: studying the impact of sports education on child development in that nation. Power explained, “The PLACT model has had great success in North America, and we look forward to our Ugandan partnership and exploring how it can make a difference around the world.”

This trip is the product of a year’s collaboration with the Catholic Church and the Ministry of Education and Sports in Uganda. In preparation for this trip, Notre Dame students completed two prerequisite courses focusing on the social foundations of coaching, sports and development, and participated in an interview process with Dugan. The trip itself is part of ongoing coursework that will conclude in the fall.

Dugan and Power want the group to approach their efforts in Uganda with a great deal of humility and passion. “If we walk humbly and passionately, then our presence can help support the work of the government and the church to use sports as a form of growth and development for the children of Uganda,” Dugan expressed. Power added, “This trip is an outstanding result of Play Like a Champion Today and the Athletic Department’s commitment to positively changing people’s lives through sports, our students’ natural zeal for service and the University’s commitment to promoting social justice around the world.”

Father Jenkins urges graduates to express beliefs respectfully

2012-05-07T15:00:00-04:00

In a commencement address Monday (May 7) at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., president of the University of Notre Dame, urged graduates to hold fast to their convictions but express them in “more skillful, more respectful ways.”

Father Jenkins spoke to Wesley’s 130th graduating class in a ceremony at the Washington National Cathedral.

“We in this country are in the midst of a social crisis, a harsh and deepening split between groups that are all too ready to see evil in each other,” Father Jenkins said. “Each side has never been more eager yet more unable to dominate the other. Both sides call for change, but each believes it’s the other side that must change.”

In direct reference to the 2012 elections, Father Jenkins said:

“So of all the questions posed in this campaign season, the most important one is rarely asked. Now, when the country is increasingly diverse, when the number of disputed moral questions is rising, when citizens have deep and opposing passions that neither side will give up for the sake of civility: Can citizens of the United States learn to express their convictions in more skillful, more respectful ways?

“We need an answer. A country whose citizens treat one another with scorn does not have a bright future.”

To create more civil discourse in our society, Father Jenkins urged the use of persuasion rather than coercion to convince others of our most passionate convictions.

“We have to call on our conscience to explore our convictions and how we express them. Even in the case of my most noble belief, I must ask myself: Am I trying to advance this belief through persuasion or coercion, with respect or contempt, by accepting sacrifice or imposing sacrifice? When I refuse to compromise, is it because I love a principle, or because I hate the people on the other side?

“If we are determined to keep our convictions free of malice, then I propose that we strive to meet one simple test for public discourse: Our attempts to express our convictions should take the form of an effort to persuade. … If I don’t try to persuade others, but only condemn them, then I am not showing the respect that love demands. To stand apart, proclaim my position, and refuse to talk except to judge does not reduce hatred or promote love. And if it does neither, how can it be inspired by God?”

Inaugurated as Notre Dame’s 17th president in 2005, Father Jenkins is in his second five-year term. He is a professor of philosophy and author of “Knowledge and Faith in Thomas Aquinas.”

The full speech is available online.

ND Expert: Assessing the assessment of Catholic female religious

2012-05-07T14:00:00-04:00

Last week, the Vatican charged the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), an organization that represents most of America’s Catholic nuns, with “serious doctrinal problems” and announced plans to place LCWR into a sort of receivership overseen by three American bishops.

Kathleen Sprows Cummings, associate professor of American Studies at the University of Notre Dame, said she understands why so many American Catholics have been “flabbergasted” by the decision.

“Considering the many problems facing the American church, especially the legal, moral and financial consequences of a devastating clergy sex-abuse crisis, it does seem curious that the Vatican leaders would single out Women Religious as a group in need of reform,” Cummings said. “In other respects, though, this latest news is sadly unsurprising.”

A historian of the Catholic Church in America and particularly of women in American religion, Cummings is the author of “New Women of the Old Faith: Gender and American Catholic Identity in the Progressive Era” and is at work on a new book, “Citizen Saints: Catholics and Canonization in American Culture.”

“The doctrinal assessment is merely the most public, and likely the most cataclysmic, collision between a group of women who have grown progressively more outspoken and more powerful over the last five decades and a church hierarchy who have difficulty understanding or accepting women who don’t behave in traditionally feminine ways,” Cummings said.

According to Cummings, “as Catholic sisters have grown more educated and more professional, they have also become more inclined to challenge those in authority. A telling statement in the doctrinal assessment refers to the LCWR’s considerable influence over religious congregations throughout the world. Arrest this nonsense here, in other words, before it can no longer be contained.”

Cummings acknowledged the difficulty of predicting how the nuns in the LCWR would respond to the doctrinal assessment, but added, “Here is what I do know. First, they will not respond until they have considered the matter carefully, through individual and corporate prayer, discernment, discussion and introspection. Second, Catholic sisters are, hands down, the bravest and most creative people I know, and their response is certain to reflect that. My fear is not for them, but for the many other lay Catholics who will not want to be part of a church that responds to sisters with anything other than a sincere and profound ‘thank you,’ for all they have done to build the church in this country, for responding to the greatest needs in our society, and for being the face, hands and loving presence of Jesus Christ in this world.”

Contact: Kathleen Cummings, 574-631-8749, cummings.23@nd.edu

Survey of Catholic school principals finds support needed for a tough job

2012-05-07T10:00:00-04:00

Catholic elementary school principals, speaking out in a major nationwide survey, report faithful commitments alongside acute challenges in the operation of their schools, and they identify financial management, marketing, Catholic identity, enrollment management and long-range planning as their schools’ top five areas of need.

The study, completed by the University of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education and its Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program, is a rare, comprehensive glimpse of these principals’ views on what they need in order to do their jobs better and how they describe the state of Catholic education today.

“It is difficult to read the responses of Catholic school principals in this study and not sense both their commitment to this ministry and the overwhelming responsibilities that are associated with it,” say the authors of “Leadership Speaks: A National Survey of Catholic Primary School Principals.” They paint a picture of many principals as faith-filled individuals confronting unusually challenging expectations, worthy of new forms of support, such as their own national association.

The study has not yet been published, but the authors — Rev. Ronald Nuzzi, senior director of the Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program, along with two members of the Remick Leadership Program faculty, Anthony Holter and James Frabutt — presented an overview of their work during the National Catholic Educational Association annual convention in Boston and at the American Educational Research Association annual meeting in Vancouver, Canada, both held in April.

A total of 1,685 Catholic school principals representing all areas of the country and all types of school locations and organizational structures participated in the survey during 2010, answering nearly three dozen questions.

When invited to give open-ended answers, the participants narrowed down the five top areas of need to the two they called most important — enrollment management and financial management — which together often capture the most basic goal of survival: keeping a school open.

Based on the data obtained, “the Church seems to have hired well, attracting mission-driven and loyal individuals to the overarching goals of Catholic education,” according to the study. But these principals live daily with what has been called “the tyranny of the urgent,” hungering for more support — “emotional as well as financial.”

“A Catholic school principal has job expectations that go beyond what can be found in secular educational literature,” the authors note, pointing out that the work of a chief executive officer and a chief operating officer is combined with the school’s overarching religious purpose: “the sanctification of all its stakeholders.”

The study provides enormous amounts of data describing today’s Catholic school principals and outlining their views, and the authors conclude with four recommendations:

Develop “new models of governance for Catholic elementary schools” that shift the panoply of principal responsibilities “into a more manageable and realistic position description.”
“Develop a program of ongoing professional development and renewal for principals” that address their needs, both professional and personal.
Organize a national association of Catholic school principals as a means “to give voice to their leadership concerns at every level and to promote advocacy for Catholic schools at the national level.”
“Convene multiple groups of national and international stakeholders to advance the understanding of Catholic schools as instruments of the new evangelization.”

Contact: Rev. Ronald Nuzzi, rnuzzi@nd.edu

ND theologian Rev. Daniel Groody, C.S.C., receives 2012 Touchstone Award

2012-05-03T15:00:00-04:00

Rev. Daniel G. Groody, C.S.C., associate professor of theology and director of the Center for Latino Spirituality and Culture at the University of Notre Dame’s Institute for Latino Studies, has received the 2012 Touchstone Award from the National Federation of Priests’ Councils (NFPC).

The NFPC annually gives the Touchstone Award to a Catholic priest “whose service in the Gospel of Jesus Christ exemplifies the purposes and goals of the Federation.”

In announcing the award, the NFPC, which represents 26,000 priests nationwide, praised Father Groody’s work in the Latino community and his scholarship in migration issues and theology.

Father Groody spent many years doing pastoral work and research in Latin America and along the U.S.- Mexican border, particularly in the Coachella Valley of California, where he worked from 1997 to 1999. In addition to the numerous books and articles he has written on U.S. Latino spirituality, globalization and the relationship of Christian spirituality to social justice, he has produced documentary films including “One Border, One Body: Immigration and the Eucharist” and “Dying to Live: A Migrant’s Journey.”

Founded in 1968, the NFPC supports member organizations and priests through collaboration, communication, ongoing formation, research and advocacy.

Christian and Muslim scholars to meet at Notre Dame

2012-04-17T15:45:00-04:00

Scholars and believers from the Catholic and Islamic faiths will meet at the University of Notre Dame Thursday and Friday (April 19 and 20) to discuss and deepen the encounter of the Catholic Church and Islam.

Among the issues discussed in “The Church and Islam: An International Colloquium,” sponsored by Notre Dame’s Institute for Church Life, will be Muslim views of the Bible, the church and the saints; Christian views of the Quran and Islamic teachings on Muhammad; and the roles of conflict, reconciliation and healing in Christian-Muslim relations.

“The colloquium emerges from a shared conviction that interreligious dialogue is best conducted by believers speaking from the heart of their traditions,” said Gabriel Said Reynolds, Tisch Family Associate Professor of Theology at Notre Dame, who, with John Cavadini, McGrath-Cavadini Director of the Institute for Church Life, organized the meeting. “Such exchanges should naturally develop in Catholics and Muslims a mutual and sympathetic appreciation for the beauty of both beliefs."

Colloquium speakers will include Egyptian Jesuit scholar Samir Khalil Samir, professor of Islamic Studies at the Université Saint-Joseph in Beirut and at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome. Father Samir, who advises the Pope on dialogue with Islam, will give a lecture on “Pope Benedict XVI and Islam” at 8 p.m. Thursday (April 19) in the Andrews Auditorium of Geddes Hall. His remarks will be followed by a response from Abdolrahim Gavahi, president of the World Religions Research Center in Tehran.

Other events during the colloquium include a panel discussion on “Christian Reflections on Holiness in Islam/Muslim Reflections on Holiness in Christianity,” in which each Muslim and Catholic scholar will offer an appreciative reflection on an exemplary person from the other tradition.

More information and a colloquium schedule are available online. All events are open to the public.

Contact: Jenny Monahan, assistant director of the Institute for Church Life, 574-631-9195, monahan.27@nd.edu

Rev. Paul Kollman, C.S.C., appointed to direct Center for Social Concerns

2012-04-16T14:00:00-04:00

Rev. Paul V. Kollman, C.S.C., associate professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame, has been appointed executive director of the University’s Center for Social Concerns (CSC), effective July 1.

“Father Paul Kollman’s scholarship and teaching, his commitment to Catholic social teaching and his administrative experience all uniquely equip him for leadership of the Center for Social Concerns,” said Don Pope-Davis, vice president and associate provost for undergraduate studies.

Father Kollman has spent this semester teaching theology at Tangaza College in Nairobi.

“I’m humbled and honored to be asked to lead the Center for Social Concerns,” Father Kollman said. “I look forward to building on the vision of my predecessors, Center founder Father Don McNeill, C.S.C., and Father Bill Lies, C.S.C., and working with the host of talented and committed colleagues who have made the Center a vibrant place of engaged scholarship and service learning. I’m confident that together we can deepen the Center’s role in bringing together education of mind and heart, a goal long central to the mission of the Congregation of Holy Cross and of Notre Dame.”

A native of Cincinnati and a 1984 Notre Dame alumnus, Father Kollman earned a master’s degree in theology from the University in 1990, and a doctoral degree from the University of Chicago Divinity School in 2001.

Father Kollman’s theological scholarship and teaching concern African Christianity, mission history and world Christianity, and he has pursued research in eastern Africa, Nigeria and South Africa, as well as in Europe and the United States. He has published articles and reviews in numerous journals of theology, religious studies and African studies, and a 2005 book, “The Evangelization of Slaves and Catholic Origins in Eastern Africa.” He is at work on a book on the Catholic missionary evangelization of eastern Africa and a study of the Catholic Charismatic Movement in Africa.

Recently serving as acting director of the CSC, Father Kollman has worked with the center since 2004, and in 2009, with CSC assistant director Rachel Tomas Morgan, he was co-author of an article in the New Theology Review on the challenges and opportunities of service-learning at Catholic universities.

In addition to his work with the CSC, Kollman serves as a fellow of Notre Dame’s Kellogg Institute for International Studies, Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies and Nanovic Institute for European Studies.

As CSC executive director, Father Kollman succeeds Father Lies, who was recently appointed Notre Dame’s vice president for mission engagement and church affairs. Under Father Lies’ leadership, the CSC was designated as a University institute.

In memoriam: Sister Eleanor Bernstein, former director of Notre Dame Center for Liturgy

2012-03-28T07:00:00-04:00

Sister Eleanor Bernstein, C.S.J., former director of the University of Notre Dame’s Center for Liturgy, died March 12 in Cleveland after a long illness. She was 73 years old.

A native of New Orleans, Sister Bernstein entered the Sisters of St. Joseph in 1957 and professed her final vows in 1965. A graduate of St. Mary’s Dominican College in New Orleans, she earned a master’s degree in English from Louisiana State University. She also earned master’s degrees in theology and liturgical studies from Notre Dame in 1969 and 1981, respectively.

Before joining the Notre Dame faculty in 1983, Sister Bernstein worked in a variety of ministries in New Orleans and in the Louisiana dioceses of Baton Rouge and Lake Charles, teaching at St. Joseph Academy and St. Joseph Junior College, serving as director of religious education at St. George Parish in Baton Rouge, as director of liturgy at Our Lady of Divine Providence in Metairie, and at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Lake Charles.

Appointed director of what was then called the Center for Pastoral Liturgy at Notre Dame in 1985, Sister Bernstein served in that position until 2002. As director, she designed and planned an annual liturgy conference and banquet at Notre Dame, as well as numerous liturgical seminars in the U.S., Ireland and Australia. She also wrote articles on Catholic liturgy and edited the center’s many publications.

Rev. Michael S. Driscoll, associate professor of theology at Notre Dame and president of the Catholic Academy of Liturgy, described Sister Bernstein as “the quintessence of graciousness,” and remembered that she had emerged in an academic and pastoral field that “was very much male-dominated, so to have a conciliatory presence like Eleanor was helpful.”

Last year, Ave Maria Press published a book edited by Sister Bernstein, “Praying Our Lives: A Woman’s Treasury of Catholic Prayer.” An early and enthusiastic reader of the book was Sister Helen Prejean, C.S.J. Notre Dame’s 1996 Laetare Medalist and a friend of Sister Bernstein since the two of them entered the convent together. “It’s a great loss not to have her,” Sister Prejean said, adding that she would remember her friend as “steeped in tradition and a lover of words and good liturgy.”

Notre Dame named with distinction on 2012 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll

2012-03-27T14:40:00-04:00

The University of Notre Dame has been named with distinction to the 2012 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll in recognition of the role it plays in solving community problems; achieving meaningful, measurable outcomes in the communities it serves; and placing students on a lifelong path of civic engagement.

Notre Dame is one of four Indiana colleges and universities to be selected with distinction. The Corporation for National and Community Service releases the Community Service Honor Roll annually.

“At Notre Dame, we consider community service an integral component of our mission to educate the heart and the mind,” said Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., Notre Dame’s president. “I am always impressed by the numerous ways our students and employees choose to serve others both in the local community and across the world.”

Community service and community engagement efforts at Notre Dame range across University units and are integral to the academy. Last year, the University offered 119 community-based learning courses and had more than 200 undergraduate students engaged in community-based research. Community service and engagement efforts include mentoring by student-athletes; teacher professional development in science, technology, engineering and mathematics; tutoring and arts programming at the Robinson Community Learning Center; and service through student clubs and organizations.

Last year alone, Notre Dame’s Center for Social Concerns (CSC) estimates that 3,436 Notre Dame students gave more than 188,000 hours of service at 60 local community agencies, a 3 percent increase in the number of students from the previous year. Nationally, 1,139 students took part in service-learning courses at more than 331 sites as part of the CSC Summer Service Learning Program or the Social Concerns Seminars. All of these efforts would not be possible without the insight, expertise and commitment of community partners locally and nationally.

Launched in 2006, the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll annually recognizes institutions of higher education for their commitment to and achievement in community service. The President’s Honor Roll increases the public’s awareness of the contributions that colleges and their students make to local communities and the nation as a whole.

Contact: Jay Brandenberger, director of research and assessment, Center for Social Concerns, 574-631-5293, jbranden@nd.edu

Fourth annual CommUniversity Day deepening its roots

2012-03-26T08:00:00-04:00

The fourth annual CommUniversity Day, a day of community service and teamwork between University of Notre Dame students and the City of South Bend, will take place March 31 (Saturday).

The effort, a collaboration between the student governments of Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s College, Ivy Tech, Holy Cross and Indiana University South Bend; the Robinson Community Learning Center; Unity Gardens; and the City of South Bend, involves 40 projects in the community. Organizers anticipate about 700 student volunteers.

Projects will take place at a variety of locations, including The Center for the Homeless, Potawatomi Zoo and Hannah & Friends. This year’s theme is “Deepening Our Roots,” which means many of the projects are aimed toward helping and protecting the environment.

Projects include spring cleaning and playground sprucing at South Bend’s Kelly Park and Leeper Park, painting at El Campito Day Care, working with city engineers to develop a plan to solve a drainage issue near a park, painting fire hydrants, and installing a rain garden at South Bend’s Martin Luther King Recreation Center.

Organizers are including a food drive to benefit the Neighbors in Need initiative, in which all of the schools are participants. The public is encouraged to drop off donations at the RCLC, 921 N. Eddy St., South Bend.

The community is invited to attend the following events:

At 7 p.m. March 28 (Wednesday), speakers from the Robinson Center, Unity Gardens and the Food Bank of Northern Indiana will hold a panel discussion on social issues in the community and how their organizations approach them. This discussion, open to the public, will take place at the DeBartolo Hall auditorium, Room 101.
From 1-3 p.m. March 31, a Kids’ Festival will be held on the Irish Green outside the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center. The festival is geared toward preschool and elementary-school students and their families.
From 1-3:30 p.m. March 31, guided tours of campus will begin at the Robinson Center and the Irish Green.
From 3-5 p.m. March 31, organizers will host a community picnic at the Robinson Center to celebrate the day. The picnic will feature free food and drinks as well as performances from Halftime and the Notre Dame Glee Club.

Campus and community members are encouraged to visit communiversityday.nd.edu for more information or to sign up for projects.

The Notre Dame Student Government started CommUniversity Day in 2008 as a means of bringing students and community members together with an emphasis on service. Sponsors include Notre Dame’s Office of Public Affairs and Communications, Center for Social Concerns and Graduate Student Union.

Contact: Erika Hansen, Community Relations Director, Notre Dame Student Government, 224-406-0053, ehansen2@nd.edu

ND Right to Life to host panel discussion on HHS contraception mandate

2012-03-23T16:00:00-04:00

The new Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) requirement that most employers provide free coverage of contraceptives and sterilization to their employees through health insurance plans will be the subject of a panel discussion at 7:30 p.m. March 27 (Tuesday) in the McCartan Courtroom of the University of Notre Dame’s Eck Hall of Law.

The discussion, sponsored by Notre Dame Right to Life, is titled “Notre Dame and the HHS ‘Contraceptive’ Mandate.” Panelists will include O. Carter Snead, professor of law in the Notre Dame Law School; Richard Garnett, associate dean and professor of law in the Notre Dame Law School; Lisa Everett, co-director of the Office of Family Life for the Diocese of Fort Wayne/South Bend; and Gabrielle M. Speach, senior student in Notre Dame’s Program of Liberal Studies.

Among the questions the panel will consider are: What is the HHS contraception mandate? Whose rights does it violate? What is at stake for Notre Dame if the mandate is not overturned?

The discussion is open to the public.

Contact: Gabrielle M. Speach, 585-429-0476, gspeach19@gmail.com

Secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education to deliver Keeley Vatican Lecture

2012-03-21T15:00:00-04:00

The Most Reverend Archbishop Jean-Louis Bruguès, O.P., secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education, will deliver the 2012 Terrence R. Keeley Vatican Lecture at 4:30 p.m. March 22 (Thursday) in the Eck Visitors’ Center Auditorium at the University of Notre Dame.

Sponsored by the Nanovic Institute for European Studies, his lecture is titled “The Second Vatican Council Ahead of Us,” and is free and open to the public. Bruguès is also scheduled to celebrate Mass in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at Notre Dame at 5:15 p.m. March 23 (Friday).

Bruguès was born in Bagnères-de-Bigorre near the Pyrenees and studied at the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po) before earning a doctorate in theology. Ordained in 1975, he is a member of the Order of Friars Preachers. Shortly after being appointed bishop of Angers in 2000, he was elected president of the Doctrinal Commission of the French Episcopal Conference.

Since 2007, Bruguès has served as secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education under the prefecture of Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski. This congregation has authority over all seminaries, houses of religious and secular formation, and all universities, faculties and educational institutes that fall under its purview. Bruguès’ activities are focused in the Congregation’s Office for Universities.

The annual Terrence R. Keeley Vatican Lecture provides the Notre Dame community with the opportunity to interact with distinguished representatives from the Holy See and significant dioceses of Europe. Past lecturers have included Cardinal Angelo Amato from Italy, Cardinal Reinhard Marx from Germany and Archbishop Charles J. Brown, the recently appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland.

More information on the lecture and the series is available at nanovic.nd.edu.

Contact: Monica Caro, 574-631-3547, mcaro@nd.edu

Father James King appointed to direct campus ministry at Notre Dame

2012-03-21T14:10:00-04:00

Rev. James B. King, C.S.C., religious superior of Holy Cross priests and brothers at Notre Dame, has been appointed director of the University of Notre Dame’s Office of Campus Ministry by Rev. Thomas P. Doyle, C.S.C., vice president for student affairs, effective April 2.

King, who is also a trustee and fellow of the University, has ministerial responsibility for the 60 Holy Cross religious at Notre Dame. Before his appointment to that position in 2010, he had served for seven years as rector of the Sorin College residence hall.

As director of Campus Ministry, King will oversee a staff of some 30 clerical, religious and lay ministers tending to the spiritual needs of all Notre Dame students. He will replace Rev. Joseph Carey, C.S.C., campus minister and priest in residence at Notre Dame, who has served as interim director of Campus Ministry since August 2010.

“The work of Campus Ministry is at the heart of a Notre Dame experience that seeks to educate and integrate the student’s heart with their mind,” said Doyle. “Father King has given almost his entire service as a priest to serving and developing young men and women. The Notre Dame community will be blessed by his zeal, his wisdom and his vision.”

As the division responsible for pastoral care and sacramental life on campus, the Office of Campus Ministry has a central role in the Catholic mission of the University. While Campus Ministry will remain integrated in the Office of Student Affairs and maintain a reporting line to that office, the director will report to the Office of the President to recognize both its role in the life of our students and in the mission of the University as a whole.

A native of Chicago, King graduated from Notre Dame in 1981, entered Moreau Seminary, and earned a master of divinity degree from the University in 1987.

Ordained a priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross the following year, he spent two years as an assistant rector and freshman seminar instructor at Notre Dame before leaving for the University of Wisconsin, where he earned a master’s degree in political science in 1992.

He served for five years at the University of Portland as a history instructor, rector and assistant director in the alumni office and for one year as director of Portland’s foreign study program in Salzburg, Austria. He returned to Notre Dame in 1997 and served as director of vocations for the Indiana Province of Holy Cross from 1997 to 2005.

King will continue in his role as religious superior and as associate director of the Holy Cross Mission Center, which supports the Congregation’s work overseas. He has taught business ethics in Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business and a course in theology for the University’s master of divinity program. He also is the author of “Known by Name: Inside the Halls of Notre Dame,” an autobiographical account of his ministry to Notre Dame students.

Contact: Rev. James B. King, C.S.C., 574-631-9361, jking1@nd.edu

Notre Dame to celebrate 2012 Holy Cross Week

2012-03-19T08:00:00-04:00

The Congregation of Holy Cross, the religious community that founded the University of Notre Dame, celebrates its 175th birthday this month, and the anniversary will be commemorated on campus during the events of Holy Cross Week beginning March 25 (Sunday).

Sunday Vespers will be celebrated on March 25 at 7:15 p.m. in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, and prayers will be said through the intercession of Blessed Basil Moreau, C.S.C., for the intentions of the University community, vocations to religious life and priesthood and an increase in zeal to make God known, loved and served.

A discussion, “Partners in Mission: Working Side-by-Side with the Congregation,” will be held at 8 p.m. March 26 (Monday) in the Andrews Auditorium of Geddes Hall. The discussion will include reflections by John Affleck-Graves, Notre Dame’s executive vice president; Joseph Russo, director of student financial strategies; and Heather R. Russell, associate vice president for residential life. Rev. Edward A. Malloy, C.S.C., Notre Dame president emeritus, will chair the discussion, which will be followed by a reception.

The past, present and future of Holy Cross will be addressed in a discussion, “Brothers in Mission: Life and work in the Congregation,” at 8 p.m. March 28 (Wednesday) in the Andrews Auditorium of Geddes Hall. Discussion speakers will include Rev. Thomas Doyle, C.S.C., vice president for student affairs; Rev. William Dailey, C.S.C, visiting associate professor of law; and Holy Cross seminarian Patrick Reidy, C.S.C. Peter Kilpatrick, dean of Notre Dame’s College of Engineering, will chair the discussion.

A Mass celebrating the Congregation’s motto, mission and spirituality, “Spes Unica: The Cross, Our Only Hope,” will be celebrated at 5:15 p.m. March 29 (Thursday) in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. Rev. James King, C.S.C., religious superior of the Congregation of Holy Cross at Notre Dame, will preside and give the homily. A reception for all University faculty and staff will follow at Corby Hall.

Contact: Rev. Ralph Haag, C.S.C., 574-631-5334, Ralph.L.Haag.6@nd.edu