Faith & Service // Notre Dame News // Notre Dame News

Statement from Father Jenkins on tornado devastation

2013-05-21T10:45:00-04:00

The following is a statement from Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., president of the University of Notre Dame, on the tornadoes that swept through parts of the nation on May 19 and 20, causing numerous deaths and injuries:

“The prayers of the Notre Dame community are with all who have been affected by the devastating tornado that swept across Oklahoma, in particular, as well as Texas and Kansas. To those who have lost loved ones, you have our deepest condolences. To those who have been injured, may God provide you with comfort and healing. To those who have responded with assistance to this tragedy, you have our heartfelt appreciation. And to those who are able, please consider donating to relief efforts through organizations such as Catholic Charities USA and the American Red Cross.”

Graduating seniors honored for commitment to postgraduate service

2013-05-20T16:00:00-04:00

One hundred sixty-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 Service Send-Off ceremony on May 18 (Saturday) in the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center’s Leighton Concert Hall.

Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., president of the University of Notre Dame, commended the seniors for their commitment to service. Nearly a quarter of the graduates will join the Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) or programs that share its model to serve as educators in the nation’s Catholic schools. Others will serve in the Peace Corps and Teach for America. Still others will mentor AIDS orphans in South Africa, cultivate sustainable agriculture in the South Pacific islands, foster spiritual formation in the nation’s parishes, or provide a host of other services that match the mission of Notre Dame.

Elizabeth Moriarty, Class of 2000 and 2007, whose postgraduate experiences included work in an addiction recovery program, in the Catholic Worker program offering hospitality to homeless families, and as a jail chaplain, offered the gathered students: “You and I are called to go out from here … to practice the works of mercy. This is not service. This is sharing life. What I mean is that these are not to be reduced to things we do for a year or two and then get back on track with the real plan. These are the first steps of the rest of your life. This is a path for meeting and loving Jesus. These choices will define who you are now and who you will become as teachers, mothers, fathers, priests, nuns, business people, community organizers, artists or doctors. It is not a retreat or a chance to take a step back for a year off from the real world. It’s a year on."

Graduating senior Gabriela Hernandez, who is undecided on her postgraduate service experience, introduced Father Jenkins. Graduating senior Carl David Jones II, who will serve with ACE in Jacksonville, Fla., introduced Moriarty, and graduating senior Abigail McCrary, who will serve with the Dominican Volunteer Corps in New York, introduced Rev. Paul V. Kollman, C.S.C., executive director of the Center for Social Concerns (CSC).

In introducing Father Kollman, McCrary spoke of how blessed she has been as a student at the CSC and at the University. “Father John Dunne, a Notre Dame professor of theology, writes, ‘The crossing over and coming back are the greatest spiritual adventures of our time.’ Service allows individuals the opportunity to engage with others in a new context and gain insight and perspective. I have been immensely blessed in my four years at Notre Dame to have the opportunity to cross over multiple times — from South Bend elementary schools to Westville Prison to India to Uganda — and these experiences have come to define me and my time at this university.”

Father Kollman, in addressing the graduates, said, “You are embarking on something that shows your openness to learn and grow, give and receive. You enter a new university, which L’Arche founder Jean Vanier calls ‘the university of the poor.’ You embrace an internship of sorts, an internship in vulnerability. And you will continue to grow, of that we can be sure. Whether you head to Tanzania or Toronto, into a classroom or a boardroom, whether you teach or learn or pray or listen or fold laundry, or all of these things, you will grow. Lonely or rich in companions, you will grow. Happy or sad, sick or well, you will grow.”

Among the service programs in which this year’s Notre Dame graduates will participate are ACE, 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; Nuestro Pequenos Hermanos, which cares for orphaned and abandoned children in Latin America and the Caribbean; Jesuit Volunteer Corps; 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 was founded in 1983.

Contact: Mike Hebbeler, director, senior transitions programs, Center for Social Concerns, 574-631-5779, Hebbeler.2@nd.edu

Commencement 2013: A Look Back

2013-05-19T16:00:00-04:00

A chance Mother’s Day encounter with a Jewish alumnus of Notre Dame provided Cardinal Timothy Dolan, principal speaker at the 168th University Commencement Ceremony, with the inspiration for his address: The proud graduate revealed to Cardinal Dolan the “secret” that makes Notre Dame great. (Watch Video / Read Address)

“‘It’s not the library, as first-rate as it is. It’s not the professors and the courses, as stellar as they are. It’s not the campus, as enchanting as it is, or even the football team, as legendary as it is, or even the magnificent service projects,’” Cardinal Dolan told the graduates. “‘No, the secret of Notre Dame is really a person, who we Jews call Miriam and you Christians call Mary. She’s there. She looks down from that Golden Dome, and if you really want to discover the secret of Notre Dame,’ my friend went on, ‘visit that Grotto that you Catholics call Lourdes. There’s something there. No, he concluded, there’s someone there. We call her Notre Dame and she’s the secret of this university.’”

Cardinal Dolan is archbishop of New York and president of the U.S. Conference of Bishops. He received an honorary doctor of laws degree at the ceremony, at which 2,078 undergraduates received their diplomas on Sunday (May 19) in Notre Dame Stadium.

“You, the class of 2013, have sensed Mary’s maternal presence, ‘rising, sizing and sympathizing’ these blessed years on a campus wrapped in her mantle, and as you praise God that Father Sorin and that pioneer band of priests and brothers of the Congregation of the Holy Cross placed this most noble endeavor under her patronage from day one 171 years ago. So may I propose to you, my new classmates, that she’s not just our patroness; she’s our model.”

Dolan urged graduates to consider their experiences in a fuller light: “Here our goal is not just a career, but a call; not just a degree, but discipleship; not just what we’ve gotten, but what we’re giving; not just the now, but eternity; not just the ‘I,’ but the ‘we’; not just the grades, but the gospel."

Mallory Meter, a psychology major from Beverly Hills, Mich., delivered the valedictory address. (Watch Video / Read Address) Stressing the importance of living “every single day fully aware, present, and conscious and to never stop searching for the beauty in the present moment,” Meter said she recognized that “…this ability is one that few people ever achieve and if they do, it is often too late. This lack of awareness is why the phrase ‘you don’t know what you got ’til it’s gone’ seems to be a truism of the human condition. It is why 30 years ago will always be the good old days, and it is why that intangible pin-prick we call nostalgia is so often accompanied by a sense of sadness. But what if we could learn at our young age to live with a constant awareness of the beauty in the world and in our lives? What if we could realize that these days are the good old days, and what if we could appreciate what we have while it’s still in our grasp?

“This place taught us to think critically, to reason, to evaluate, to debate, to question, and to create, and these are the tools it takes to avoid living unconsciously, prodded along by nothing but outside pressures and expectations. The things we have learned here can force us to see the beauty in the mundane and to appreciate and value the present. If we can use these tools Notre Dame has given us, I truly believe we can make the world a better place.”

Sister Susanne Gallagher, S.P.; Sister Mary Therese Harrington, S.H.; and Rev. James H. McCarthy, founders of the Special Religious Education Development Network (SPRED), received Notre Dame’s 2013 Laetare Medal, the oldest and most prestigious honor given to American Catholics.

“May you be surprised by joy as you undertake your life’s work,” Father McCarthy told the graduates. (Watch Video / Read Address) “May you go beyond your comfort zone to help those in need. May you be blessed with faithful companions for your journey. May those in need become your friends. As we say with them, you see, whenever we are happy together, Jesus is with us.”

2013 Laetare Medalists and Notre Dame President Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C.

SPRED’s ministry began in 1960, when Father McCarthy, a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago, began working with parents, special educators and catechist volunteers of several archdiocesan parishes to make Catholic liturgies and catechesis more accessible to children and adult parishioners with developmental disabilities. Sister Harrington, a member of the Society of Helpers, joined him in 1963 to help with catechetical and administrative work, and Sister Gallagher, a member of the Sisters of Providence, joined them in 1967, assisting both with administration and the training of new special catechists.

Energized by the renewed emphasis on catechesis in the wake of the Second Vatican Council, SPRED’s ministry expanded beyond Chicago in the 1960s and now the 52-year-old network administers faith formation and sacramental initiation programs for people with special needs in 28 Catholic dioceses and 200 parishes nationwide (including in Notre Dame’s own diocese of Fort Wayne/South Bend) as well as small faith groups in several other countries including England, Ireland, Scotland, Australia, South Africa, Malta and Mexico.

Robinson Center and Notre Dame students create children's book

2013-05-14T11:15:00-04:00

With the help of a group of University of Notre Dame undergraduate students, children from the Robinson Community Learning Center worked together to publish a book of their stories and artwork.

Called “Every Child Has a Story,” the self-published children’s book features three stories with drawings that were created by the RCLC students, all between the ages of 7 and 11.

In spring 2011, a group of about 10 undergraduates from Notre Dame’s Student International Business Council decided to create and market a book with the students from the RCLC that could provide continued income to the center. Many of the Notre Dame students in the group, working as the Global Development section of the SIBC, volunteered at the Robinson Center and saw an opportunity to help develop the children’s literacy and creativity skills.

Velshonna Luckey, youth development program director at the RCLC, said the children collaborated on the content for the book. “The students were divided into small teams and they worked on a few ideas,” she said. “The process was an entire year – ideas, characters, story and illustration. Each story had to be accompanied with a picture. After all the stories were completed – some groups had multiple stories – the top stories from each group were selected.”

The book contains three of these stories, accompanied by illustrations. One of the stories, for example, is about a visit to the White House to meet President Barack Obama.

“Last year, the group worked extremely hard to get a professional designer to prepare the book for print,” Luckey said. “The final version is absolutely beautiful!”

The Notre Dame students decided to publish the book through Amazon.com, setting it up so that the proceeds from sales go back to the Robinson Center.

“Because so many people are involved at the Robinson Center, we wanted to do as much as we could because they do so much for the kids and the community,” said freshman Lisa Wuertz, an SIBC member and Robinson Center volunteer.

After facing setbacks such as when the initial project leader left to study abroad and challenges with printing, the finished book was published in March.

“It has been amazing for the students seeing their original work in a published book,” Luckey said. “We spend a lot of time encouraging our students to write and realize that every book they read was started by someone having a good idea and a willingness to work hard to get it published.

“It’s amazing to see the stories the students came up with. It was a lot of fun to see them work with the college students as well. They were a very interesting group of children with very diverse interest and personalities, and they had to work as a team, which wasn’t always easy. So they learned a lot about working in groups, sharing ideas and compromise.”

Paperback copies of “Every Child Has a Story,” sold for $12, are available online or at the Hammes Notre Dame Bookstore.

Indiana Catholic Poverty Summit: 'People were inspired'

2013-05-10T14:35:00-04:00

In one of his earliest public addresses, at an audience for journalists, Pope Francis spoke of how, immediately following his election, an old friend and fellow churchman had embraced him, urging, “don’t forget the poor.” The new pope said that he subsequently chose as namesake the saint “who wanted a poor church,” and concluded his remarks by exclaiming, “Ah, how I would like a church that is poor and is for the poor!”

Pope Francis’ words were invoked early on during the Indiana Catholic Poverty Summit at the University of Notre Dame last month, and the paradox of Catholic doctrine — the imperative to alleviate the poverty we encounter in others while trying to become poor ourselves — was appreciable in the gathering.

Hosted and sponsored by the University’s Center for Social Concerns (CSC), the daylong summit brought together all five of Indiana’s Catholic bishops and representatives from Catholic social service, health care and educational institutions across the state and nationwide to explore and recommend new initiatives to reduce poverty in the state. “Five bishops in the same room, and all of them listening,” joked Indianapolis Archbishop Joseph W. Tobin. “Why, that’s practically an ecumenical council.”

As would befit an ecumenical council, the summit began with Mass in Geddes Hall’s Our Lady of Mercy Chapel. Concelebrating with the bishops, Rev. Paul V. Kollman, C.S.C., director of the CSC, gave a homily on the day’s Gospel (John 14:1-6), in which Jesus assures his followers that “in my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.”

“This Gospel reminds us that Jesus made room for all,” Father Kollman said, “and our work with the poor of our state should invite the same concern, even as we are mindful of the poverty we all share and ought to embrace.”

Whatever they may have thought of Pope Francis’ desire for a poor church, the nearly 100 summit participants plainly shared a determination not to forget the poor. Had they needed reminding, plenty of assistance was available from David Siler, executive director of Catholic Charities in Indianapolis; Rev. Larry Snyder, chief executive officer of Catholic Charities USA; and Sheila Gilbert, national president of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, as well as from social workers active in three Indiana dioceses.

Even without the human stories that many of the summiteers are able to ascribe them, Indiana’s poverty statistics would make any morally sentient person wince: At present, 16 percent of the state’s residents and 20 percent of the state’s children (which means 311,000 children — about four Notre Dame Stadiums full) live under the poverty line. Moreover, those statistics are inadequate, as the outdated “poverty line” is reckoned by the cost of the cheapest three-meal daily diet that the federal government considered nutritionally adequate in 1963.

Having heard nation- and statewide overviews of the worsening plight of the poor and the increasing inadequacy of communal response, the summit participants received more intimate views of urban and rural Indiana poverty from diocesan social workers at work in Evansville, Tell City and South Bend before breaking into five respective diocesan groups to discuss the use of education, advocacy, service and prayer in battling Indiana poverty.

When they had reassembled, Archbishop Tobin spoke, reminding the participants of three conspicuous commitments of Catholic social services: refugee resettlement, disaster relief and the alleviation of poverty. “We need to learn why we have been so successful with refugees and disaster relief,” he said, “but we also need to keep in mind that Meat Loaf was wrong when he sang ‘two out of three ain’t bad.’"

As the summit concluded, Archbishop Tobin said that the Indiana bishops would be meeting again in May to discuss issues raised in the Notre Dame discussions and to consider writing a pastoral letter on poverty.

According to summit organizer William Purcell, associate director of the CSC, it is too early to gauge the effects of the Notre Dame meeting, but the unprecedented event “allowed leaders from around the state to draw attention to the needs of people in poverty, and reflect on concrete ways our Catholic faith calls all of us to respond. From this historical occasion, there were incentives for improved diocesan and statewide communication and coordination of poverty eradication efforts. The Holy Spirit was truly present at the day. There was real listening, deep engagement and a true desire to move further in addressing poverty in Indiana. People were inspired.”

Contact: William Purcell, 574-631-9473, wpurcell@nd.edu

Theologian Brian Daley receives Quasten Medal from Catholic University

2013-05-06T16:00:00-04:00

Rev. Brian E. Daley, S.J., Catherine F. Huisking Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame, received the Johannes Quasten Medal of Excellence in Scholarship and Leadership in Religious Studies from Catholic University’s School of Theology and Religious Studies on May 2.

Father Daley is the 26th theologian to receive the Quasten Medal since the award was established in 1985. The Quasten Medal memorializes a professor of religious studies and German native who taught and studied at Catholic University from 1938 to 1979.

In announcing Father Daley’s honor, Rev. Mark Morozowich, dean of theology and religious studies at Catholic University, said that “his erudite scholarship witnesses to the importance of patristic study and its influence in theology today, and his many contributions shine as a bright example.”

“I was deeply honored and delighted to receive this award from the Catholic University School of Theology,” Father Daley said. “Johannes Quasten was one of the pioneers in the study of the Church Fathers in North America. His encyclopedic handbook of patrology helped me, in my freshman year as an undergraduate at Fordham, to become fascinated for the first time by these voices from the early Christian centuries, who still focus our minds on the mystery of Christ. I’m also thrilled to be listed among previous recipients of the award, including some of the great names associated with our program here at Notre Dame, like Louis Bouyer, Robert Markus and my colleague Father Virgil Elizondo. This really is a recognition for Notre Dame’s whole theology department and for the kind of work we do!”

A member of the Notre Dame faculty since 1996, Father Daley, a Jesuit priest, is an internationally renowned scholar of the writings, sayings and lives of the earliest Christians. His teaching and research concerns such first- through eighth-century Christian thinkers as Gregory of Nyssa, Augustine of Hippo and Maximus the Confessor, and the eschatology of the early church.

A 1961 graduate of Fordham University and a Rhodes Scholar, Father Daley studied classics, philosophy and ancient history at Merton College, University of Oxford, where he earned a master’s degree before entering the Society of Jesus in 1964 and being ordained a priest in 1970. He returned to Oxford in 1972, earned a doctoral degree in theology in 1978 and taught at the at the Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Mass., for 18 years before coming to Notre Dame.

Among the numerous books Father Daley has written or edited are “The Hope of the Early Church,” “On the Dormition of Mary: Early Patristic Homilies” and “Gregory of Nazianzus.” He also has translated Hans Urs von Balthasar’s “The Cosmic Liturgy: The Universe According to Maximus the Confessor.” In addition to his academic and scholarly work, he serves as executive secretary of the Catholic-Orthodox Consultation for North America and as a priest in Notre Dame residence halls and at St. Bavo Parish in Mishawaka, Ind.

Last October, Father Daley received the 2012 Ratzinger Prize in Theology from Pope Benedict XVI at a ceremony in Rome.

Contact: Father Daley, 574-631-6629, Brian.E.Daley.3@nd.edu

Father Malloy elected to Riley Children’s Foundation Board of Governors

2013-05-03T14:00:00-04:00

Rev. Edward A. “Monk” Malloy, C.S.C., president emeritus of the University of Notre Dame, has been elected to serve on the Riley Children’s Foundation’s Board of Governors. Representing the South Bend region on the Board of Governors, Father Malloy will also chair a regional committee in the South Bend area comprising business and civic leaders, physicians and Riley parents.

Jim Morris, chairman of Riley Children’s Foundation Board of Governors, announced Father Malloy’s election: “We are incredibly honored and fortunate that Father Malloy will be joining our Board of Governors. During his 18 years as president of the University of Notre Dame, he made countless contributions internationally as well as to the South Bend community. His leadership will be invaluable in advancing the care of children through support of Riley Hospital and its research efforts.”

Children from all 92 Indiana counties receive care at Riley Hospital, with more than 6,500 annual patient visits from the South Bend region. Hundreds more children are seen each year in clinics conducted by Riley physicians in the South Bend area.

Father Malloy’s commitment to Riley Hospital for Children was inspired by his own family’s experience. His grandnephew Henry Scroope V was transported from Memorial Hospital in South Bend to Riley Hospital soon after his birth in September 2009. Except for a brief two-week stay at home, Henry spent his life at Riley Hospital, passing away on February 3, 2010. Father Malloy visited Henry several times, including on his last day when he anointed him and shared his final hours with Henry, his parents and other family members.

This experience prompted Father Malloy to write a letter to Riley leaders that praised the care Henry and his family received during an extraordinarily difficult time: “I was struck at that time by the family-friendly environment in the hospital in general and in the wards as well as by the highly skilled and devoted care provided by the doctors, nurses and technicians. We all felt, not only then, but later, that Henry was being given the very best care available.”

For 89 years, Riley Hospital for Children has cared for the sickest of the sick as its researchers and physicians seek the cures and treatments to save and improve the quality of children’s lives. Riley Children’s Foundation founded Riley Hospital in Indianapolis in 1924 and continues to provide philanthropic leadership to one of the nation’s most highly ranked comprehensive children’s hospitals. Riley also trains more than two-thirds of the pediatricians in Indiana.

Riley Children’s Foundation supports Riley Hospital for Children, Camp Riley and the James Whitcomb Riley Museum Home. As Indiana’s only comprehensive children’s hospital, Riley Hospital has provided compassionate care, support and comfort to children and their families since 1924. Each year children from all 92 Indiana counties turn to Riley Hospital and its regional clinics throughout the state more than 230,000 times as well as an additional 100,000 times in clinics and hospitals staffed by Riley physicians throughout the state.

Alliance for Catholic Education to host array of summer conferences

2013-05-03T09:00:00-04:00

Hundreds of educational leaders and others eager to enhance the future of Catholic schools will attend a unique collection of summertime conferences hosted annually by the University of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE).

The June and July conferences, some of which are currently accepting registrants, are part of ACE’s mission to sustain, strengthen and transform Catholic schools. They are a growing component of the busy summers when ACE conducts the majority of its on-campus academic programming and graduate-level classes for the next generation of Catholic school teachers and leaders.

Preparation of outstanding college graduates to teach in Catholic schools is the organization’s best-known activity, now welcoming its 20th cohort of aspiring educators as ACE prepares a major celebration of the nation’s Catholic schools to mark its 20th anniversary.

The conferences are hosted by various units of ACE that have grown in recent years to respond to particular issues and needs, with a focus on specific stakeholders. Those interested in attending or learning more can visit these conferences’ respective Web pages.

ACE Teaching Fellows Annual Conference (June 11-14). Participants in the Melody Family ACE Teaching Fellowship program will convene to assess and catalyze their growth as master teachers, educational leaders and generators of problem-solving research. Several benefactor-supported fellowships support highly promising educators who wish to continue their careers in Catholic classrooms while pursuing advanced knowledge and skills. Fellows cultivate these leadership assets along with their mentors during the conference.

Advocates for Parental Choice Symposium (June 14-19). This intensive formation experience gives participants a first-hand experience of people and places on the cutting edge in implementing school choice policies. Catholic school supporters will receive skills, insights and working relationships to equip them as advocates in the parental choice movement. Major speakers on- and off-campus will increase these future leaders’ understanding of the social, legal, political, pedagogical and moral dimensions of parental choice.

Play Like a Champion Today Sports Leadership Conference (June 21-23). This annual conference, titled “Character Education through Sports Leadership” for 2013, emphasizes developing the whole person through sports. Guest speakers offer professional development for coaches and athletic administrators at both the youth and high school levels. Hosted by ACE’s Play Like a Champion Today experts in sports as ministry, the conference gathers representatives of parochial leagues around the country to network and share best practices. Register for the Sports Leadership Conference.

Equitable Services Institute (June 23-28). Students in Catholic schools across the country are not getting federally funded services to which they’re entitled; this institute assists diocesan superintendents, principals and other educational leaders to address this problem. Attendees will receive updated information about complex federal funding policies plus practical road maps for the process of consultations by which educators obtain equitable shares for their students from Title 1, Title 2 and Title 3 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Information and registration are available online.

Principals Academy (June 24-28). A four-day enrichment experience for Catholic school principals, titled “Fueling the Fire of Leadership in Catholic Schools,” will engage expert faculty and practitioners as they develop an action plan to increase motivational practices for instruction, enrollment and school identity. Principals will explore tangible, evidence-based strategies to increase teacher motivation and self-efficacy, improve supervision processes and encourage teacher self-evaluation to improve the professional learning environment of schools. Register for this academy hosted by ACE Consulting.

Latino Enrollment Institute (June 25-28). The Catholic School Advantage campaign will invite principals from around the country to discuss strategic possibilities and pursue practical strategies to increase enrollment, particularly among Latino children, in Catholic schools.

Superintendents Strategic Leadership Conference (July 9-12). ACE Consulting will host its annual, invitation-only conference for diocesan schools superintendents, providing expert speakers and facilitating in-depth conversations to explore key issues faced by school leaders.

School Pastors Institute (July 9-12). Pastors whose parishes include schools are invited to this annual institute to learn to manage and leverage better the distinctive relationship between a parish and its school. The institute, hosted by ACE’s Catholic School Advantage campaign, develops many skills and perspectives that a pastor will need in overseeing a parish school, its people and its finances. Insights presented will support pastors’ reflections on the value of Catholic schools to parishioners and to the Church’s future.

Mary Ann Remick Leadership Conference (July 12). This conference, a capstone event for those earning their master’s degrees in educational administration through the Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program, is a unique and informal venue for South Bend-area educators to discuss current research with ACE leaders and experts from across the country. The graduate students preparing to serve as principals present the action research they have conducted, and local visitors attending free-of-charge exchange ideas on school challenges and solutions.

ACE Summer Forum (July 12-14). The ACE Summer Forum is a professional development opportunity for Catholic school supporters and ACE graduates, focusing on urgent needs in Catholic schools and how advocates can address them. This summer, Forum participants will discuss raising local awareness for Catholic schools and connecting local initiatives to the broader ACE movement.

ACE 19 Parent Retreat (July 24-26). Parents whose sons or daughters have just finished their first year in ACE Service through Teaching often have many questions about these first-year teachers’ experiences. ACE Advocates hosts a special retreat for these parents at Notre Dame to get their questions answered and to see the broader context of the journey their ACE teachers are taking. The retreat also allows these parents of the ACE 19 cohort to hear presentations, worship together and swap stories.

Contact: Bill Schmitt, media and communications specialist, 574-631-3893, wschmitt@nd.edu

Center for Social Concerns to celebrate 30th anniversary with open house

2013-04-26T16:50:00-04:00

The University of Notre Dame’s Center for Social Concerns (CSC), founded in 1983, is celebrating its 30th anniversary with an open house on Monday (April 29) from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in the Geddes Hall Coffee House. The event, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 5 p.m.

The CSC is Notre Dame’s community-based learning, research and service center, a place where faith and action, service and learning, research and resolve intersect. Over the past 30 years, the CSC has grown to offer hundreds of community-based courses, community-based research, and service opportunities that allow students and faculty to better understand—and respond to—poverty and injustice grounded in the 2,000 year-old Catholic social tradition. A recent study conducted by the Center showed that nearly 70 percent of Notre Dame’s undergraduate alumni are engaged in some form of service 10 years after graduation, a testament to the lasting influence of the Center’s programs, which also can be seen in numbers.

In the CSC’s first 30 years:

More than 18,050 students have taken a one credit seminar;
4,800 students participated in the Summer Service Learning Program;
6,892 students took the Appalachia Seminar;
7,841 students completed an Urban Plunge Seminar;
534 students participated in the International Summer Service Learning Program;
More than 4,200 graduates have entered full-time post-graduate service; and
Millions of hours of service have been contributed to communities worldwide.

Beyond its own courses and programs, the Center also reaches out to faculty across disciplines to assist in community-based learning courses and community-based research. Last year, the Center facilitated 172 community-based courses and saw 240 students and 27 faculty engaged in community-based research.

All three executive directors of the CSC, founding executive director Rev. Don McNeill, C.S.C.; Rev. William M. Lies, C.S.C., and Rev. Paul V. Kollman, C.S.C., will attend the open house.

Contact: John M. Guimond, director of communications, Center for Social Concerns, 574-631-3209, John.Guimond.2@nd.edu

Bald is beautiful: Event raises funds for pediatric cancer

2013-04-26T14:35:00-04:00

Members of the University of Notre Dame community participated in “The Bald and the Beautiful” fundraiser April 17-19, 2013. The annual event started in 2008 after freshman Sam Marx lost his battle with cancer. The yearly event is organized by students to fight pediatric cancer locally and nationally. Since its beginning, the effort has raised more than $150,000 for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation and for Memorial Hospital of South Bend, and more than 400 hair donations have been made to Pantene Beautiful Lengths.

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Indiana Catholic bishops to participate in 'Poverty Summit' at Notre Dame

2013-04-22T12:00:00-04:00

All five of the Catholic bishops of Indiana, together with representatives of Catholic institutions statewide, will meet at the University of Notre Dame Friday (April 26) for a day-long conference to explore and recommend new initiatives to reduce poverty and alleviate the suffering it causes.

The Indiana Catholic Poverty Summit, sponsored and hosted by Notre Dame’s Center for Social Concerns, is inspired by Catholic Charities USA’s Campaign to Reduce Poverty in America and the PovertyUSA initiative recently begun by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. In addition to the Catholic bishops, summit participants will include Rev. Larry Snyder, president of Catholic Charities USA, and Sheila Gilbert, president of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, as well as social service providers from healthcare and educational institutions and Catholic religious orders.

According to conference organizers, “It is a moral outrage that so many of our fellow Hoosiers experience the despair of material poverty—currently 16 percent of all state residents and 311,000 or 20 percent of our children.

“The Catholic Church is in a unique position to lead the way in eliminating poverty. It has the experience serving the poor, the moral authority, and a Gospel mandate to do so. Catholic Charities and other Catholic social service providers, together with Catholic healthcare, and Catholic education stand on a set of values—embodied in Catholic Social Teaching—that offer a tremendous framework to lead the way in reducing poverty in our state. Although these institutions have their own unique missions, we share this set of values and guiding principles that bind us together.”

Contact: John Guimond, guimond.2@nd.edu, 574 631-3209

Take Ten festival to be held May 2

2013-04-22T09:00:00-04:00

Students from ten local schools and community centers will visit the University of Notre Dame May 2 (Thursday) from 3 to 5 p.m. in the Stepan Center for a celebration of the Robinson Community Learning Center (RCLC) Take Ten violence prevention initiative.

Some 300 school children will attend the Take Ten Festival, which will include visits by Eric Crittenden of the South Bend Police Department, Superintendent Carol Schmidt of the South Bend Community School Corporation and a representative from the mayor’s office. The event will include games and activities, refreshments, distribution of T-shirts and performances by Notre Dame’s First Class Steppers and other campus musical groups.

Take Ten encourages young people to “Talk it out, Walk it out, and Wait it out” as a means to resolve conflicts peacefully. The program reaches some 8,000 children at 17 local schools, several public and private school districts beyond South Bend, the Center for the Homeless in South Bend, Boys and Girls Club sites across the state and other community locations. In the local area, the program is delivered through the more than 135 volunteers from Notre Dame and four other local colleges.

This year, Take Ten expanded to teaching lessons to parents and providing resources for adults.

On March 23, two members of Take Ten were part of a four-person panel that offered insights from the “Take Ten” as part of the screening and discussion of the film Bully, which traces the stories of young people who experienced that pattern of behavior and the profound impacts that can result from bullying. The screening was available for, students, faculty members and South Bend community members. The following discussion was focused on perspectives toward the movie and analysis of how the bullying problem should be addressed moving forward.

In addition, as part of Notre Dame’s CommUniversity Day, Take Ten was a featured at the Kroc Institute’s 2013 Notre Dame Student Peace Conference. The mission of the peace conference is to provide a venue for engagement in dialogue on important issues related to peacebuilding, global issues, and social justice. For this event, six members of the Take Ten team presented a chapter from the Take Ten Curriculum to graduate and undergraduate students from across the country.

The RCLC was started in 2001 as a community-driven education center sponsored by Notre Dame in collaboration with neighborhood residents and partners. The center offers a number of programs and activities sponsored by local agencies and organizations, including after school tutoring, a youth Shakespeare company, a youth entrepreneurship program, computer instruction and GED and English-as-a-new–language classes. For the first time, the Robinson Community Learning Center has AmeriCorps members serving in all programs as full-time, half-time, and minimum time commitments. Over 500 residents and volunteers participate each week in on-site RCLC programming, and as many as 300 Notre Dame students, faculty and staff volunteer with center programs.

Father Jenkins calls for reform of immigration policies

2013-04-19T13:20:00-04:00

Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., president of the University of Notre Dame, joined other national leaders of higher education calling for reforms in United States immigration policies on Friday (April 19), the National Immigration Forum Campus Day of Action for Immigration Reform.

“Notre Dame is proud of a long history of educating immigrant communities,” Father Jenkins said, “and our Catholic tradition urges us to provide welcome to the stranger among us. While recognizing the complex legal, economic, social and political questions surrounding immigration in our nation, we join others in calling for just and effective immigration reform. We urge particular attention to reform that will allow deserving, academically qualified young men and women who were brought to the United States as children to have access to higher education in the United States and opportunities following from educational achievement. By educating these young people, we will improve their lives, enrich our nation and live up to our values.”

In October 2011, Father Jenkins, with Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider, C.M., president of DePaul University, led the first of a series of meetings sponsored by the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities to discuss how Catholic colleges and universities might contribute to immigration reform.

More recently, at Notre Dame, Father Jenkins convened a presidential task force, co-chaired by Paolo Carozza, Timothy Matovina and Rev. Timothy Scully, C.S.C. to study how the University could make a unique and meaningful contribution to the current national debate on immigration. Among the task force’s recommendations is a seminal academic conference on engagement of immigrants through the perspective of Catholic faith and tradition, particularly emphasizing the experience and contributions of people in the United States who are, or at one time were, undocumented. The conference will be held in March 2014, and its proceedings will be widely disseminated to scholars, church leaders and the wider public.

Scholars at Notre Dame have been leaders within higher education on the topic of immigration reform. Rev. Daniel G. Groody, C.S.C., has become an internationally recognized author, speaker and filmmaker on issues related to migration, Latino spirituality, globalization and Catholic social teaching. In addition to the Center for Social Concerns, the Institute for Latino Studies and the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, several other Notre Dame groups and programs have become involved in immigration research, policy and service. These include the Center for Civil and Human Rights, the Department of Theology, the Institute for Educational Initiatives, the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts and the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, among others.

2013 ND Relay for Life raises $189,000 to benefit the American Cancer Society

2013-04-18T08:00:00-04:00

Football players Everett Golson, Elijah Shumate, Louis Nix III, Prince Shembo and Joey Brooks pose for a picture at the 2013 Relay for Life in the Compton Family Ice Arena.

The 2013 University of Notre Dame Relay for Life, which took place Friday and Saturday (April 12 and 13) at the Compton Family Ice Arena, successfully raised more than $189,000, the highest amount in the ND Relay’s history, to fight cancer.

To date, the 2013 ND Relay for Life has raised $189,152.51 to benefit the American Cancer Society, bringing the total funds raised by the annual event to more than $1 million.

Students and teams from throughout the University held auctions, bake sales, blood drives and a variety of other events in a friendly competition to raise funds for Relay for Life. Two teams, UR Walking on Sunshine from University Relations and Techies Tackling Cancer from the Office of Information Technologies, each raised more than $20,000. Event sponsors, including local businesses, restaurants and organizations, increased funding this year to $33,000 from $21,950 in 2012.

More than 1,900 people participated in this year’s event, held for the first time in the Compton Arena, which provided space for such on-ice activities as a family skate, broomball and performances from ice skaters and the Notre Dame hockey club during the event. Other activities from the overnight relay included live music, cookie decoration, a silent auction and photo opportunities in the arena’s penalty box.

The honorary chairpeople of the 2013 Relay are Marc Burdell, Class of 1987, director of alumni programs for the Alumni Association and survivor of follicular leukemic lymphoma, and Teresa Kennedy, Ryan Hall freshman and survivor of dermatofibrosarcoma.

Cardinal Walter Kasper to visit Notre Dame

2013-04-17T16:00:00-04:00

His Eminence Cardinal Walter Kasper, president emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, will deliver the 2013 Terrence R. Keeley Vatican Lecture at 5 p.m. April 24 (Wednesday) in the Carey Auditorium in the Hesburgh Library at the University of Notre Dame. Pope Francis specifically commended the theological work of Cardinal Kasper at his first Angelus message, noting that, “(i)n these days, I have been able to read a book by a cardinal — Cardinal Kasper, a talented theologian, a good theologian — on mercy. And it did me such good, that book.”

Sponsored by the Nanovic Institute for European Studies, Cardinal Kasper will address “The Origins of Vatican II.” This lecture is free and open to the public. Cardinal Kasper will also participate in an international gathering of scholars, “The Theology of Cardinal Walter Kasper: A Celebration of his Life and Work,” which will take place at the Notre Dame Conference Center on April 25-27 (Thursday-Saturday).

Born in Heidenheim, Germany, in 1933, Kasper was ordained to the priesthood in 1957. He studied at the University of Tübingen where he later became professor of dogmatic theology. He also taught at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., in 1983. Cardinal Kasper served as bishop of Rottenburg-Stuttgart from 1989 until his 1999 appointment as secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Pope John Paul II elevated him to cardinal and appointed him president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity in 2001. The Council for Promoting Christian Unity guides and serves the ecumenical activities of the Catholic Church, holds international theological dialogues with other Christian denominations, and is also responsible for Catholic-Jewish relations. As president of the council, Kasper was also the president for the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews. He retired as president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity in 2010.

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, Archbishop Charles J. Brown and Cardinal Reinhard Marx.

More information on Cardinal Kasper’s visit and an archive of past lectures are available at nanovic.nd.edu.

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

New research reveals dangers to humanitarian workers in conflict zones

2013-04-17T15:00:00-04:00

Larissa Fast

Larissa Fast, assistant professor of conflict resolution at the University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, has co-authored three new research reports documenting and analyzing the dangers facing humanitarian aid staff working in conflict zones around the world. The reports, recently published in Insecurity Insight, have already been downloaded more than 2,000 times.

In recent years, the number of aid workers killed and injured by firearms, explosive weapons, bombs and other forms of severe violence has risen to unprecedented levels, said Fast.

“Aid workers are first and foremost civilians," said Fast, whose forthcoming book, “Aid in Danger,” also addresses this issue. “Protecting them is a critical part of the overall effort to protect civilians in armed conflict.”

Fast coauthored the reports with Christina Wille, director of Insecurity Insight, a Swiss organization that generates data on the impact of insecurity on people’s lives and helps organizations set up data-gathering systems on related topics.

The three new reports are:

“Operating in Insecurity. Shifting patterns of violence against humanitarian aid providers and their staff (1996-2010).” (download)

“Humanitarian staff security in armed conflict: Policy implications resulting from changes in the operating environment for humanitarian agencies.” (download)

“Security Facts for Humanitarian Agencies. Shifting patterns in security incidents affecting humanitarian aid workers and agencies: An analysis of fifteen years of data (1996-2010).” (download)

This research was funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland. The Kroc Institute and the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, both at the University of Notre Dame, provided additional support for data entry in the Security in Numbers database used for the analysis.

Contact: Larissa Fast, 574-631-7096, lfast@nd.edu

Rev. Ronald Nuzzi honored by National Catholic Educational Association

2013-04-16T11:00:00-04:00

Rev. Ronald Nuzzi, senior director of the Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program in the University of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE), has received the C. Albert Koob, OPraem, Merit Award, with which the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) honors an individual who has made extraordinary contributions to Catholic education in the United States.

The NCEA presented the 2013 Koob Award to Father Nuzzi during the group’s annual convention, attended by 8,000 Catholic educators April 2-4 in Houston.

“I am honored and humbled by this gracious award from my good friends and colleagues at the NCEA,” Father Nuzzi said in a statement. “I am especially grateful for the many faith-filled colleagues with whom I share this important ministry, here at Notre Dame and across the country.”

Father Nuzzi made reference to his work in ACE, where he has served since 2002 as the founding director of the formation initiative preparing the next generation of principals and other leaders for Catholic schools. The Remick Leadership Program has become the largest program of its kind in the country.

“It is a blessing beyond measure for me to contribute to the success, perseverance and development of Catholic school leaders in the U.S., Canada, Australia and Ireland,” Father Nuzzi said. “There is much work to be done, a new generation to reach, a new evangelization to proclaim. I hope that all of our efforts — those led by Notre Dame, ACE, the NCEA and other Catholic institutions — may continue to bring life to Catholic schools and especially to those teachers and leaders who are so dedicated to the future and to our children.”

Later this year, Father Nuzzi will lead a new ACE initiative assisting Catholic schools as they assess and renew their Catholic identity in the spirit of the New Evangelization. ACE will seek a new director for the Remick Leadership Program, for which Father Nuzzi will continue as a faculty member.

As Father Nuzzi commented in a video posted April 2 by the NCEA, his perspectives on Catholic education have been shaped by his own service in parish and diocesan schools and at Notre Dame, as well as scholarly work at Saint Louis University and the University of Dayton.

He cited the inspiration he draws from the Catholic school teachers and leaders being formed in ACE — their “great commitment to the faith, a serious commitment to Catholic education, a quest and hunger for social justice.” Their energy, he said, gives him “great hope for the future.”

Father Nuzzi, a priest of the Diocese of Youngstown, Ohio, has a distinguished academic background. He has authored or edited a number of books, including two published in recent months: “Striving for Balance, Steadfast in Faith: The Notre Dame Study of U.S. Catholic Elementary School Principals” and “Building Assets: The Strategic Use of Closed Catholic Schools.” Both were co-authored by ACE faculty members Jim Frabutt and Anthony Holter. The same team produced “No Greater Work: Meditations on Church Documents for Educators” in 2010 and “Faith, Finances, and the Future: The Notre Dame Study of U.S. Pastors” in 2008.

Statement from Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., on tragedy at Boston Marathon

2013-04-15T20:30:00-04:00

The following is a statement from Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., president of the University of Notre Dame, on the tragic events that took place April 15, 2013 at the Boston Marathon:

“The prayers of the Notre Dame community are with those who lost their lives and were injured, as well as with their families and friends, in the bombing Monday in Boston. Such tragic events have become all too common in our world, and yet I call upon all to avoid treating them as routine, but instead to lift up those who are suffering.”

Notre Dame’s 'The Shirt' for 2013 to be unveiled Friday

2013-04-15T15:00:00-04:00

Coach Brian Kelly at The Shirt unveiling 2012.

One of the University of Notre Dame’s most visible traditions will be celebrated again Friday (April 19) as the 2013 version of “The Shirt” is unveiled during events beginning at 4 p.m. at the Hammes Bookstore on campus.

The celebration, which is open to the public, will include a variety of outdoor activities such as face painting, prizes and inflatables as well as performances by the Notre Dame Band, Glee Club, cheerleaders and Pom Squad. Notre Dame’s head football coach, Brian Kelly, along with the 2013 Shirt committee will unveil The Shirt during a stage presentation at 6 p.m. Details, a schedule and more information about the celebration and about The Shirt are available online.

Each year since 1990, when the first version of The Shirt was made available to Notre Dame students, alumni and fans, the item’s popularity and sales have increased. Proceeds provide funds for The Shirt Charity Fund, which supports students suffering from severe illnesses and facing high medical bills, as well as such student organizations as the Hall President’s Council and Habitat for Humanity.

Over the years, The Shirt, enthusiastically worn by students and spectators at nationally televised athletic events, has become a distinctive Notre Dame symbol.

In 1990, the 32,300 shirts sold generated more than $100,000 for Zhengde Wang, a Notre Dame graduate student from China who had been severely injured in an automobile accident. Last year, 165,000 shirts were sold, raising more than $700,000.

Contact: Catherine Simonson, csimonso@nd.edu

Brad Gregory appointed director of Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study

2013-04-12T12:00:00-04:00

Brad Gregory

Brad Gregory, professor of history and Dorothy G. Griffin Collegiate Chair at the University of Notre Dame, has been selected as the new director of the Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study (NDIAS). He succeeds Vittorio Hösle, the institute’s founding director for the past five years and the Paul Kimball Professor of Arts and Letters in the Department of German and Russian Languages and Literatures and concurrent professor of philosophy and of political science.

“I am delighted by this opportunity to serve as the next director of NDIAS, building on the foundation laid by Vittorio Hösle,” Gregory said. “Notre Dame’s identity as a Catholic university makes it well positioned to foster cutting-edge interdisciplinary research that deliberately engages, rather than avoids, questions of norms and values.”

Gregory, who joined the Notre Dame faculty in 2003, is a historian of late medieval and early modern Christianity and of intellectual history in early modern Europe. He also holds two degrees in philosophy, both earned at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. His research focuses on 16th- and 17th-century Catholics, Protestants and radical Protestants in England, France, the Low Countries and Germany. Of central concern to his work as well are the long-term ideological influences and institutional consequences of the Reformation era on the making of the modern Western world. Another area of interest is methodology and theory in the understanding of religion and history.

Gregory’s publications include “The Unintended Reformation: How A Religious Revolution Secularized Society” (2012); “Seeing Things Their Way: Intellectual History and the Return of Religion” (co-edited, 2009); “The Forgotten Writings of the Mennonite Martyrs” (edited 2002); and “Salvation at Stake: Christian Martyrdom in Early Modern Europe” (1999).

His many awards and honors include the 2012 Aldersgate Prize in Christian Scholarship for “The Unintended Reformation” and the Hiett Prize in the Humanities from the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture in 2005, as well as the Joyce and Kaneb Teaching Awards at Notre Dame.

NDIAS, established in 2009 as one of the University’s Strategic Research Investment initiatives, supports research related to ultimate questions and questions of value, especially as they engage the Catholic intellectual tradition. NDIAS also offers artists, professionals, scholars and scientists an opportunity to explore the relationship between the descriptive (the world as it is) and the normative (the world as it should be).

The agenda of NDIAS is open, permitting fellows to pursue outstanding research in all areas. Discourse is shaped by an emphasis on broad questions that link multiple areas of inquiry, allowing scholars to examine questions beyond the normal boundaries of their disciplines. Catholic dedication to the unicity of knowledge means that no questions are off limits.

The institute furthers its goal of fostering engaging thought on significant issues by hosting a major annual conference. The conferences include scholars from some of the world’s most renowned universities and institutions as presenters and participants. This year’s conference, titled “Public Intellectualism in Comparative Context,” will take place April 22-24 (Monday-Wednesday).

More information on the NDIAS can be found at ndias.nd.edu.