Notre Dame Continued

The controversy at Notre Dame continues, and all signs from the university are that they are in no way ashamed of their decision. I include a letter I wrote to some of the board members and sent into the Criterion. Unfortunately, they don't publish the letter of clergy members from our own Archdiocese, just priests like Fr. Daly from outside our Archdiocese. Anyway - here it is:

Notre Dame: The “Titanic” vs. “The Rock”

Despite President Jenkins wishing it to be otherwise, Notre Dame University, like all Catholic universities, is not an institution which stands outside of the umbrella of the local bishop. Is authentic freedom ever to be found apart from being in harmony with the successors of the apostles? The idea that freedom can not be achieved within the realm of adherence to the Magisterium of the Church has been shown, throughout the history of Christianity, to be not only highly erroneous but also highly dangerous. The idea that there must be people allowed to operate outside the auspices of the Magisterium of the Church is an extremely distorted understanding of authentic human freedom, and has throughout history been the position taken up by those on the doorstep of heresy.

At stake in all of this, whether those placed at her helm realize it or not, is the integrity and indeed the very existence of Notre Dame. If President Obama is given an honorary degree of law from Notre Dame, it is very likely that Notre Dame will not suffer any drastic effects immediately. However, it is possible to wreck, in the long haul, even a ship as stalwart and sturdy as Notre Dame. If Notre Dame is the Titanic, the finest ship in the fleet of institutions comprising Catholicism in the United States (and I readily admit that Notre Dame is such an institution), then it will take more than this one event to sink her. However, the Bishops of the world stand in direct succession to the Rock, St. Peter, and they fulfill the charge that Christ first laid at his feet two thousand years ago. One thing I know for certain is that if the “Titanic” and the “Rock” continue to run into one another, it is the Titanic which will sink, and not the other way around. The Rock cannot sink because it has been welded, by the Blood of Christ, to the very foundation of the world. If “the gates of Hell shall not prevail against” the Rock per the promise of Jesus, I doubt Notre Dame will succeed either. Notre Dame is in perilous waters, and its captain seems to be relishing the role of steering the ship on a course such that it is repeatedly smashing into the Rock, and it seems that the breech of the ship’s hull might soon occur. Notre Dame has a long and storied and very Catholic history, and She has done incalculable good for the Catholic Church throughout the United States and indeed the world. However, Christ said “Upon this Rock I will build My Church,” and not “Upon this university I will build My Church.” I pray Notre Dame and her captain and crew always humbly seek to work with the Church, steering a course in truth; a course not guided by the pride which can arise from being in charge of the most impressive ship in the fleet.

If Notre Dame continues to steer a different course, may we (no matter how much we love Notre Dame, and no matter how bad it hurts to leave her) all have the courage to flee for the life boats and abandon ship.