A recent spate of vandalism on church buildings in Jerusalem should “challenge the simplistic ideas of certain Christian supporters of Israel who imagine that Christians and Jews are natural allies against a dangerous Arab enemy,” according to Gabriel Said Reynolds, professor of Islamic studies and theology at the University of Notre Dame.
Olivia Remie Constable, Robert M. Conway Director of the Medieval Institute and professor of history at the University of Notre Dame, died of cancer at home Wednesday (April 16). A member of the Notre Dame faculty since 1995, Constable had directed the Medieval Institute since 2009.
The genocide in Rwanda, whose 20th anniversary is being observed worldwide this month, began only a few days after Easter. That the hatred that cost the lives of a million people in this overwhelmingly Christian country could be unleashed so near to Holy Week seems paradoxical, ironic, or even blasphemous. But for Jean Bosco Rutagengwa, it is most of all a searing mystery. “This country went through what Jesus Christ went through,” he says of his homeland. “Life, death, and resurrection.”
A new report published by the University of Notre Dame’s Catholic Social and Pastoral Research Initiative (CSPRI) indicates that American Catholics hold “distinctively optimistic views regarding human nature.” The report, “Distinctive Catholicism: U.S. Catholics’ Views on Human Nature,” summarized the findings of a study done by CSPRI director Brian Starks. The CSPRI initiative is a program of Notre Dame’s Institute for Church Life.
A panel discussion on the role of the Catholic Church in the cultural and political debate about marriage will take place at 7 p.m. Monday, March 17, in DeBartolo Hall, Room 101, on the campus of the University of Notre Dame.
Rev. Gustavo Gutierrez, O.P., John Cardinal O’Hara Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame and widely acknowledged founder of the “liberation theology” movement, was in Rome earlier this week, the surprise speaker at a Vatican book launch. Father Gutierrez was helping to launch a book, Poor for the Poor: The Mission of the Church, edited by Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, who directs the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Two of the book’s chapters were written by Father Gutierrez, and its introduction was written by Pope Francis.
William G. Storey, professor emeritus of theology at the University of Notre Dame, died January 16 after a brief illness. He was 90. A native of Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, Storey joined the Notre Dame faculty in 1967. In his first years in Notre Dame’s College of Arts and Letters, Storey taught in the then-newly founded doctoral program in liturgical studies and designed the undergraduate program for theology majors.
Archbishop Kelvin Edward Felix, emeritus archbishop of Castries, Saint Lucia, who will be made a cardinal by Pope Francis next month, is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame. Archbishop Felix, who enrolled at Notre Dame in 1965, studied sociology and earned a master’s degree from the University in 1969.
On Sunday, January 12, when Pope Francis announced the names of the 19 men he will soon make cardinals, he also gave some University of Notre Dame theologians an inkling of his vision of the Catholic Church. “Pope Benedict represented a ‘back to basics’ move theologically, and Francis interprets and represents the same move pastorally,” according to John C. Cavadini, professor of theology and McGrath-Cavadini Director of Notre Dame’s Institute for Church Life.
Daniel Philpott, professor of political science and peace studies, has been appointed director of the University of Notre Dame’s Center for Civil and Human Rights (CCHR), effective Jan. 1. “Professor Philpott brings an ambitious vision for building the CCHR into a leading center for impactful research to his new role,” said J. Nicholas Entrikin, vice president and associate provost for internationalization. “He is a highly accomplished scholar who will support and enhance the center’s position as a beacon for civil and human rights, guided by the tenets of Catholic social teaching.”
Rev. John S. Dunne, C.S.C., John A. O’Brien Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame, died early Monday, November 11 at Holy Cross House after a long struggle with complications of a head injury sustained in July. He was 83. “On behalf of the University, I extend my deepest condolences to the family and friends of Father John S. Dunne, a beloved teacher, scholar, priest, and friend,” said Notre Dame President Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C.
Timothy J. Roemer, former U.S. ambassador to India, will give a lecture titled “Twitter, Buffett, and Darwin: India and the United States Relationship,” at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 13 in the Jordan Auditorium of the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business. The event is free and open to the public. The lecture, which is co-sponsored by the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies and the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, is part of the Liu Institute’s Distinguished Speaker Series and Notre Dame International’s International Education Week.
The Miami Dolphins’ recent suspension of Richie Incognito in the wake of allegations that his bullying of football teammate Jonathan Martin constituted “conduct detrimental to the team” should renew and intensify opposition to hazing throughout the National Football League, according to F. Clark Power, professor in the University of Notre Dame’s Program of Liberal Studies, concurrent professor in the Department of Psychology, and fellow in the Notre Dame’s Institute for Educational Initiatives.
Rev. Timothy R. Scully, C.S.C., Hackett Family Director of the Institute for Educational Initiatives and professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame, will be awarded the $100,000 William E. Simon Prize for Lifetime Achievement in Social Entrepreneurship by the Manhattan Institute for founding and leading the Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE).
Rev. Gustavo Gutiérrez, O.P., the University of Notre Dame’s John Cardinal O’Hara Professor of Theology, will deliver the 2013 Annual Human Dignity Lecture on “Poverty and Human Dignity” Wednesday (Oct. 30) at 7:30 p.m. in the McKenna Hall auditorium. “Gustavo Gutiérrez’ influence on the last 40 years of Catholic theology has been profound and fundamental,” said John C. Cavadini, director of Notre Dame’s Institute for Church Life (ICL).
University of Notre Dame fans traveling to Texas for the Shamrock Series off-site home football game, to be played Saturday, October 5, against Arizona State at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, will have the opportunity to enjoy numerous other public events reflecting the life and spirit of Our Lady’s University in the days leading up to the game.
A presentation and panel discussion on generational equity and the economic challenges awaiting America’s youth will be held at the University of Notre Dame at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, October 9 in the auditorium of Washington Hall. The discussion, “Mortgaging the Future: Millennials’ Declining Share of the Economic Pie,” will be introduced by Scott Malpass, vice president and chief investment officer at Notre Dame.
Vittorio G. Hösle, Paul Kimball Professor of Arts and Letters at the University of Notre Dame, has been appointed to the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences by Pope Francis. “We were very gratified to learn of Professor Hösle’s appointment to this truly distinguished body,” said Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., Notre Dame’s president. “On behalf of the University, I congratulate Professor Hösle for this well-deserved and important recognition, and thank him for helping Notre Dame fulfill its mission of serving the Church through scholarship.”
The 2013-14 Notre Dame Forum, titled “Women in Leadership” will include a variety of events focusing on the roles and realities of women who are leaders in their fields, beginning with an event this month featuring two leaders in the U.S. Department of Defense.
Irish novelist Patrick McCabe will speak on “Irish Village Life Over 100 Years: From Brass Band to Broadband” at 4 p.m. Friday, August 30, in the Rare Books Room of the Hesburgh Library on the campus of the University of Notre Dame. McCabe’s lecture is sponsored by Notre Dame’s Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies as one of a series of events marking the 20th anniversary of the Institute’s founding.
The “Age of Martyrs” is the term of art for the earliest years of Christian history, but as Pope Francis remarked in a homily last April 15, “the age of martyrs is not yet over; even today we can say, in truth, that the Church has more martyrs now than during the first centuries.” More Christians were martyred in the 20th century than in all previous centuries combined. The lives of these remarkable men and women and the effects of their witness in the Church and the world are the subjects of the University of Notre Dame’s Saturdays with the Saints program, a series of morning talks offered on football home game days throughout the fall.
“Strong Catholic Families, Strong Catholic Youth,” an initiative that brings Catholic parishes and schools together with Catholic families to strengthen and deepen their faith, is now active in some 60 dioceses in the United States and Canada. According to those who conceived, organized and now direct this new and growing movement in youth ministry, social science research conducted by Christian Smith, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Sociology and director of Notre Dame’s Center for the Study of Religion and Society, has been instrumental in the development of the program.
The University of Notre Dame’s Office of Campus Ministry has launched a new smartphone application accessible to all Apple and Android devices. The free app, which is available from the Apple Store and Android Market by searching “Notre Dame Daily Faith,” includes a calendar of campus liturgies, meetings of prayer groups, performances of sacred music, retreats, lectures and seminars.
The voices of 40 children will be added to the University of Notre Dame’s internationally renowned choirs this fall.
Massive catastrophes, the globally televised images of human suffering they generate, and the innate compassion of ordinary people invariably combine to unleash impressive feats of giving, but a new University of Notre Dame study suggests that generosity, at least among American Catholics, may be more complicated than that.
The University of Notre Dame’s International Studies office has announced that it will offer three new opportunities for study abroad in South Korea, Spain, and Switzerland in spring 2014.
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.
Eighteen University of Notre Dame faculty members have received Rev. Edmund P. Joyce, C.S.C., Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and three faculty have been honored with Dockweiler Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Advising. The awards are presented by the Office of the Provost, but recipients are selected through a process that includes peer and student nominations.
Frederic Winkler Syburg, professor emeritus of the University of Notre Dame’s Department of Film, Television, and Theatre, died Friday (February 15) at Zilber Hospice in Wauwatosa, Wis. He was 88 years old. Syburg’s teaching career at Notre Dame spanned five decades.
University of Notre Dame theologians are reacting to the announcement by Pope Benedict XVI that he intends to resign from the papal post at the end of this month.