As Catholics, we hold that there is a Truth, The Word Made Flesh, Our Savior, Jesus Christ. One does not debate Divine Truth. To debate Divine Truth is nothing but a lack of Faith. As Catholics, we hold that there is a Truth, and for everything we do, we must ask, is it of God?

Here is God's Truth and thus the Catholic Church's teaching on Sexual Love: Sexual Love only exists within the Sanctity of a Holy Marriage which is Blessed by God. (" What God Has Joined Together ")

All of us are called to develop healthy and Holy relationships and friendships with one another in communion with God. Some of these relationships will develop into Marriage. This is what God intended. Those of us who know how to develop healthy and Holy relationships and friendships do not feel the need to act out sexually in these relationships. We are not trying to be possessive or to manipulate these relationships. Love is not possessive nor does it serve to manipulate.

There is no inherent right to lust over someone. Thus using terms such as heterosexual,etc. are simply demeaning. God created Man and Woman, Male and Female.

The monologues are not of God. They are a lie from the start. ( title ) They do not respect the Sacredness and Dignity of the Gift of Life. They are oppressive and demeaning. The sexual objectification of any person is a form of slavery. We all know that Christ came to set us free. BE NOT AFRAID!

I'll be praying for Father Jenkins tonight as the V-Monologues begin another season.
His decision to allow this to go forward will affect the spiritual lives of many.

Marianne Murphy

I believe that Father Jenkins is the person who should lead this beloved University into the future. Father Jenkins needs our help as well as our Prayers. There is only one real solution to this problem regarding the true nature of a Catholic University. It is time for a new Statement on the role of a Catholic University. This Statement must only have one goal, that it be consistent with and thus Faithful to the Magisterium of the Church that He, The Truth, Has Founded. We could use Father Hesburgh's endorsement as well. What do you say Bill, can it be done? " BE NOT AFRAID, I will not leave you orphans."

I'm afraid you have me above my grade level on these questions, Nancy -- except for Father Jenkins's needing our help and prayers, with which I quite agree -- but they do point to a fundamental fact: The future of Notre Dame as a robustly Catholic university depends on those in governance. It depends on the Administration -- in your words, those "who should lead this beloved University into the fugure" -- and on the Board and Fellows, those who are responsible for defining the "role of a Catholic University." As a practical matter, my guess is that those in governance are not about to consider a chance in the Mission Statement, and frankly I think that is probably a good thing. The Mission Statement is fundamentally sound, it seems to me, though no doubt it could be made more specific, as you suggest; and the risk of a change is that it would be weakened rather than strengthened. That's been the historic trend in Catholic higher education when fundamental policies are changed. At Georgetown, for example, when for the first time a layman was installed as president. The challenge, as I see it, is to conform the practice to the Mission Statement, and first of all to the central requirement that there be a solid majority of Catholics on the faculty. If committed Catholics, trained in the Catholic intellectual tradition, were in fact to "predominate," as the Mission Statement requires, I'm confident we would see the end of such morally and intellectually bankrupt events as The Vagina Monologues. It is in aid of that goal, that is, encouraging and supporting the radical change in hiring policy that is essential, that I think all of us have a role to play.

I agree with you, Bill, that it is a central requirement that there be a solid majority of Faithful Catholics on the faculty. I see no problem with members of the laity in governance as long as they are Faithful to the Catholic Mission of the University. I know of no Corporation, for example, that would not expect employees to be faithful to their mission statement. Why should it be any different for a Catholic University and her employees? Perhaps an oath of such Fidelity might help. I am wondering, however, why someone would want to be on the faculty in the first place if they did not agree with the mission statement.

I think I can answer your closing question, and this goes to the heart of the issue.

First of all, the ND Mission Statement is, like most other mission statements, taken as a piece of PR. I am not aware of anyone who actually pulls it out to reflect on it and form his behavior by it.

More important than this, however, is that the typical academic does not choose first and foremost to identify with his school on the basis of what that school stands for. The primary identification is disciplinary. I am a philosopher and my career is in philosophy. Someone else's is in sociology or German literature. Why is Dr X at Notre Dame? If he (or she) is young, this is the most promising entry position into a career. If Dr X is older and established, it's because ND offers good facilities and a chance to establish his reputation.

Most professors could care less what Fr Jenkins thinks of their work. They are judged by colleagues in their academic discipline. Your career depends on your publications, especially in the best journals, not on your supporting a mission that you see tangential to your work. Of course, you want to teach well, but not to develop the next generation of Catholic laity but to introduce young minds to the joys and mysteries of philosophy or sociology or biology.

So what you (an a lot of other people who post to this blog) are really calling for is conversion -- putting something else higher than career. At least that's how I see it.

Well Adrian, regarding philosophy, there is certainly no conflict there, since Jesus, a.k.a., Perfect Truth, was the greatest philosopher of all time. Which does bring us back to the heart of the issue, to be Catholic and autonomous is an oxymoron. As Dr. John Soucy has stated, the Body of Christ are those members who are United in Fidelity to Christ. Our Catholic Faith only enhances our ability to understand the fullness of all of God's Truth. This is the True Gift of a Catholic University, Fidelity to Truth, Christ.

The specific provision I have in mind, Adrian, is the declaration that the University's "Catholic identity" "depends upon the continuing presence of a predominant number of Catholic intellectuals on the faculty." I quite agree that the typical lofty declarations of Mission Statements are ordinarily taken for the PR that they are. That is true in the corporate world as well. But this faculty composition provision is of a different order, and yet it has been widely disregarded by departments that pay no heed to whether their hiring practices promote or undermine the requirement of a faculty dominated by (genuinely committed) Catholics. When most of the faculty oppose taking an applicant's religion into account at all, as the Baylor study showed to be the case at Notre Dame, what you have is a faculty most of whom are willing to trash a policy that has been settled upon after careful consideration as essential. What this means to me is that, if the Administration were to decide to exercise its undoubted authority to take whatever action is necessary to enforce this policy, no one would have ground to object, though doubtless many would, and vociferously. Since there is little evidence that the former is likely, however, we are unlikely ever to get to the latter.

P.S., Adrian, regarding the statement you made about hiring of faculty:

" Knowing Christ will not make up for ignorance of quantum theory but knowledge of the quantum equations does not tell us what these equations mean for the real world." Good point. I would side with Einstein in physics since he believed in the theory of relativity.

Since the quantum theory, is still just a theory, here is where Faith comes in. Fundamental to contemporary quantum theory of the "observer effect", there is no phenomenon until it is observed. Faith is believing even when we cannot consciousy "see" God. This does not mean that we are unconscious although some of us may be "blind".
( Perhaps this is what Jesus meant when He said, " Stay Awake...")

God Has created the conditions in which physical matter exists. The Universe is His Design, we are His Design. God exists outside Time and Space , we do not. He is with us now in His Word, His Church ,( guided by the Holy Spirit ,which includes His chosen leader, in this period of Time, Holy Pope Benedict XVI) and His gift of the Sacraments.

Christ was transformed into physical matter when The Word Was Made Flesh.
It is Christ, lifted up on the Cross, ( powerful magnetism) that draws us to Himself and thus to His Father's House. ( as stated by Father Corapi ) This Gift of the Hope of Salvation is offered to everyone who desires to accept His invitation to Follow Him. We can be transformed from death into a new Life with God. This is God's Grand Unification Truth.

As for other Universes, God created only one, this one. There is only one Divine Son of God. There is only one Perfect Truth, the Word Made Flesh. He had only one Human body, one Human Life. Which brings us back to the heart of the matter. The purpose of everything is what God intended. All knowledge can be seen in relationship to God. That is why our Catholic Faith only enhances our understanding of all of God's Truth.

Dear Ms. Danielson,

Could you please clarify your post with regards to how it responds to what Professor Reimers said in his? It seems that it is more of an attack from your personal opinion on quantum physics rather than a response to what Professor Reimers said quite well about the basic apathy most people have about Mission Statements in general. Thank you so much.

I'm sorry. I did not mean to sound as if I were attacking quantum physics in general since I know very little about the subject. I was simply trying to show that there is a relationship between all knowledge, regardless of the discipline, and God. Our Faith can enhance our understanding of all of God's Truth. Thank you, Professor Reimers ,for pointing out the fact that many are apathetic to the Mission statement although it does make the situation seem rather hopeless. Thank you for not being afraid to speak out regarding the relationship that does exist between Faith and Reason.

Thanks for the clarification. I do think it's very important to keep in mind the relationship between faith and reason, or rather the relationship between Sacred doctrine and other sciences (as Saint Thomas classifies them). I personally find the whole field of quantum mechanics incredibly interesting. C.S. Lewis, to whatever degree of success, even tried to make an argument for certain aspects of Christian belief from it, in his book Miracles.

P.S, regarding the idea of a call to conversion, that is not what I am suggesting. The reason why we have free will is so that we can make the free choice to Love Him. No one can coerce another to Love them, it is a gift that is given freely from the Heart. The University, however, should already be authentically Catholic. When someone attends a Catholic University, they have the right to receive an authentic Catholic education. Simply because the University defines itself as being Catholic, it must be authentic.

Now, there's a really good question, Nancy. Why would they indeed unless they thought that the University wasn't really serious about it?

I agree, Nancy's question regarding the seriousness of certain professors in keeping with the mission of the University is a very important one. I don't wish to impute any blame on them, so I think the most charitable interpretation we can give for such actions is to take Adrian's approach and say that they either want to get established or have something impressive on their CV. It's a sad state of affairs, but as far as I can tell, this is the way a lot of the modern academy works.

Reading the current issue of "Notre Dame" magazine last week reinforced my opinion regarding ND and where it seems headed.

One does not need to be a Catholic to understand how politically correct the school has become. Here and there the Administration has surrendered reasoned and timeless standards once demanded of students, all to what must be the delight and satisfaction of the abnormal and those who rule the secular universe of higher education.

ND was once the best of the best simply because it unified strong academics with sound moral and social standards which in turn were demanded of all students who were selected to study there. It prepared graduates to do more than just earn dollars. This "character", as I think of it, was unlike Harvard, Yale or any other school in the U.S. The result was, I believe, an educational platform at the baccalaureate level second to none.

Facilitating the "vagina monologues" at Notre Dame seems to have been the catalyst igniting the anger of many. However, my disappointment goes well beyond the disgusting nature of the presentation. It is that facilitating the "play" is emblematic of what seems to be an across the board and more damaging surrender by the Administration to the far left as to who and what ND now values and, therefore, where it is headed.

True ND has gained enormous funding in recent years. But that is just money. The surrender of it's unique and historic character, willed or not, simply can’t be worth it.

Now its just another good school.

Bob VonHoene
1954