University of Notre Dame history

The origins of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal (hereafter, CCR) can be traced to Duquesne University (Pittsburgh, PA), in 1967, when two Catholics were baptised in the Holy Spirit. The movement soon spread to the University of Notre Dame (South Bend, IN), Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI) and the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI), all of which became centres of the expanding renewal. Here were the first organisational forms of the movement, such as the Catholic Charismatic Renewal Service Committee (CCRSC, later NSC), and several other organised attempts at outreach, such as the Notre Dame Conferences. This article analyses the initial Catholic charismatic experiences in Indiana and Michigan, the formation of the first charismatic communities and the immediate reaction of the ecclesiastical authorities. While the Catholic hierarchy initially distanced itself, this approach was later superseded by the legitimisation of the movement, which was achieved due to the work of a number of theologians who located the movement’s religious practices within the tradition of the Church, to Cardinal Léon Joseph Suenens’s work of mediation between the CCR and the Vatican and to Pope Paul VI’s welcome offered to Catholic charismatics at the Grottaferrata Conference (Italy) in 1973.

This section: “Ensoulment throughout the Ages,”  examines some of the theological realities, which lay behind the dogma on Mary’s Immaculate Conception as it was related to the concept of “ensoulment” as well as the “how” and “why” this new Marian dogma came to be proclaimed at this particular time in history. To further explain I begin by recounting how in 1876, shortly after the publication of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species in 1859 a noted biologist by the name of St. George Mivart published his book The Genesis of Species showing there to be no apparent contradiction between Darwin’s writings and Catholic teaching. Catholic scholars complained to Rome. Surprisingly, Pius IX awarded Mivart a doctoral hat in philosophy.7
chapter 18–22 outlines how the concept of ensoulment developed throughout the centuries starting with Aristotle (384–322 BCE) and his hypothesis of delayed animation as advanced in his theory of three types of souls. Aristotle discerned that human embryonic development came through a secession of souls. First, the vegetative soul followed by the animal soul and finally the rational soul. The third or rational soul was believed to come into existence roughly forty days for a male and eighty to ninety days for a female, after the time of conception. For Aristotle, ensoulment did not happen until the third or rational soul manifested—hence, his theory of delayed (or mediate) animation. From here, we follow Aristotle’s concept of delayed animation into Christianity by way of the Greek Septuagint Bible and later legislations beginning in 380 CE—the time when Christianity became the state religion. Chapter 19 follows Augustine and others, showing how the church wrestled with the concept of ensoulment and how it came to be linked with original sin and the ensoulment of the Blessed Virgin Mary—central to this presentation.
Chapter 20 brings us to a shipwreck in the eleventh century when a fellow by the name of Constantinus Africanus salvaged and later translated medical texts from Arabic into Latin. Through Africanus’s translations, the concept of delayed animation was appropriated anew for Western civilization. From here, we follow Aristotle’s concept of delayed animation through the writings of Saint Albertus, Saint Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, the Council of Basel (1493), the Council of Trent (1545–1563 CE), up until the time of Benedict XIV.
Chapter 21 introduces and reviews various discoveries in the field of the embryological sciences beginning with William C. Harvey and his publication of De generationer animalism in 1651, at which time he postulated the reality of a mammalian ovule. One hundred and seventy-six years later, in 1827, Karl Ernst von Baer actually discovers what Harvey predicted—the human ovule. With von Baer’s discovery came a profound paradigm shift in Western civilization. Twenty-seven years later, in 1854, the document Ineffabilis Deus is promulgated by Pius IX. With von Baer’s discovery—after more than fourteen hundred years of theological speculation—church authorities feel sufficiently confident in their new scientifically based knowledge to abandon (or, better put, to update) Aristotle’s theory of delayed animation. Chapter 22 illustrates the effects of von Baer’s discovery on Catholic theology. Here we convey to you the reader that delayed animation, as it had always been speculatively applied to the conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (not Jesus), was, for the first time in human history, rejected in the document Ineffabilis Deus. Mary’s ensoulment is defined as happening at the “first instance”—of her conception—immediate animation. Part 3, chapter 23 considers our third trajectory as outlined in the document Apostolical Sedis written in 1869—dealing with specific laws and censures.
Chapter 24 addresses the effects of von Baer’s discovery on Catholic thinking. The Dominican priest Cletus Wessels recounts that with the discovery of the human ovum in 1827, all the old understandings about human fertility based upon the physiology of the ancients was displaced.8 This marked a shift in consciousness not only in Catholic teaching but for Western civilization as well. Women were suddenly and newly perceived as equal contributors in the genetic and biological makeup of their children. No more were they to be understood as simply “supplying the nurturing force” or as living “receptacles” for their offspring. They are now seen as full and equal partners in contributing to the biological makeup of their offspring. The whole worldview of male-female relations was forever changed. The pernicious animus-driven ideology of a war-torn Europe must now reconfigure itself to accommodate the fact that women should have equal partnership in the realities that affected their lives. This did not happen. Why? The male-centered European culture could not integrate the significance of von Baer’s discovery. These matters remained repressed.
Shortly after von Baer’s discovery in 1854 came the papal encyclical Ineffabilis Deus—on Mary’s Immaculate Conception. Millions of Catholics throughout the world intensify their devotion to Mary while, on a psychological level, they collectively elevate the feminine principle.  Although Catholics had always offered devotion through the intercession of Mary, Marian devotion intensified and increased exponentially for the next hundred years, and beyond. It would seem that intuitively, Roman Catholics “grasped” the importance of the document Ineffabilis Deus on levels other than intellectual.
Looking at how Ineffabilis Deus supported the science behind von Baer’s discovery, we come to a deeper understanding of Pius IX’s actions, when in 1847 he reinstated the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, which had its roots in the Academy of the Lynxes (Accademia die Lance), founded in Rome in 1603, now named the “Pontifical Academy of the New Lynxes.”9 Also was Pius’s excommunication of the priest Jakob Frodsham in 1857, who wrote On the Generation of Human Souls, published in 1854, which contradicted Ineffabilis Deus—covered below.10

32 Messages from Mary, 20 years before Medjugorje.

The following lines were penned by religious Sister, Mary Ephrem (Mildred Neuzil), from her cloister cell. She was professed as a religious Christian in 1933. Exteriorly she was much like any other Sister in the Community, trying to be faithful to the Rule and the religious practices of the Community. She received her assignments to work in various houses, mostly in domestic work.

From 1951 to 1954 she taught kindergarten classes in a parish school and enjoyed working with the little ones. About 1938 she began to have what seemed like mystical experiences. They may be described as flights of the spirit, interior locutions, etc. Having these did not disturb nor overawe her in any way. In fact, by her own admission she thought they were a common thing to all religious people.

In this book, a group of renowned international scholars seek to discern the ways in which Simone Weil was indebted to Plato, and how her provocative readings of his work offer challenges to contemporary philosophy, theology, and spirituality. This is the first book in twenty years to systematically investigate Weil's Christian Platonism. The opening essays explore what actually constitutes Weil's Platonism. Louis Dupre addresses the Platonic and Gnostic elements of her thought with respect to her negative theology, and the Christian Platonism of her positive theology as found in her reflections on beauty and the Good. Michel Narcy provides a close historical reading of Weil and discusses the degree to which her teacher Alain influenced her Platonism. Michael Ross contends that Weil's interest in Plato is in "ethical Platonism." Essays by Robert Chenavier and by Patrick Patterson and Lawrence Schmidt consider the importance of matter and materialism in Weil&#39...

For Fall 2002 class on Constitutional Interpretations at the University of Notre Dame (Notre Dame, Indiana). My printed and marked up copy of this has the date of printing as Sept. 23, 2002 (up to page 15) and Sept. 25, 2002 (for page 16 to the end)

With an eye toward supporting these new initiatives and providing information to the many colleagues and Catholics who wish to learn more about the topic, I share this brief overview of the burgeoning interdisciplinary literature on clergy sexual abuse.

As our communities become increasingly ethnically, racially, and linguistically diverse, and as critical literacy becomes more integrally tied to meaningful and humane participation in the global family, it is essential that English integrates theories of race, culture, and imperialism into its understandings of literature, literacy, and cultural production. What does it mean to read from a Eurocentric perspective, both in terms of our selections of texts and our interpretations of texts? How do traditional readings of the word and the world reinforce racial and cultural hierarchies? Which authors and thinkers best help us to theorize the role of culture in the reproduction of structural, racial and gender inequality? And how do these novelists, playwrights, poets, activists, and cultural theorists help us to better reimagine a more equitable and humanizing pedagogy of reading, writing, and multimodal production in the 21 st Century? This class is intended to serve as a general introduction to postcolonial literature and theory. Toward that end, we will be reading a number of the most influential theorists of Postcolonialism as well as some of the novels that have been of particular importance to debates and discussions in the field. This course begins with the premise that a study of postcolonial theories and a growing body of literature from subaltern perspectives can help the discipline of English to diversify its canon and add a robust theory of race, culture, imperialism, and intersectionality to its intellectual discourse. With this in mind, the goals of this course are: • To explore the anti-colonial tradition that is a precursor to and a companion of the postcolonial theoretical movement • To understand the roots of postcolonial theory and its development across global contexts, with a focus on South Asian, sub-Saharan African, Latin American/Caribbean, and U.S. Postcolonialism • To read critically postcolonial literatures and media texts from Africa, Asia, South America, the Caribbean, and the United States • To draw on postcolonial theory to read the traditional British and American literary canons • To develop the ability to employ Postcolonialism as a toolkit to read and critique any cultural text. In addition, at the end of this course you will be better able to: • Examine and critique the arguments of key theorists and scholars in group presentations that you will make to your classmates • Actively listen to classmates as a thoughtful participant in Socratic and small group discussions

Originally presented at Conference on « Collectionner la Révolution française » held September 23-25, 2015 at the Univ. de Grenoble and the Musée de la Révolution française in Vizille, France. 
A chapter in Collectionner la Révolution française, ed. Gilles Bertrand, Michel Biard, Alain Chevalier, Martial Poirson and Pierre Serna (Paris : Société des études robespierristes, 2016).

Twenty-three percent of the soldiers of the Union Army were immigrants.  An incident on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg -- the chaplain of the Irish Brigade, Father William Corby, giving general absolution to its soldiers before they entered the killing ground of the Wheatfield -- suggests that all Americans inherit from them and other immigrants a legacy of memories and responsibilities.  It is surely licit to debate immigration policy, but recent proposals to exclude or bar immigration are unworthy.

[N.B. This article is under the copyright of the publisher and is posted here by the author strictly for personal/educational purposes. Please do not distribute or reproduce this content without the express written permission of the publisher. To purchase this content or subscribe to the magazine, please visit https://www.christiancentury.org/. If you are the publisher and would like this content removed from this website, please contact me directly at the information included in my CV. Thank you.]

Note: there are two files to download: the slides ... and the text!
John Augustine Zahm, CSC, quietly assembled one of the greatest Dante collections in America for the University of Notre Dame around the turn of the twentieth century. Zahm’s efforts followed those undertaken by Daniel Willard Fiske for Cornell University, and by Charles Eliot Norton, George Ticknor, and others for Harvard. What common, or different motivations inspired these and additional Dante collecting enterprises for and by American universities? What do they contribute to our understanding of the reception of Dante in America then and now? What might the future of Dante collecting look like and contribute to our knowledge of Dante’s works and influence? This illustrated lecture will explore these questions and how they relate to and support trends in Dante scholarship.

Review of "Memoirs of Chaplain Life: Three Years with the Irish Brigade in the Army of the Potomac," by William Corby, CSC (New York: Fordham University Press, 1992).  This new edition of the original 1893 book includes introductory and supplemental material by Lawrence Frederick Kohl.  Father William Corby was a chaplain in the famous Irish Brigade of the Army of the Potomac.  This is a memoir of camps, marches, soldier life, leader profiles and vignettes, conversations, making the last walk with soldiers sentenced to death my military courts, giving general absolution before battles, faith, and grace.

[N.B. This article is under the copyright of the publisher and is posted here by the author strictly for personal/educational purposes. Please do not distribute or reproduce this content without the express written permission of the publisher. To view this content in its original form, please visit http://theotherjournal.com/2014/07/07/scandalizing-john-howard-yoder/. If you are the publisher and would like this content removed from this website, please contact me directly at the information included in my CV. Thank you.]

Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, everywhere books are sold. Request for your university library. Synopsis: Nannie Helen Burroughs (1879–1961) is just one of the many African American intellectuals whose work has been long excluded from the literary canon. In her time, Burroughs was a celebrated African American (or, in her era, a "race woman") female activist, educator, and intellectual. This book represents a landmark contribution to the African American intellectual historical project by allowing readers to experience Burroughs in her own words. This anthology of her works written between 1900 and 1959 encapsulates Burroughs' work as a theologian, philosopher, activist, educator, intellectual, and evangelist, as well as the myriad of ways that her career resisted definition. Burroughs rubbed elbows with such African American historical icons as W. E. B. DuBois, Booker T. Washington, Anna Julia Cooper, Mary Church Terrell, and Mary McLeod Bethune, and these interactions represent much of the existing, easily available literature on Burroughs' life. This book aims to spark a conversation surrounding Burroughs' life and work by making available her own tracts on God, sin, the intersections of church and society, black womanhood, education, and social justice. Moreover, the volume is an important piece of the growing movement toward excavating African American intellectual and philosophical thought and reformulating the literary canon to bring a diverse array of voices to the table.

This photojournalism project, consists of analysis of (2) independent events. The first, a gallery exhibition in South Bend, IN at The SB ART LEAGUE GALLERY. It highlights the art of Leslie Baker, from her "New Natural" collection.
The second, are  behind the scenes photographs taken on the grounds of the Notre Dame campus before the April 2015 Blue and Gold Game.
The two brief editorial style collections, appear in striking contrast to one another. The layout and style show how story telling is important, as well as keeping a steady, recognizable voice is an audience.  While an individual may find themselves on unfamiliar territory in reporting, they can indeed tell what they see in a compelling way.

Key words: Leslie Baker, Ceramics, Modern Art, Notre Dame, Journalism, Photography, Sports Reporting