Winter
2011
e t h i c s c u l t u r e the newsletter of the notre dame center for ethics & culture
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Fromirector the
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hose of us who teach ethics to contemporary undergraduates do so with considerable fear and trembling. After all, in classes in ethics we challenge students to think seriously—and critically—about the David Solomon most fundamental question we human beings can ask—“What is the best kind of life for me to lead?” In contemporary philosophy, ethics has become a technical discipline, governed by a dense and difficult literature and practiced by brilliant academics elaborating and defending complicated theories of correct human conduct. There are academic superstars—John Rawls, Ronald Dworkin and our own Alasdair MacIntyre, for example—whose ethical views are widely celebrated and studied in graduate seminars wherever genuine philosophy goes on. All of this technical literature, however, is mere huffing and puffing if it doesn’t make contact eventually with the question of how best human beings should live. For college students this question is pressing. They are at a particularly critical stage in the process of growing into the people they will be. Real reflection on ethics must always begin by bringing students to realize that their own lives already embody some answer to this question. Genuine skepticism is not a possible response to it. The attempt to reject the question on the grounds that we can’t give an answer to it (or that any answer is just “a matter of opinion”) is, at the same time, to give an answer to it. One can’t escape the question by pleading ignorance. Skepticism is, after all, a way of life, too--and most people have thought not the best way. It is with the recognition of this truth that genuine ethics was born in the thought of our philosophical forefathers, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. The beginning of ethics was just the recognition that since our lives will embody an answer to this question no matter what, we should try to determine
the best answer to it and shape our lives, insofar as possible, to conform to that answer. It also seemed clear that we should use our highest capacities—according to the great Greek philosophers, our reason-to determine what that answer is. As Socrates said, since it is the most important question we can ask, it should command our full attention. In encouraging students in the ethics classroom to reflect on this question and to confront the radically different responses given to it by the towering figures in the history of philosophy (Augustine, Aquinas, Hume, Kant, Mill and Nietzche, just to name a few) we risk bringing instability into their lives. The primary fear is that critical reflection will lead to undermining the positive views students bring to the classroom without helping them to adopt a more adequate view. Experience in teaching ethics shows that it is easier to tear down than to build up. It is easier to bring students to reject their present views than to help them to embody in their lives more comprehensive views, views that are better based in what we know about human nature and what it takes for human beings to truly flourish. These issues about teaching ethics are real ones that confront anyone presuming to introduce students to the critical methods and the substantive theories in our ethical tradition. They particularly
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From the Director................................................................ 1 11th Annual Fall Conference................................................ 2 Integritas.............................................................................. 6 Notre Dame Fund to Protect Human Life............................ 7 Bread of Life Fall 2010......................................................... 9 Catholic Culture Literature Series...................................... 10 Schmitt Lecture.................................................................. 12 Stratford Caldecott Lecture................................................ 13 G.K. Chesterton: 80 years Later......................................... 14 Nine Days that Changed the World................................... 15 Tailgates............................................................................. 18 We’ve moved...................................................................... 19 Welcome Angela Pfister...................................................... 19 Upcoming Events: 2011..................................................... 20
424 geddes hall • notre dame, in 46556 • tel: 574 631 9656 • f a x : 5 7 4 6 3 1 6 2 9 0 • e - m a i l : n d e t h i c s @ n d . e d u • w e b : h t t p : / / e t h i c s c e n t e r. n d . e d u
11th Annual Fall Conference 2010
Conference participants pack the auditorium
Rev. Saward with Kathryn and Jordan Wales
Our annual fall conference was again a marvelous success. This year entitled, “Younger Than Sin: Retrieving Simplicity Through the Virtues of Humility, Wonder, and Joy,” it covered a wide array of topics. From November 18th-20th, scholars, artists, professionals, laymen and students gathered in McKenna Hall to reflect on the cultivation of virtue for authentic Christian freedom. Taking Pope Benedict XVI’s notion of simplicity of soul as the wellspring of humility, wonder and joy as its theme, Conference participants the conference sought to explore enjoy conversation and light virtue’s contribution to human refreshments between sessions flourishing through the lenses of philosophy, theology, literature, art, law, history and other perspectives of intellectual inquiry.
simpleminded. This was the first time in the history of the Fall Conference that the opening lecture was given on Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas’ thought and “little way” seemed to permeate the rest of the conference. Saward took an unusual approach to this angelic doctor of the church. Saward emphasized Thomas’ childlike personality, A rapt audience listens which is surprising to some, and takes notes given his intellectual prowess. He called this seeming contradiction nothing other than the paradox of Christianity and the Cross. He ended his talk by saying that Aquinas was someone who was “always young, always Decisions, decisions—it’s hard to humble, childlike, younger than choose between sessions deceit, younger than error, giving wisdom to little ones.” For many, it recollected Ralph McInerny, the Thomist and great friend of the Center who passed away in January and who would have so much enjoyed Fr. Saward’s address. The next morning started with nine colloquium sessions, followed by a lecture by former President of St. Vincent College and
The conference opened with the Joseph Pieper Keynote lecture given by Reverend John Saward of St. Gregory and St. Augustine’s Church in Oxford, England. His talk: “‘Giving wisdom to little ones’ (Psalm 18: 8): St. Thomas Aquinas - Doctor of the Little Way,” was clear, concise, and anything but
Rev. John Saward delivers the Josef Pieper keynote address
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“Younger Than Sin: Retrieving Simplicity Through the Virtues of Humility, Wonder, and Joy” way lost in that at this year’s conference on spiritual youthfulness, the presence of youth was felt so keenly. After lunch, Professor Anthony Esolen of Providence College spoke on “The Mighty Child: Visions of Youth in Dante and Shakespeare.” He sought to inspire participants through these classical literary figures not to give in to the secular culture of consumerism. He warned, “for materialism both as an ontology and
Old Center friends Mary Daly, Peter Wicks, David, Greer, and Elliot Argue meet again at the conference
founder of Aging with Dignity, Jim Towey. His lecture, “Mother Teresa of Calcutta at 100 and Why Her Influence is Just Beginning,” was inspired by his friendship with Mother Teresa as her lawyer. Since our long time friend Dr. Paul Wright was able to attend the conference, it must have been the only occasion when both Mother Teresa’s lawyer and her doctor were in the same room together! It made for a very engaging Q&A session. At the same time Notre Dame’s own Professor David W. Fagerberg gave a talk on “Humility without Phil Bess moderates for presenters Humiliation: A Capacitation for Erik van Versendaal and Michael and Paul Camacho Life in Elfland in the Thought of G. K. Chesterton.” The talk was particularly well attended by students. In fact, this year’s conference had the best representation of undergraduate students to date; large contingents came from as far away as Baylor and St. Thomas in Minnesota. Our conference participants seem to be getting younger and younger each year, and the irony was in no
David with Bill and Peggy Dotterweich
Even philosophers can be sharp dressers
The Dominicans have made a habit of attending the Fall Conference
a guide for life is not simple but simplistic, not humble, but humiliating, its characteristic adverb is only, as it seeks not to instill wonder, not to cause the heart to leap before the lovely earth… but as it boasts its object is to disillusion and to dishearten. Does it breed works of beauty? It cannot even breed children sufficient to replace one generation with the next.” The students in the audience laughed and cheered during the question and answer period as Esolen suggested ways to respond to Machiavellian Materialism: “Laugh at them,” he shouted. “Be a kid, fall in love, get married, have fun, enjoy life!” Continued on page 4
David Solomon has these sisters in stitches
Fr. Bill Miscamble engages Silva Schuster in spirited conversation
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Fall Conference continued
Lawrence Cunningham, this year’s Jack Schuster Memorial Lecturer
Friday night’s Jack Schuster Memorial Lecture was given by Professor Lawrence Cunningham of Notre Dame, who very fittingly chose to talk about Br. Andre Bessette, the Congregation of Holy Cross’ first saint, who was canonized in October of this year. In “The Humility of the Door Keeper: The Case of Andre Bessette, CSC,” Cunningham presented the vocation of being a porter as an overAdvisory Board members Tom looked road to holiness. The most Hibbs and Bill and Julie McGurn touching moment of the conference came at the end of his address, when the whole assembly stood to give an ovation to the Holy Cross brothers and priests who filled the front rows of the auditorium. Notre Dame would not exist today were it not for their devotion and diligent service. Another highlight of the conference was Ralph Wood’s address on “The Lady Who Looks on Gladiators in Grapple: Chesterton’s Marian Poems.” It was beautiful and humbling for all of us at Notre Dame to hear a devout Baptist from Baylor speak so eloquently about Our Lady. He said, among other things, that we cannot truly understand Christ John O’Callaghan without understanding his mother.
Daniel McInerny, now of Baylor University, certainly took the cake for catchy titles with “Sucking the Life from Our Children: Hollywood and the Romance of the Living Dead.” McInerny led us in a riveting discussion of the vampire phenomenon that has swept contemporary literature and film. His presentation included clips from the popular “Twilight” film, which he considered within the historical context of Bram Stoker’s Dracula and other early vampire-themed literature. He showed how an already dark image has taken on even more disturbing implications in our culture, and he gave us a sense of how inexplicably vast the vampire phenomenon has recently become, particularly among teenagers. His address quickly became the talk of the conference, with participants asking follow-up questions for more than an hour afterwards.
Tris Engelhardt engages in spirited discussion with Rev. Nicholas
Lombardo, OP
Baby Alice participates in her first Fall Conference with her proud parents, Bill and Elizabeth Kirk
introduced Ralph Wood
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Fall Conference continued We concluded with Mass in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, celebrated by the Most Rev. Kevin C. Rhoades, Bishop of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, fittingly on the Feast of Christ the King. Mass was followed by a banquet where both the wine and the conversation flowed freely. Be sure to mark your calendars now for next year’s conference, to be held November 10-12, 2011!
Tris Engelhardt always has the last word
Other featured speakers included Sr. Ann Astell, Tris Engelhardt, and Margaret Monahan Hogan, who made excellent contributions. We were glad once again to have a high school student present a paper among over a hundred papers presented in 36 colloquium sessions throughout the conference. This year that student was Caitlin Ronan of Montrose School in Massachusetts.
David with Silva Schuster and her daughter, Nicole
A happy book merchant selling her wares
Jeff Langan, Kelly Mason, and Catherine Sims celebrate after presenting their papers
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Integritas
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his semester the Center launched a new undergraduate the Theology Department. November’s seminar addressed the formation program called Integritas. The program seeks subject of the value of a liberal arts education, with readings to help students integrate the corporal and spiritual works of from Ex Corde Ecclesiae, Stanley Hauerwas’ “Go with God,” and mercy in their lives at Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s College, and David Foster Wallace’s 2005 commencement address to Kenyon Holy Cross College. While Notre Dame College, This is Water. The readings were has a multitude of student clubs and chosen to address the questions: What is associations devoted to a wide variety the enduring value of a liberal arts educaof interests, there are few organizations tion? What sort of preparation for living in the University that aim to integrate do the liberal arts provide? What does student life in its intellectual, spiritual, it mean to learn “how to think?” How and charitable dimensions. Through its is a Christian education unique? What weekly meetings, Integritas offers students vision of the integration of scholarship, a unique opportunity to engage in a wide spirituality and service does Pope John variety of activities together, reflecting on Paul II offer us? fundamental questions of metaphysics, December’s seminar explored the ethics, and justice in seminars and dialogue between faith and reason, takthrough the experiential components of ing St. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Contra the program. Gentiles and the encyclical Fides et Ratio Under the direction of Greer Hanas its central texts. Through those texts nan, the inaugural Integritas and with John Cavadini’s great group has thirteen participants insight, we explored the quesand a graduate student mentions: Why should we believe tor, Kristen Drahos. Guest truths that cannot be known professors lead the monthly by reason? Why should truths seminars, which creates a sense that can be known by reason of community and common also be known by faith? Can endeavor between the faculty truths known by reason ever and students. Student particicontradict truths known by pants are majoring in a variety faith? What is faith? Why can of subjects, including archiwe have confidence in human tecture, engineering, business, reason? From where does the philosophy, theology, and pocontemporary tension between litical science. The group meets faith and reason spring? What The carolers smile in spite of the cold every Thursday with a different are the consequences of reason activity each week, including becoming estranged from faith? seminars, service opportunities, and liturgies. The students attended our Fall Conference as a group, We opened with a Mass and dinner in Geddes Hall’s beautaking in Fr. John Saward’s keynote address, “ ‘Giving wisdom tiful Our Lady of Mercy chapel at the beginning of November. to little ones’ (Psalm 18: 8): St. Thomas Aquinas - Doctor of Our first two seminars were held in November and December, the Little Way.” After returning from Thanksgiving, the group the first led by Greer, and the second led by John Cavadini of spent an evening Christmas caroling in the neighborhood around Continued on page 17
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Notre Dame
Fund to Protect Human Life
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t has been an exciting and eventful start to the academic Freimann Professor of Engineering. In addition to his service year for the Notre Dame Fund to Protect Human Life as it as president of the Notre Dame chapter, Father Miscamble also continues in its efforts to educate the Notre has been elected to a two-year term on the UFL Dame community, and support initiatives national board of directors. that promote the sanctity of human life. Notre Dame UFL is one of the largest Among those efforts have been supporting chapters in the country with over 30 formal the Notre Dame University Faculty for Life members and reaches out to a listserv of over 200 chapter, announcing the inaugural Notre Dame faculty and staff members who are committed Evangelium Vitae Medal, planning the Notre to Notre Dame’s efforts on behalf of life. The Dame Vita Institute, hosting the Bread of Life Notre Dame UFL is a dynamic part of these dinner, the launching of the Fund website, growing efforts for life by providing spiritual, and supporting a host of other events. These academic, and social endeavors for faculty and activities have been made possible through the staff to meet and share ideas about these most generous support of benefactors around the important of issues. In addition, Notre Dame country who have partnered with us to enhance UFL is committed to providing support to the the University’s institutional involvement as many vibrant Notre Dame students who are Richard Doerflinger, inaugural the educational leader dedicated to building a engaged in efforts to defend human life from Notre Dame Evangelium culture of life. its earliest stages. Vitae medal recipient In conjunction with the Notre Dame Fund to Protect Human Life, Notre Dame UFL is proud to be University Faculty for Life Chapter hosting the 2011 annual UFL conference June 10-11. The UFL The Fund to Protect Human Life has continued with its conference will be a unique opportunity to bring together proefforts to build a community of prolife faculty and staff at Notre life faculty and staff from around the country and to advance Dame. To that end, the Fund sponsored the opening reception pro-life principles and scholarship at Notre Dame, the effect of of the academic year for the Notre Dame University Faculty for which we hope will be long-lasting and far-reaching. Life chapter. Nearly 60 faculty and staff attended the reception at the Coleman Morse lounge. Fr. Bill Miscamble, C.S.C., Notre Dame Evangelium Vitae Medal provided a report on the status of the Notre Dame University In October, the Fund to Protect Human Life proudly anFaculty for Life chapter and presented a moving tribute to Bill nounced that Richard Doerflinger, associate director of the Kirk for his steadfast commitment to the University and his United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Secreunfailing witness on behalf of life to the University community tariat for Pro Life Activities, will receive the inaugural University and beyond. Fr. Miscamble proudly announced that the national of Notre Dame Evangelium Vitae Medal. The Fund to Protect board of directors of the University Faculty for Life (“UFL”) has Human Life established the annual Notre Dame Evangelium approved the formation of the Notre Dame chapter of UFL. Vitae Medal in order to honor individuals whose outstanding Officers heading the Notre Dame chapter are Fr. Miscamble, efforts have served to proclaim the Gospel of Life by steadfastly president; Daniel Philpott, associate professor of political science affirming and defending the sanctity of human life from its and peace studies and Fund Committee member, vice president; earliest stages. The Evangelium Vitae Medal will be announced and Walter Nicgorski, professor in the Program of Liberal Studannually on Respect Life Sunday, the first Sunday of October, ies, secretary-treasurer. The chapter’s executive board members and consists of a specially commissioned medal and a $10,000 are Elizabeth Kirk, Research Fellow at the Center for Ethics prize to be presented at a spring banquet. and Culture and Fund Committee member, and Craig Lent, Continued on page 8 e t h i c s c u l t u r e 7
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Fund to Protect Human Life continued With his steadfast commitment and heroic witness to life on Capitol Hill and beyond, Mr. Doerflinger is the perfect first recipient of the Evangelium Vitae Medal. Mr. Doerflinger has been a leader in the pro-life movement for more than thirty years and has been involved in every life issue, including embryo research, abortion, physician-assisted suicide, and euthanasia, at the highest levels of federal and state governments. His efforts were integral to the conception, passage, and continued vitality of parental notification and consent, unborn victims of violence, and born-alive infant protection laws, partial birth abortion bans, conscience protections, the Weldon Amendment (which prevents patenting of human embryos), and abortion funding restrictions, such as the Hyde Amendment and the Mexico City Policy. He was instrumental in the (ultimately unsuccessful) campaign to protect the unborn in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. We look forward to having Mr. Doerflinger visit Notre Dame and to presenting him with the inaugural Evangelium Vitae Medal on April 28, 2011.
Bread of Life Dinner The Fund to Protect Human Life once again sponsored its successful Bread of Life dinner on November 9th. Hosted again in the beautiful Oak Room, Elizabeth Kirk, associate director at the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture and Fund Committee member, provided the evening’s reflection, “An Exchange of Gifts: Celebrating Adoption in the Culture of Life.” To read more about this insightful reflection and the discussion it engendered, please read the full-length article on page 9.
Project Guadalupe Thanks to generous contributions, the activities of Project Guadalupe are fully underway. In the Spring 2010, stage one of Project Guadalupe, curricular development, got underway with the Gospel of Life course co-taught by David Solomon and John Cavadini, cross-listed between philosophy and theology. Stage two, the two-week interdisciplinary summer institute, the Notre Dame Vita Institute, will be held June 12-24, 2011, here at Notre Dame. Incorporating Project Guadalupe’s interdisciplinary focus, the Vita Institute will consist of an intensive twoweek course of study in biology, law, philosophy, theology, and
social sciences through instruction by noted experts. Through formal class sessions, evening lectures by individuals engaged in the pro-life cause in various arenas, daily Mass, and social gatherings, we look forward to building a strong community environment in which Vita Institute participants will be educated and inspired to build a culture of life. In keeping with Notre Dame’s Catholic character, the Vita Institute will be a distinctly Catholic program and is open to persons of all faith traditions. We look forward to welcoming the first class of Vita Institute participants here next summer. Vita Institute applicants are expected to have a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent, and applications are welcome from those of any age or level of professional development. It is our hope to have participants from around the country and with varied backgrounds and professional experience who are energetically committed to the cause of life. Application forms are available on the Fund to Protect Human Life’s website, and the application deadline for the inaugural year is March 1, 2011. The Vita Institute is an important step in laying the groundwork for stage three of Project Guadalupe, the interdisciplinary masters program. Plans are underway for the development of the masters program, which we hope to launch in 2012. Please follow the Center’s and Fund’s websites for additional information and updates as these exciting initiatives move forward.
Other Sponsored Activities The Fund to Protect Human Life has continued in its support of various lectures and events that educate members of the Notre Dame community about the different facets of life issues today. In the Fall 2010, these events included co-sponsoring a webinar entitled, “Poor Prenatal Diagnosis of Lethal or NonLethal Conditions and Disability”, a lecture by Erika Bachiochi, pro-life lawyer, theologian, and mother, titled “Women, Sex, and the Church: A Case for Catholic Teaching”; and a lecture by Dr. Michael Parker, “NaPro Technology: Revolutionizing Women’s Health.” The Fund to Protect Human Life was also pleased to host a lecture in October by Michael New, PhD, political science professor at the University of Alabama, on the positive impact of state laws restricting abortion. Continued on page 16
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An Exchange of Gifts: Bread of Life C elebrating Adoption in Fall 2010 the Culture of Life
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ponsored by the Notre Dame Fund to Protect Human Life, the general opinion that sees abortion as the only real option, Bread of Life provides an intimate setting in which those Elizabeth emphasized the importance of viewing adoption as a with a variety of views on beginning of life ethical issues can loving choice. come together for dinner and discussion. The event especially As a parent of three adopted children with her husband encourages those students who are unfamiliar with Church Bill, Elizabeth pointed to the admiration she has for the teen teaching to attend in order to learn more. This fall marked the birth mother of one of her children. Most often, society views a fourth edition of the semi-annual event, and Associate Director woman’s decision to choose others who are more prepared to raise of the Center for Ethics and her child as cowardly, when in fact, it is an honorable and loving Culture Elizabeth Kirk decision that requires humility and maturity. The unselfishness reflected on the theme of of the act is due to its being rooted in love. adoption to forty students and The difficulties surrounding this issue arise from widespread professors. Addressing the misconceptions about the process. Many mothers believe that important issue of whether choosing adoption for their child is tantamount to abandonadoption can function as a ment, and fear that their child will be placed in foster care as a “common ground” for proresult. Elizabeth challenged the pro-life community to see it as life and pro-choice camps, a priority to educate our surrounding culture about adoption Elizabeth elaborated on the in order for it to be seen as a positive and practical option. This barriers which prevent the initiative can be as simple as explaining the process to women Elizabeth Kirk addresses widespread promotion of considering abortion in order to dispel their worries about havthe dinner guests adoption in the United States. ing no involvement in their child’s future life. Elizabeth presented the Mrs. Kirk closed her informative and moving reflection situation in which our society finds itself: every year one million with John Paul II’s thoughts on adoption that inspired the title abortions take place as two million couples seek to adopt from a of her lecture – “To adopt a child is a great work of love. When pool of only 7,000 infants who are available for adoption annualit is done, much is given, but much is also received. It is a true ly. She cited the alarming statistic exchange of gifts.” that only two percent of women Student response to the lecture considering abortion actually was enthusiastic. For many, it prochoose adoption for their child. vided a wonderful opportunity to learn The gap in these numbers, she more about adoption due to lack of explained, is due to a mismatch exposure to the issues involved, even in between theoretical support for the pro-life community. One student adoption and practical encouragecommented on the rousing discussion ment for it in our society. at her table given the variety of difThe widespread availabilferent viewpoints represented. Since Bread of Life attendees listen with rapt attention despite the ity of abortion coupled with the the audience was divided into tables distraction of desserts on the table popular media’s promotion of of five or six students and a professor, single parenthood produces an everyone had the chance to share their unwarranted negative stigma associated with adoption. Elizabeth opinion. Lively debate and meaningful dialogue is precisely what claimed that adoption should be presented as a viable parenting Bread of Life was created to foster! option that is coequal with natural parenting. To discourage
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Catholic Culture Literature Series Fall 2010 T
he annual Catholic Culture Series originated in the Center’s desire to expose Notre Dame undergraduate students, as well as the entire Notre Dame community, to the richness of the Catholic literary heritage. We are living in a time when names such as Chesterton, Waugh, and O’Connor have little or no meaning to most educated people, much less to undergraduate students. This year, we chose to highlight Catholic American writers whose work is under-represented in the corpus of American literature classes. Entitled “Strangers in a Strange Land,” our series featured four influential Catholic American authors – Ralph McInerny, Walker Percy, Flannery O’Connor, and J.F. Powers – who poignantly engage American culture through their writing while standing at a distance from it. With these lectures, we hoped to examine their complex commitments to Church and country, and to inspire Notre Dame undergraduates to read the works of these authors and to appreciate them as invaluable instruments in their Catholic formation. David Solomon delivered the lecture on his dear friend Ralph McInerny. Solomon identified McInerny as a fitting subject for this year’s theme because of his unique identity as a prolific writer of literature with a razor sharp philosophical intellect. “Ralph McInerny was sort of the inspiration for the Center,” Solomon said, “for those of us who think ethics at a Catholic university should be carried by a rich understanding of Catholic culture.” Solomon described his long friendship with the intellectual giant, beginning when Solomon was hired at Notre Dame in 1968 as part of the philosophy department’s effort to “shake off Thomism,” as Solomon commented. In an
ironic twist of fate, the two hit it off immediately due to their shared love of literature, Aristotle, and wine. As one of the primary figures in the neo-Scholastic revival of the 20th century, McInerny wrote 22 philosophical works and nearly 100 novels, including the popular Father Dowling, Sister Mary Theresa, and Rosary Chronicles mystery series (the last a response to the popular and controversial Da Vinci Code). McInerny saw Thomism as a means of reclaiming the ground lost
Ralph Wood
to modern philosophy and as especially relevant to the crisis of modernity. He served as director of both Notre Dame’s Medieval Institute and the Jacques Maritain Center and was president of both the American Catholic Philosophical Association and the Metaphysical Society. He directed more dissertations for the philosophy department than any professor in Notre Dame’s history. Solomon noted McInerny’s prolific output, including 28 books in his last decade alone. “One of the most remarkable features of Ralph’s life was the continuity of religious belief, philosophical orientation and moral commitment throughout his life,” Solomon said, “His philosophical and literary works shared a view of the contemporary world that combines a deep pessimism about the way things are with a sublime optimism about how things will turn out.”
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Strangers in a Strange Land A former student of McInerny, John O’Callaghan, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Notre Dame and current director of the Jacques Maritain Center, presented the next lecture on Walker Percy, philosophical novelist and convert to Catholicism. O’Callaghan highlighted Percy’s exploration of man’s attempt to be in the world but not of it, a central theme throughout his work. This attempt is bracketed by two extremes: living like angels and constantly trying to escape the world, or beasts descending into the world. Rejecting both of these options, Percy aimed to find an authentic Christian humanism, which contributes to Percy’s “universal appeal,” O’Callaghan remarked. Percy’s unpleasant childhood was tinged with the Stoicism of the South, made manifest in his family with the suicides of his father and grandfather and mysterious death of his mother. Percy mocked the love of death and indifference to the world inherent in Stoic philosophy, and instead identified a Socratic way of life as a Christian way to prepare for death. One should not view Death as an “acceptable exit,” as did the Stoics, but as an end to a lifetime spent learning to prepare for death in the way Socrates did. O’Callaghan briefly referenced several of Percy’s novels, The Last Gentleman, The Moviegoer, and The Second Coming, stating that Percy “placed his literature in the great tradition of faith seeking understanding.” Ultimately for Percy, to live in the world is to suffer with it, a quest that we travel not alone, but with others. Ralph Wood, professor of theology and literature at Baylor University and visiting professor at Providence College this year, delivered the third lecture on the catechesis of Catholic southern writer Flannery O’Connor. Her irony and gravitas has particularly inspired young people as they search for meaning in a disenchanted world; fittingly, Wood’s lecture attracted our biggest audience of undergraduates. Wood explained that O’Connor saw catechesis as a “bottom-up” solution to the end of a Christian age, often manifesting in “small Christian communities very deep in faith, and winning people in by witness.” A self-proclaimed “hillbilly Thomist,” O’Connor was a prodigy who read Aquinas in high school and outlined his five arguments proving the existence of God at 17. Wood walked the audience through three of O’Connor’s works which explored different forms of catechesis: Protestant catechesis “at its best” in The
Violent Bear It Away, Catholic catechesis “at its worst” in her short story “The Enduring Chill,” and good Catholic catechesis in another short story, “Temple of the Holy Ghost.” Wood’s examination of these incredible works highlighted the almost “grotesque” nature of the spiritual transformation of her characters, an often discussed aspect of O’Connor’s works among her readers. O’Connor’s literary artistry demonstrates the way she catechized – not by preaching Christian truth but by living it. The final lecture on literary giant J.F. Powers was delivered by Father Marvin O’Connell, professor emeritus of Notre Dame’s history department. Powers, an unsung writer of shortstories, wrote about Midwestern Catholic priests and skillfully depicted the subtleties and isolation of their spiritual life. The protagonists in his two novels were both priests. Fr. O’Connell brought Power’s work to life through his own experience as a diocesan priest in the Midwest. He described Powers, a disciple of Dorothy Day and a pacifist suspicious of capitalism, as an elusive figure who spent most of his life at St. John’s Abbey in Minnesota, a holdout against the turbulent changes in post-WWII American Catholicism. Powers gives a detailed and eloquent account of the clerical culture in the Midwest, a culture that largely disappeared after the Second Vatican Council. The force of his fiction comes from “the contrast between the little foibles of priestly life and what the priest actually does in the sacraments,” Fr. O’Connell said. As a layman, Powers was nevertheless able to grasp the sights, sounds and smells of Catholic rectories in the 1940s, while giving due respect to the presence of grace. Fr. O’Connell explained that although Powers had relatively little output, he was, “a master of his craft,” and Walker Percy and Flannery O’Connor were among his great admirers. The success of the Catholic Culture Literature Series is evident through its diverse attendance of undergraduates, professors, and other interested members of the community. After every lecture, audience members approached Center staff members to comment on interesting points of the lecture, or simply to express how much they enjoyed it. The Center would like to thank Clarence and Frieda Bayer, whose generosity makes this wonderful series possible.
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SchmittLecture O
n Tuesday December 7, 2010, at 4:00 in McKenna Hall, personality disorder diagnoses during this third epoch. Dr. Paul McHugh of The Johns Hopkins University W h i l e Fre u d i a n i d e a s h a d d i e d a w a y a n d delivered the semi-annual Schmitt lecture. This is a series lost energy in Psychiatry, McHugh explained that a of lectures made possible by the generosity of the Arthur J. Schmitt Foundation, a philanthropic organization dedicated to promoting reflection on the ethical, political, and religious dimensions of science and technology. The Foundation sponsors the Notre Dame Schmitt Fellows, graduate students in the Schools of Science and Engineering. After a warm welcome and introduction by Professor Carter Snead of the Notre Dame Law School, Dr. McHugh delivered his lecture, “An Dr. McHugh delivers his lecture Occasion of Abuse of the Public by “Freudian Heresy” arose in the empirical era Psychiatr y and among the increasing occurrences of diagnoses What it Teaches.” of multiple personality disorder. In explaining Dr. McHugh said the disorders of their patients, practitioners efof his presentation fectively inverted Freudian notions of repression Carter Snead welcomes Dr. Paul McHugh that it was “the by arguing that, instead of the subject restraining story of a remarkable his own selfish impulses as he tries to make his way in misdirection in psythe world, it is the opposite. That is, the view took chiatry.” This is a story McHugh also tells in his book, Try to hold among practitioners that such individuals are crushed from Remember: Psychiatry’s Clash over Meaning, Memory, and Mind. without by paternal authority. This became the explanation for By way of introduction to the topic, he explained the history so-called multiple personality disorder. In recognition of the of Twentieth Century psychiatry in terms of three epochs. The intolerable cruelty of life, the unconscious breaks itself up into first epoch, named the Meyerian epoch after Adolph Meyer of multiple personalities, to escape this cruel reality. Moral authority Johns Hopkins University, is characterized by very detailed and victimizes the individual rather than shaping one’s character. lengthy patient histories. The second, the psychoanalytic epoch, McHugh pointed to the book Sybill which recounts the dismissed the need for such lengthy histories and focused on the story of a woman who, as a result of being physically and emoFreudian notion that the unconscious mind withers under the tionally abused by her mother, developed multiple personalities. demands for conformity by our culture. The unconscious mind That abuse as a child by the parents leads to a fractured personalrepresses selfish thoughts and desires, especially in the infant or ity was one of the “crazes and myths of deception” that were the child mind. So, while society and family civilize the individual heart of the problem that was destroying many families. There with these demands, it comes at a price. This repression leads was an epidemic of accusations of abuse and lawsuits. Things to depression, anxiety, and disrupts life plans and relationships. “went wild” with stories of satanic cults and alien abductions as This approach eventually gave way in 1970 to the third epoch, the cause of the trauma that was causing multiple personality the empirical epoch. He spoke of the rise and peak of multiple disorders. Continued on page 16
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Stratford Caldecott Lecture W
e supported the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy’s “Beauty for Truth’s Sake” lecture by Stratford Caldecott in November. Caldecott has published a book of that title, and he edits the journal Second Spring, a British journal of faith and culture. He spoke on the need for a return to the transcendentals (unity, truth, goodness and beauty) as the foundation for education at all levels. In reflecting on the transcendentals, we exercise our special gift of human reason. As Caldecott said, “the other animals seem lost in being themselves,” while we can reflect upon our existence, and give names to the other animals. Our experience of existence shows that from the beginning, Being reveals itself in love. Caldecott spoke movingly of a baby’s first experience of her mother’s smile and her natural impulse to return that smile. This constitutes the beginning of metaphysics. This experience of Being as an expression of Love is the foundation of an education in the humanities. When seen with a spiritual vision, all of creation becomes a window to God, and we ourselves become transparent to the glory of God so that it shines through us. Without this vision, everything appears individualized and related in only mechanical ways. With a spiritual vision, we can see how central truths in every discipline illuminate one another and reveal God’s glory to us. The response to such a vision is a transcendent joy pierced through with insatiable longing for the eternal. In the writings of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, joy is conveyed as having a sense of a transcendent home to which we are always striving to return. Although not explicitly Christian, Tolkien’s tales of Middle Earth are suffused with the light of the glory of God and inspire a longing for Heaven. Both Tolkien and Lewis loved
language, especially poetry, and they often used poetry to try to convey this joy and longing for God. “Poetry is the purest form of speech because it is the most pregnant with meaning, and song or music is perhaps purer than speech,” Caldecott explained. Reading literature like Tolkien and Lewis wrote forms the imagination and capacitates us for metaphysical reflection. The beauty of wisdom draws us to our true end, which is participation in the life of the Trinity. The liberal arts are the children of wisdom, since they are all expressions of the same spirit. Without losing their interior unity, they all belong to wisdom. Caldecott said, “Within each discipline, there is a point of unity with the whole. It’s not that you need to artificially force things together. You just have to go deeper.” Caldecott’s lecture culminated with a reflection on the practical question of how we should educate our children in a way that develops their imaginations, makes them open to the thrill of transcendent joy, and helps them to recognize what is true, good, and beautiful, and what has unity. The liberal arts are essential in education because they ask these sorts of questions: Does this poem present a true picture of the world? Does this approach to politics have the common good as its chief concern? What makes a painting or a piece of music beautiful? How do all of these ideas hang together? The liberal arts should fire the imagination. As Caldecott reminded us, “If it’s boring and dull then there’s something wrong with it- it’s not about truth; it’s not about God.” We are grateful to David Fagerberg of Notre Dame’s Institute for Church Life for inviting Caldecott to campus and we hope for a return visit in the future.
The Center’s new website by the numbers:
48 156 49 224
Number of countries generating visitors to the new site Number of videos of past events uploaded to the site umber of videos viewed the day the 2011 Fall N Conference videos were posted verage number of times videos are viewed each A month
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G.K. Chesterton at Notre Dame: 80 Years Later O
n October 4, 1930, G.K. Chesterton arrived at the University of Notre Dame to deliver a series of lectures and receive an honorary doctorate. To celebrate the eightieth anniversary of Chesterton’s visit, the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy, the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture, Notre Dame Vision, and the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism sponsored two lectures. Fr. Ian Boyd, C.S.B., who is founder and editor of The Chesterton Review, gave the first lecture. His talk, “Chesterton at Notre Dame,” detailed Chesterton’s six-week long visit to the University in the 1930s. The University received him very enthusiastically; indeed, the stadium of twenty thousand people stood up to greet and cheer for Chesterton as he arrived for the football game against Navy. He gave two lecture series that were very well attended by the students, and spoke on the subjects of English history and letters. During his month-and-a-half long residence in South Bend, Chesterton lived with a local family in the so-called “Dogpatch”–– the humble neighborhood north-east of the campus with rural roots. Chesterton particularly treasured their hospitality among all his memories of his time at Notre Dame. Fr. Boyd reflected on the historical importance of Chesterton’s visit to Notre Dame and lightened the mood with a few humorous anecdotes. The second lecture of the series was given by Dale Ahlquist, President of the American Chesterton Society, on October 11, and was entitled “What’s Wrong with the World: A Chesterton Economic Solution.” This year marks the 100th anniversary of Chesterton’s work, What’s Wrong with the World, in which he outlined his economic solution to many of the problems faced by modern nations. He wrote, “Property is merely the art of
the democracy. It means that every man should have something that he can shape in his own image, as he is shaped in the image of heaven. But because he is not God, but only a graven image of God, his self-expression must deal with limits; properly with limits that are strict and even small.” Ahlquist touched on a variety of the problems Chesterton found with the world, as well as the solutions he offered. Chesterton was a main proponent of the distributist theory, which is based heavily on the principles of Catholic Social Teaching, primarily subsidiarity. He was a strong defender of the family, local government, and a stable, distributist society. Chesterton focused on the importance of the family as the primary unit of society; the family should not be replaced by government, but instead play an active role in the government. Therefore, local government needs to become more responsible and should make the higher orders of government more accountable. Ahlquist made the connection between our modern economic problems and the loss of the importance of the family in society. The dignity and value of the family is under attack from many sources today, mainly the “contraceptive mentality [that] is raping the earth.” “[Traditional] doctrine and discipline are walls—but they are walls for the playground,” allowing us to be wild, but safe, within their confines, he continued. “A world that breaks down these walls and exalts lust but forbids fertility can never be satisfied,” said Ahlquist. This two-part lecture series was well attended and the audience agreed that the speakers captured the spirit of Chesterton’s impact on the Notre Dame community as well as the broader community of the twentieth century.
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Nine Days that Changed the World
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n a warm September night, nearly four hundred people We were happy to be able to host former Speaker of the packed Washington Hall for a special screening of the House Newt Gingrich and his wife Callista on campus for the documentary Nine Days that Changed the World, hosted by day, and after introducing their film, they greeted many members Newt and Callista Gingrich. Their film chronicles Pope John of the audience at the end of the screening before heading to the Paul the Great’s historic nine Main Building for a recepday pilgrimage to his native tion in the Rotunda under Poland in 1979, which was the Dome. They shared a catalyst for the Solidarity with us that they were very worker’s rights movement happy to be visiting Notre in Poland, and which shook Dame for the first time; Soviet Communism at Speaker Gingrich converted its foundations. His visit to Catholicism in 2009 and created a revolution of his wife sings in the choir of conscience that transformed the Basilica of the National Poland and fundamentally Shrine of the Immaculate reshaped the spiritual and Conception in Washington, political landscape of the D.C. The Center staff pose for a photo with the Gingriches twentieth century. The warmth with The film was beautifully made, with vintage footage from which the screening met was overwhelming; we had excellent the Pope’s trip and interviews with historians, theologians, and participation from both the student body and the local compeople who knew him personally. It was deeply moving to see munity, but we also met alumni who drove several hours to get John Paul youthful and energetic again, facing the fearful and to Notre Dame for the event. It was one of the most successful suppressive environment of Soviet-era Poland with the strength events in the Center’s history, and we relished the opportunity and courage of Christian hope. The documentary also situated to pay tribute to Pope John Paul the Great, who inspired the the events of 1979 in the larger narrative of John Paul’s papacy work of the Center. We are grateful to the Nanovic Institute for and in the political struggles of the time, illuminating their European Studies for their support of the event. significance for both.
Dan Philpott in conversation with Newt Gingrich in the Main Building
The screening was well attended by Notre Dame’s College Republicans club (Credit: Britt Burgeson, Dome Yearbook)
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Schmitt Lecture Continued from page 12
Once it was decided that a patient had multiple personalities, there followed an assumption of prior abuse, even if it was not remembered by the patient. Patients were then encouraged to imagine themselves as having been abused, and then once they had, to imagine who could have been doing the abusing. These “recovered memories” caused accusations to arise in over one million families where there had never been any cause of suspicion before. A flood of malpractice suits against therapists helped put an end to the crisis. Insurance companies were taking notice. Psychiatric patients were uniquely vulnerable to this sort of malpractice. They came to the psychiatrist seeking help and they are inclined to fully entrust themselves to the doctor’s help, which was actually grounds for a malpractice suit. In his lecture and in response to a question posed by a member of the audience, Dr. McHugh acknowledged that certainly abuse does happen, and it is a terrible tragedy when it occurs. He also stated that most abuse is remembered, and that these symptoms alone were not enough to make accusations. In his remarks, Dr. McHugh also criticized contemporary psychology for its single-minded emphasis on merely describing the symptoms of psychiatric disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders(DSM). McHugh criticized the DSM as a mere “field guide,” including only clusters of symptoms, without exploring underlying causes. Moreover,
continued
the DSM is not static—disorders appear and are discarded over time based on the changeable opinions of the experts who author it. Thus treatment of psychiatric patients operates mostly by “rule of thumb.” Therapeutic practices “deal with poorly grasped phenomena, and have haphazard outcomes.” He believes psychiatry has hit a dead end as it prepares to publish the fifth edition of the DSM, and a reversal of course is needed. Psychotherapy needs more than a field guide, it should be handled like any other area of medicine. To this end, he noted (but did not discuss) his seminal work, Perspectives on Psychiatry, which is meant to offer much-needed analytic rigor. Following the lecture, many individuals in the audience participated enthusiastically in the question and answer period. The lively discussion continued over glasses of wine and hors d’oeuvres at the reception in McKenna Hall. After the reception there was an intimate dinner hosted by Center Director David Solomon in honor of Dr. McHugh at the Morris Inn. The dinner was attended by about thirty guests, including some of the Schmitt Fellows and Joan and Peter Wrenn, members of the Arthur J. Schmitt Foundation Board of Directors. After the meal, Dr. McHugh was so generous as to answer even more questions, the first of which was asked by one of the Schmitt Fellows, as is tradition. Guests especially appreciated Dr. McHugh’s direct, honest manner and passion for the conscientious practice of psychiatry.
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As noted above, the Fund to Protect Human life now has a separate presence on the worldwide web. The Fund to Protect Human Life will continue to be featured on the Center’s webpage, but in order to provide a direct and more expansive virtual forum to showcase the Fund’s activities and events we have launched the Fund’s own website. Please visit us directly at www.nd.edu/~lifefund/ or through the link on the Center’s homepage at ethicscenter.nd.edu. In addition to visiting our website, if you have any questions or would like more infor-
mation about the Notre Dame Fund to Protect Human Life or any of its initiatives, please contact David Solomon or Angela Pfister, Center for Ethics and Culture, 424 Geddes Hall, Notre Dame, IN 46556, telephone 574-631-9656, e-mail lifefund@nd.edu, website www.nd.edu/~lifefund/. If you are interested in making a donation to the Fund, please contact the Department of Development, 1100 Grace Hall, Notre Dame, IN 46556, telephone 574-631-7164, e-mail develop@nd.edu.
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From the
Directorcontinued Continued from page 1
prey upon the minds of instructors who fear that in requiring just two courses in philosophy, we give our students just enough rope with which to hang themselves. Academic ethics centers encounter slightly different problems and typically have different goals from ethics classrooms. They have an opportunity to expose students in a broader and deeper way to the fruits of taking up a particular ethical commitment. The Center for Ethics and Culture proceeds from this thought: Answers to the fundamental questions in ethics are usually embodied in traditions of thought and living that are historically dense and interwoven in complicated ways with the ethical theories we critically examine in the ethics classroom. The Center has an allegiance to the tradition in ethics at the heart of the Catholic intellectual tradition, a complicated tradition that embodies the virtues and the natural law and has, as it seems to many of us, its finest contemporary expression in the central ethical encyclicals of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. As an academic center we have attempted to make this tradition more available to the Notre Dame community through sponsoring conferences, workshops, lecture series and educational programs that focus on it. We also support, through our visiting scholars program, research on the many disputes that constitute this tradition. Traditions, of course, are not constituted simply by philo-
sophical arguments and theories. Rather, they also find expression in literature and the arts generally, and in practices that range across the whole of human culture. That is why we do not confine our activities just to the exploration of philosophical questions. Our Catholic literature series, our film series and the many discussion groups that we sponsor are a measure of the depth and richness of the Catholic intellectual tradition that is the focus of our attention. Our new Integritas program (which you can read about in this issue of our newsletter), conceived and directed by Greer Hannan, is perhaps the best embodiment of our commitment to the breadth of ethical traditions. Our new Project Guadalupe is perhaps the best embodiment of our commitment to draw on that tradition to change the culture. As Notre Dame students explore in the ethics classroom their own answer to the question, “What is the best life for me?”, we want to make sure that the full richness of the ethical tradition out of which this university grew is on display for them. In this way, we hope to reduce the fear and trembling that we all feel when introducing students to the ethical question. In this newsletter, we recount some of our activities of the past semester and look forward to some future programs. As always, we welcome your comments on what we are up to and solicit your suggestions on how we can extend and improve our programs. We are now moved into our new offices on the fourth floor of Geddes Hall and invite everyone to drop by for a visit.
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Notre Dame and asking for nonperishable food donations from our neighbors for South Bend’s Catholic Worker House, which we’ll be visiting in January after our seminar on the corporal works of mercy and addressing issues of justice in society. Our neighbors were very generous, donating nearly fifty pounds of food for the Catholic Worker, and we had a lot of fun seeing their faces light up with smiles as they discovered Christmas carolers on their doorstep. We are looking forward to the spring semester, especially our fieldtrip to Chicago in February to visit the Art Institute
and see As You Like It at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre on Navy Pier, and our retreat to the Abbey of Gethsemani in Trappist, Kentucky. The students’ enthusiasm and dedication has quickly made Integritas one of the Center’s most exciting programs. You can read weekly updates about our activities on the Center’s events blog at http://ndcecevents.blogspot.com/
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Tailgates The babies are on the hunt for tailgate munchies, with Kathryn and Gregory leading the charge
John O’Callaghan threatens the photographer while Nora and Angela are happy to pose
Elizabeth Kirk introduces her daughter Alice to the Center’s tailgating tradition
Worthy grillmaster Chris Westlake keeps the burgers and brats coming
Young at heart: Simone hanging with the undergrads
David, Elizabeth and Bill with Simone Scumpia of the Center’s advisory board
Bishop Rhoades braves the rain to come to our tailgate
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Welcome
Angela Pfister, Assistant Director
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he Center is pleased to announce the addition of Angela Pfister, who is serving as the Center’s assistant director. Angela comes to the Center after practicing law in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she focused primarily in civil litigation. She began her law Angela Pfister career in 2004, serving as a law clerk for the Honorable William J. Zloch of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida from 2004-2006. She then clerked for the Honorable
Daniel A. Manion of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit from 2006-2008. Angela holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Economics with high honors from Christendom College and a Juris Doctor with high honors from Ave Maria School of Law, where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Ave Maria Law Review. Bringing her legal experience and her life-long commitment to pro-life issues, Angela’s main focus at the Center is developing, implementing, and managing a wide range of activities and initiatives focused on life issues, including the Notre Dame Fund to Protect Human Life’s exciting new educational initiative, Project Guadalupe.
We’ve Moved!
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fter spending ten years on the tenth floor of Flanner Hall, over Fall Break we moved into our new home on the fourth floor of Geddes Hall, which opened in 2009 to house the Institute for Church Life and the Center for Social Concerns. Geddes became Notre Dame’s first certified “green” building, and it boasts a beautiful chapel named for Our Lady of Mercy, a coffeehouse, an auditorium, classrooms, offices and meeting rooms. We are especially happy to have offices for all of our fellows, a fantastic project center for our students to work in, and a room for our Marian Short Library. Come visit us in our new diggs! Our new mailing address is: Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture 424 Geddes Hall Notre Dame, IN 46556
Geddes Hall
The hallway to the director’s office Our new conference room
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NONPROFIT U.S. POSTAGE
e t h i c s c u l t u r e Notre Dame Center for Ethics & Culture 424 Geddes Hall Notre Dame, IN 46556
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PERMIT NO. 10 NOTRE DAME, IN 46556
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Upcoming Events: Upcoming Events
Mark your calendars for our spring events, and check our website for updates and details! February 11-12 Edith Stein Project Conference “Irreplaceable You: Vocation, Identity, and the Pursuit of Happiness,” McKenna Hall February 17 Schmitt Lecture by Dr. Carl Elliott, “A Clinical Trial, A Suicide, and the Strange Recent History of AntiPsychotic Drugs” 4 p.m., McKenna Hall February 22 Bread of Life dinner and discussion, with a reflection by Prof. Michael Baxter, 6 p.m., Oak Room of South Dining Hall
March 18-20 Medical Ethics Conference, McKenna Hall April 28 Evangelium Vitae Medal Ceremony May 5 Telling Stories That Matter: A Conference in Honor of Rev. Marvin R. O’Connell, McKenna Hall May 7 An Evening of Angelus award winning films screened on campus, 7 p.m., DPAC June 9-11 University Faculty for Life national conference, McKenna Hall June 12-24 Inaugural Notre Dame Vita Institute, Geddes Hall
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