Canceled subscriptions
** It is indeed sad when someone removes themselves from a discussion,
but sadder still is that this attitude is symptomatic of the polarization
afflicting today's world. In ever-increasing numbers we are marching
into walled encampments flying either the red or blue flag. We
choose our candidates, our justices and our leaders because they
either never waver from "the cause" or are simply too nondescript
to offend or challenge anyone. Today, perhaps like never before,
we need intelligent and informed discussion. We face issues with
immense complexity that demand to be seriously examined from all
points of view. Only through the crucible of reasoned, open debate
can we find a common ground and bring the best of all our resources
to bear on crafting truly workable solutions.
What I miss most about my time at Notre Dame is the University's
culture of exploration. Thank you for the excellence of Notre
Dame Magazine. Through your pages I can recapture the culture,
spirit and joy of exploration from those days. In a time when
most media have an agenda to press, you have built a tradition
of providing high-quality grist for the mill -- both intellectually
and spiritually.
Peter T. Roether '76
Orlando, Florida
** I am a retired American Baptist pastor and have received Notre
Dame Magazine for many years. As a Baptist, I have disagreed
with the magazine many times, but I have never demanded you cancel
my subscription. I want to thank you for an excellent magazine
that I am proud to share with my Baptist friends. To those who
want to cancel their subscription because of one or a few particular
articles, I say "get a life" and enjoy the importance of conversations,
even disagreements.
Ronald Ricketts
Plainfield, Indiana
Thank you for your response to the "letters to the editor" regarding
R. Bruce Dold's "Bush Country" in the spring Notre Dame issue:
"We bring together members of the Notre Dame family … and live
with the rustle, bang and pulse of a Catholic institution engaged
in the wider world and trying to … make a difference there." I
applaud and congratulate you for your response.
In your words, we cannot foreclose on making a difference. Notre
Dame is our Lady's school. She cannot foreclose on this either!
Continue making a difference! God Bless.
Dr. Carolyn Linnig O'Rourke
Selma, California
In reading the Summer 2005 Notre Dame Magazine, I note with some
dismay the number of individuals who decide to cancel their subscription
due to the recent articles approving the election of George Bush
to the office of president. I am also confident that many others
had made this same decision over the years over some other issue
that they took issue that have been simarily controversial. I
speak as one who is convinced that George Bush represents well
one segment of our society and is probably representing certain
trends within the Church, our nation and the world that I find
most disturbing. I am no fan of George Bush and the attempts to
create the American Empire and to empose freedom on others. If
I can give you freedom, I can also take it away, and it therefore
is not freedom but the imposition of my will on you. I would use
the same analogy for love. I cannot force or demand love -- if
it is not freely given, it is not love but rather possession.
My problem however is the tendency found in circles around the
world including the Moslem World, the Christian World, the Hindu
World, etc. to silence diverse opinions and ways of doing things.
The demand that disagreement amounts to "relativism" and cannot
therefore be tolerated in the face of the truth that I articulate,
requires me to disparage diversity and in my mind the creative
process of God. When I shut my mind to diverse opinions and slander
others because they have the arrogance to disagree with me; we
have arrived at a place where we worship ignorance and blind obedience
to those in authority. I believe that it when we begin to understand
that the Spirit of God breathes throughout the whole world in
all of its diversity and grandeur and when we learn to listen
to that Spirit that speaks through every heart and spirit; then
we are on track to better understand the Good News of the Kingdom.
When we are able together to stand before the God of life and
mystery, and to state that no one of us has all of the answers
and that we are all pilgrims walking together the paths of life,
then we might be better able to understand that we are all children
of God -- brothers and sisters breathing the same air and living
on the same planet -- called to share the resources of this planet
that are given for all. I would hope therefore that before we
simply close our ears and our eyes to those who disagree with
us; when we find it so easy to disparage and insult others with
different points of view; and when we scream at people who disagree
with us to shut up; it seems to me that we have no real understanding
of the message or the person of Jesus Christ whom we claim to
follow.
Rev. Charles G. Bolser, CSV
Arlington Heights, Illinois
1. - I agree with Kerry Temple's essay regretting dumping the
magazine because you're unhappy with a particular point of view.
While I've been plenty peeved by plenty of articles I keep reading.
2. - Glad I do keep reading, every once in a while there's a
breath of fresh air. Usually I'm dismayed by reader comments,
embarrassed at their limited views, narrow catholicity (isn't
that a contradiction). But I was very pleased to read the many
comments against Wiegel's piece on pope and church. I hope these
are representative views and not selected ones. It makes me have
faith in our alums -- at least for the moment. I agreed that Wiegel,
for a smart man, was way off base in this article. The writers
put it better than I ever could.
3.- Now that NCAA has taken the bold step to eliminate (finally)
Indian mascots, perhaps Notre Dame should look at it's silly stage-Irish
leprechaun. Notre Dame is more French than Irish, the fleur-de-lis
more our symbol than the shamrock. Do we really honor Notre Dame
or the Irish or anyone with a jumping clown in pointing green
shooes? Stanford is Stanford , Harvard is Harvard, Notre Dame
should be simply Notre Dame. If we must have a symbol -- there's
always the Dome, upon which stands Notre Dame.
William Dell '69
via email
Brave New World
I am, as usual, behind in my reading. Nonetheless, "At the
Door of a Brave New World" (Summer 2005) this is a provocative
and challenging article. We and the Church are going to have to
start doing some serious thinking about the moral issues involved,
and we will have to move beyond the ideas of scholastic physics
about of "substance and accident" in our thinking, although those
ideas will help, too.
Jack Sigler '56
Tallahassee, Florida
Our Lady of the Dome
** I was distressed reading your attempt to explain why Mary
atop the Dome is standing on a snake and a crescent moon. Genesis
3:15 says: "And I will establish a feud between thee [serpent]
and the woman, between thy offspring and hers; she is to crush
thy head, while thou dost lie in ambush at her heels." As for
the moon, go to the Book of Revelation (Apocalypse) 12:1:
"And now, in heaven, a great portent appeared; a woman that wore
the sun for her mantle, with the moon under her feet."
Brother Edward Loch, S.M., '71
San Antonio, Texas
Eucharist Procession returns
** How great to see the Eucharistic Procession has returned to
campus. So many of our great Catholic traditions have been lost
since Vatican II, and the Catholic educations in our Catholic
schools are now so watered down that I worry about the condition
of our Church 50 years from now. Maybe our Notre Dame students
can lead us back.
Michael C. O'Leary '72
Seattle, Washington
Media bias
** I find it odd that the author of "That's News to Me" would
be surprised that people seek alternate news sources to substitute
for the traditional media. If he thinks there is no bias, then
all he need do is ask how many of the regulars on ABC, CBS, NBC
and PBS vote Republican, and he will understand the bias.
Thomas R. Freeman '61
Columbia, South Carolina
Robert Schmuhl fails to mention that over 90 percent of the beltway
reporters vote Democratic, [Editor's note: The writer did
not provide proof of this assertion], which means there is
liberal bias beyond any shadow of doubt. Just imagine which of
all the possible news stories are chosen to be covered everyday,
then get how much attention, from what perspective. Liberals and
conservatives journalists would pick different stories, cover
them differently, put them in different places in the papers and
news casts, follow up on different stories, etc; the cumulative
effect is bias. Liberals who deny this cannot be taken seriously.
If every journalist is going to report fairly and without bias
because their integrity requires it, why be concerned that conservatives
are taking over PBS? Are only conservative journalists bias?
Paul Cella
via email
Common ground?
** Todd Whitmore ("Arms Unfolded") wonders whether there can
be common ground between pro-life and pro-abortion advocates.
Pro-abortion groups tout contraception as the means to that end.
The only problem with that approach is that medical research shows
that the greater the use of contraception, the greater the need
for abortion. Put another way, the best way to help someone with
a drinking problem is not to invest more heavily in hangover remedies,
it is to modify the behavior that brings on the hangover. Abstinence
works.
Brian W. Donnelly, M.D., '81
Gibsonia, Pennsylvania
** As a deeply committed Catholic, I struggled with the author's
thesis of finding common ground as to whether it advocated compromise
or capitulation. For many this treatise would serve as an apologia
for unrequited sex, superficially wrapped in romance and largely
unaccompanied by deep love. Most disconcerting was the revelation
that most abortion seekers indicate that the reason for termination
is that the pregnancy is a career impediment or because of parental/societal
embarrassment. Have television, the movies, music, tabloids and
porno media so impacted our libidos that our personal disciplines
and sense of responsibility have become so numbed? Are we devoid
of a rationale for the consequences of "party time" that results
in an unwanted pregnancy?
William R. Waddington '45
Bayville, New Jersey
** On a country road in Pennsylvania, a hand-painted sign reads:
"Abortion, it leaves one dead and one wounded." I have met the
wounded. I have met the women (and men) who have had to make the
choice to have an abortion because of factors in the article as
well as those "forced" to have an abortion by an angry husband,
a distant paramour or a punishing mother. The reasons for abortions
are many, but there is also a nurturing network available to those
wounded by abortion. As Catholics, as compelled as we are to assist
the woman in crisis because of an unplanned pregnancy, we have
to be just as diligent to assist the woman who has suffered the
emotional, psychological and spiritual disconnection that occurs
after the abortion. "Project Rachel" and "Rachel's Vineyard" are
two programs that offer help. Through these programs, I have witnessed
the wounded heal. As Catholics, we must know there is no sin too
great for God's mercy.
Sister Meg Cole, SSJ
Allentown, Pennsylvania
In Todd Whitmore s article, "Arms Unfolded: The Search for the
Common Ground on Abortion," there is a misinterpretation of our
The Nurturing Network (TNN) statistics that resulted in a mathematical
miscalculation at the end of his article in the print issue. [Editor's
note: It has been corrected in the online version.] We have
actually served double the number of clients that Todd mentions
in his conclusion. He was thinking that when we refer to serving
mothers and children that it meant half of the 17,000 would be
for each. It is actually 17,000 of each.
As this is the 20th anniversary year of TNN, this article will
generate great interest. I am happy for both TNN and Notre Dame.
Thanks for all of your support and help.
Mary Cunningham Agee
President and Founder
The Nurturing Network
I was disheartened and saddened at reading "Arms Unfolded." Not
due to the topic but because of how it was addressed -- so p.c.,
so sterile, so cerebral, so secular. What about the morality?
Your are the leading Catholic institution of higher education
in the United States, perhaps in the world, and you ask that the
Church abandon two millennia of teachings in order to accommodate
guilty feelings about premarital sex.
What the hell is wrong with you? You don't correct a wrong by
killing a baby.
And you're naive if you think the pro-choice crowd really is
about choice. Follow the money. Nobody gets rich by bringing a
baby to full term, but the abortion providers live large.
Let me revise disheartened and saddened to disgusted.
Bruce Tomcik
North Ridgeville, Ohio
I read "Arms Unfolded" by Todd David Whitmore in the Summer 2005
issue of ND Magazine with great interest, since I think we should
look for a common ground with our pluralistic society. The author
seems to think the same. Unfortunately, in his next-to-the last
paragraph, he ends up giving a misleading impression.
The efforts of "Nurturing Network" are described, and its results
are compared to "more than a million abortions in the United States,"
(425 prevented per year vs. 1,000,000 abortions per year). The
comparison of the efforts of one organization to the annual number
of abortions in the United States is a badly misleading comparison.
I have a list of organizations in Cincinnati alone that do pregnancy
counseling. The total of their efforts, along with the efforts
of countless similar organizations in other U.S. cities must dwarf
the efforts of the Nurturing Network.
It would be interesting to get a reasonably good estimate of
the total number of abortions prevented by the good efforts of
counseling and direct assistance services in the United States.
I will look around the Internet for that information. Perhaps
one of your readers has that information available and can let
us know, so that we can assess the impact of pregnancy counseling
and assistance services on termination of pregnancies. Such a
tabulation of course is only part of the picture, since the educational
effort of these and other groups such as "The Life Issues Institute"
(Dr. John Willke, President) no doubt prevent many unwanted pregnancies
from even occurring.
Joseph B. Farrell '44
via email
Allow me some personal comments on your article, "Arms Unfolded."
My wife, Terri had a spontaneous abortion soon after we moved
back to Indiana. It was a typical case. It was her first pregnancy
and occurred at about six weeks. When she began bleeding, we went
to her obstetrician. He performed an ultrasound and said the placenta
appeared normal but he didn't see a fetus attached to a fetal
pole and everything was still developing normally. The second
possibility was, the fetal pole and fetus would never develop
and the pregnancy was ending.
He said he would repeat the ultrasound in two days. The repeat
ultrasound showed no change. Terri continued to bleed and eventually
passed the placenta at home. When things had returned to normal,
she said, "I never felt I was pregnant."
As an emergency physician, I have treated many pregnant women,
but I rarely see a patient with a normal pregnancy. The pregnant
women I see are pregnant and worried that they soon won't be,
or, they may be pregnant and hope that they are not. During the
past 20 years, I have come to the belief that pregnancy is not
a moment, or even a positive hormone test. It is a process.
I think pregnancy is similar to building a home. We buy and sell
houses because they are inanimate objects. We can treat houses
like commodities because they are not homes. We are upset when
we see pictures of a home destroyed by a tornado, not because
the house is destroyed but because the personal nature of the
scattered debris indicated that a fellow human being lived there.
Homes are special. They have a human presence.
Even though we may own a set of blueprints, we don't have a home.
Even though we establish a foundation and waterlines, we still
do not have a home. Each step is an essential part of the process
but it is only when someone moves in, then a house becomes a home.
To me, pregnancy is similar. A genetic set of blueprints, implantation
or even a placenta, although parts of the process, are not pregnancies.
Pregnancy occurs, when someone moves in.
Fertility experts say at least 15 percent of all pregnancies
end in a spontaneous abortion. Actually, it is impossible to know
how many fertilized eggs pass unnoticed. Most occur in the first
six weeks and during a woman's first pregnancy. It is as if the
women's body must first learn how to carry a pregnancy before
she can become pregnant.
Two percent of all pregnancies are ectopic pregnancies or implant
outside the uterus. Some resolve spontaneously, but those that
occur in the fallopian tube can rupture the tube and the nearby
artery causing life threatening bleeding. If tubal pregnancies
are discovered before rupture, they need to be removed to protect
the mother. I suppose one could justify the pregnancy removal
on the basis of "the greatest good." Certainly, it can be argued
that the preservation of the mother and spouse is more important
to the family than the pregnancy, however, for some individuals
the decision is a moral dilemma.
The understanding that the first weeks of pregnancy are about
preparation permits a different perspective. For the spontaneous
abortion patient, it allows me to eliminate the heartless statement,
"You lost your baby." And all the guilt and loss that go with
it. A natural event that is so common certainly doesn't need to
be made more emotionally difficult. Instead, I explain to the
woman that her body is learning to be pregnant and it needs to
repeat the process to get it right the next time. Most subsequent
pregnancies are successful.
This perspective also allows me to recommend the removal of ectopic
pregnancies. Although the process is being interrupted, the element
of murder is eliminated.
Human reproduction is fairly efficient, still, it is not an exact
process. If you look at life retrospectively from the perspective
of a newborn baby, the odds that the pregnancy which resulted
in the baby began as a fertilized egg, are a black and white,
100 percent. If you look at life prospectively, from the perspective
of the fertilized egg, the odds that the egg and the subsequent
pregnancy will result in a newborn, are only about 80 percent.
It is this 20 percent gray area that gets overlooked by the retrospective
view of human reproduction. These are the pregnancies that are
cared for in the emergency department, not the delivery room.
I take some solace in our actions as "Church." We don't advocate
in-utero baptisms the moment a women has a positive pregnancy
test, even though we know that 20 percent of the pregnancies will
never reach a term delivery. We don't advocate the baptism of
the placentas, even thought they are alive and have a unique genetic
code. We don't have funeral Masses and bury the lost early pregnancy,
like we do with a stillborn. By our actions, we recognize a difference
between the first weeks of pregnancy and the later months.
The cultural war is waged by others. The warriors deal with programs,
agendas, position statements, governmental and religious authorities.
For those of us who deal with the difficult issues of early pregnancy,
on either a personal or professional basis, it is about balancing
perspectives. We live and work on uncommon ground.
Tom Madden M.D. '75
Greenwood, Indiana
Thanks to academic freedom our sons and daughters understand
how complicated abortion is. For instance, the Church "needs to
exclude punishment-oriented responses to premarital sex" which
causes some to get an abortion. Those of us who were educated
prior to the 1967 Land O' Lakes renaissance will just have to
deal with our narrow-minded ways. Cheer, cheer for old academic
freedom.
Tom Wich '63
Clarendon Hills, Illinois
Real service work
In "Commencement No. 160, the "Classy Numbers" paragraph listed
some of the accomplishments and future endeavors of the 2005 graduating
class. It talks about volunteer work while at ND and those headed
off to a year or more of service work. I don't know how you at
the campus define "Service Work" but the last time I checked we
had a fairly good size ROTC program at ND. Those ROTC seniors
were commissioned in their respective Branch of Service and may
soon find themselves in Iraq or Afghanistan and they don't even
get mentioned! What kind of an oversight or bias is that? Your
editorial staff didn't know they were there? Or is service to
our country wherein one puts his/hers life on the line not counted
as true service?
I think you and your staff owe the graduating ROTC seniors an
apology and it should be made loud and clear in the next issue
of the magazine as well as a personal note from you and Father
Jenkins CSC. Please keep me advised as to your progress. Incidently
while at ND many of those ROTC students went off for several weeks
in the summer to serve on various ships and stations in training
to further prepare themselves for their future duties in service
to our country. Were they included in your 80 percent figure?
Capt. Joseph J. Daigneault, Jr.,USN (Ret.) '54
via email
A complex fate
Father Hesburgh's rejected invitation to the then Joseph Ratzinger
to become a professor at Notre Dame is most revealing. Benedict
XVI replied that his knowledge of English was insufficient. But
the pontiff's facility with the English "tongue" was nearly as
fluent then as it is now. What he was expressing was a discomfort
with the English "language." He did not care to examine English
liberty in relation to the absolute liberty of Rome. Roman imperial
Stoicism conceives a single unvarying human nature (the Platonic
pattern is masculine) dominant over the species in all times to
which absolute liberty has the only fitting key. English liberty
holds this universal nature to be not only un-English but perhaps
not quite human. Absolute liberty is authoritarian and tends toward
collective domination; English liberty is individualistic and
tends toward anarchy.
This richly representative historical conflict calls for a creative
reconciliation such as we see begun at Notre Dame in the philosophy
of Alasdair MacIntyre, who undertakes argument with both parties.
Notre Dame has a complex fate, more complex than the present Rome
may care to understand
Joseph F. Ryan' 59
Yarmouthport, Massachusetts
First Phoxes
I was thrilled to see the Pangborn profile in the summer issue,
but I would like to correct one small inaccuracy. When the administration
asked for volunteers to live in the new women's dorm, there actually
was a small but enthusiastic group of students who decided to
answer that call. We came from a number of different dorms for
a variety of different reasons, but we were all looking forward
to establishing a new dorm with new traditions and new network
of friends. I know that I and my fellow classmates really enjoyed
being among the very first Phoxes.
Carolyn Olson Kurowski 94
via email
Arcadian thoughts
Thank you for publishing Jessica Mesman's essay, "Leaving Arcadia."
The author does an excellent job of analyzing the program and
the challenges that it faced. I confess that I never saw the show,
but after reading Mesman's piece, I wish that I'd viewed and supported
Joan of Arcadia.
Popular culture's wrestling with God is a profoundly important
subject. Please have Jessica Mesman write more articles on the
topic.
Brent Chesley '86Ph.D.
Aquinas College
Grand Rapids, Michigan
In your summer 2005 issue, you presented a problem and then reported
elsewhere on how it might be solved-without connecting the dots.
My husband and I often bemoan the pathetic TV fare available,
especially programs of interest to those of us in the non-targeted
age market. We watched Joan of Arcadia and appreciated
your article on the show's content and demise (page 31 of your
summer 2005 issue). On page 12 of the same issue, you mentioned
that ND is considering selling their TV station. Wouldn't it be
marvelous if they could produce some high quality, wholesome shows.
Seems to me the drama department could provide talent. Other departments
could make issue based presentations. Talent abounds at ND. Why
not?
Lucille Greer Maloney
via email
Walking the woods
Thank you for Kerry Temple's grand essay on walking the "woods
near Saint Mary's College." I have been running, walking, birding,
and otherwise exploring, surveying and savoring those same woods
since my first year of law school in '79.
Although I have yet to see a bobcat there, the deer, foxes, racoons,
rabbits, squirrels, woodchucks, chipmunks and other smaller mammals
are familiar companions as are the wide variety of birds, including
four species of owls and at least as many of hawks, as well as
migrating sandhill cranes, warblers and many other feathered friends.
The major beauties missing from the essay's description are the
succession of many wildflowers from March to November, and butterflies
from the big and showy swallowtails to the tiny and delicate blues,
in addition to our brothers and sisters in the human family who
frequent the trails. I enjoy the relative solitude as much as
anyone but am also grateful to share the grandness of God's creation
with others who also share my appreciation. Although perhaps not
mystical in the commonly misunderstood sense, these woods are
one of the most spiritual places in the area.
Maybe I should get started on my field guide to the Saint Mary's
woods one of these days in my spare time. Until then, keep walking
and God bless.
Rev. John Patrick Riley, CSC
via email
I want to thank the magazine editor for his thoughtful story
about the wondrous woods along the river at Saint Mary's College.
It recalled for me the many years while I was raising my four
children and regularly walked with them in those woods.
My youngest son, Dan Rigaux, went to the Saint Mary's kindergarten.
Most days, I would bring my favorite dog, Taffy, a golden haired
retriever, for a walk before I picked Dan up at 3 p.m. Sweet-tempered
and obedient, she often ran off the leash because we so seldom
met anyone on the trails.
I knew Taffy was coming to her life's end when she no longer
could walk the entire woods circuit. She was game to try, but
I soon shortened our walks to a manageable distance for her.
I savored those half hours with Taffy. They were a balm during
hectic days when I was raising four children and going to Notre
Dame for a master's degree.
In 1980 I moved to Washington, D.C., for a job. But sometimes
when I return to South Bend to visit my family (retired ND professor
Otto Bird and my sister Sarah, owner with her husband Ken of the
Griffon Bookstore), I take time to walk through those well-remembered
woods. Usually walking with whatever dog might be on hand.
Somehow it doesn't seem right to walk alone. I need another living
creature to share the beauty and peace of the woods and the occasional
sightings of animals and birds.
Kate Bird
via email
Mascot ideas
Hello. First off, let me say, I love the University of Notre
Dame. Ever since I learned that the school was founded in 1842
by French priests who were members of the Congregation of the
Holy Cross, I wanted to attend the school. I did, in fact. In
1982 I spent a semester in South Bend but had to drop out due
to a marlin fishing accident in which I lost both hands and portions
of my ear. I'd rather not go into all that, let me just say thank
goodness for reconstructive surgery.
Like I said, I've always loved the school but think it's about
time we changed the mascot. Fighting Irish? Huh? What's that have
to do with a school founded by Frenchmen? Irish? Wha? What's that
have to do with the nation that is France and all of its wonders?
That said, I've compiled a list of possible mascot changes.
1) University of Notre Dame Fightin' Frenchies
2) University of Notre Dame Dons and Dames
3) University of Notre Dame Ragin' Baguettes
4) University of Notre Dame Galling DeGaulle's
5) University of Notre Dame Mighty Meurthe-et-Moselle
6) University of Notre Dame Quiche
Thank you for your time and efforts. It's time the mascot of
Notre Dame truly reflected the greatest of the school.
Jonathan Shipley
Vashon, Wasington
(October 2005)
