Stories about Catholic issues spark the biggest response from
our readers. People have strong feelings about their faith, and
it’s a rare article about Catholic matters that doesn’t
upset at least some of you. We even hear from alumni when we don’t
address a topic they think we should take on.
This past year has been a challenging one for the magazine.
World events have forced us to examine how we cover current affairs
in a quarterly university magazine. You should know that our addressing
issues of broad social, religious and political import makes us
unique in the world of college publishing. We do it because the
University believes it best serves its alumni and friends by giving
them — in addition to everything else we offer — stories
providing a Notre Dame perspective on compelling topics that affect
their lives. That perspective is representative of a University
which affirms the importance of dialogue leading to truth. The
stories we publish are not necessarily the institution’s
official position on complex matters, but are part of a continuing
conversation enriching the life of the University.
Despite all that’s happening in the world, it’s been
the scandalous activities of some Catholic clerics that has consumed
a good deal of our attention. We have wondered, given our role
and our production schedule, what we could add to all that’s
been reported in the media elsewhere. We have listened to alumni urging us to engage the
issues more fully; we have been sensitive to the caution lights
shining in various quarters of this University. We surely have
not dealt with this scandal to everyone’s satisfaction.
In our summer issue we heard from the chairman of Notre Dame’s
theology department, and in a future issue we’ll hear from
one of the prominent voices in the national debate as well as
one of the leading lay advocates for change in the church. We
will cover a conference the University is holding in late fall
about the scandal.
Meanwhile, in this issue staff veteran John Monczunski offers
an alarming view of the priesthood today, providing a sociologist’s
perspective on the worrisome demographics of priestly vocations.
Readers will have to wait a few issues for the local angle of
that story. We have a writer working on the much more promising
view of Holy Cross vocations, but we asked him to follow several
candidates for a long period of time in order to get at the heart
and soul of dedicating one’s life to God through the priesthood.
Finally, about that reader response: While we do not do stories
specifically to get a reaction, we’re glad it happens. It
means we’ve made an impact. It means you’re reading
and thinking and caring about the issues involved. That’s
one of the aims of a Notre Dame education. Another, I think, is
to have learned to respect those smart, reasonable and good-intentioned people whose thinking just might not align with yours.
