I came to the University of Notre Dame to continue to grow in my faith. I'm here to learn and pray, to be a better person for having been here. Isn't that everyone's ultimate goal? Believing this, I was confused by the words of one of my peers. A freshman, Jeff Eyreman, wrote Tuesday that marriage is not necessary for true love. Knowing from definite personal experience, I agree that love can develop before marriage, but it completes itself in matrimony. Marriage is a relationship including not only the two people, but also God. To truly give yourself to someone, there must be a commitment to the other person and to God. There must be marriage. Jeff, this is not a personal attack, and I'm not pretending to be perfect. However, how can a teenager who has not yet even chosen a major make such a decision? God intended us each for one person, and I believe that our bodies belong to the person we're going to marry someday. Our bodies are not ours to give or take. We are in God's hands.

This is Notre Dame. We are special and alone. We are many things and have many identities. But we bear the name of Our Mother, the Virgin Mary. A Catholic university and a Christian environment. To come here you must acknowledge that you will be surrounded by it. If you can't accept the morals, ideals and teachings of the Catholic Church and the views of this place where you have chosen to be educated, then do you really belong here?

Elizabeth Bauer

Freshman, McGlinn Hall

January 27, 2000

• Pope should retire to save Church in China
  
• MLK a modern prophet
  
• Do you really belong here?
  
• Sex means committment, not just affection