Big families should not be mocked
Sheryl Miller
Canton, Mass.
I think it's time someone steps up to bat (hello, University leaders and administrators) and defines "Catholic." I read the Feb. 8 guest column [Laura Antkowiak], a Notre Dame student who was ridiculed by her class mates because she came from a very large family. This young woman was made to feel shame because she was raised in a family that still practiced the dictates of the Catholic Church. Because her family did not cave in to the ways of contemporary society and limit their family to one or two children by means of birth control, she was bullied for not having as much money. Her mother and father were mocked for their lifestyle.
Is this not persecution? Isn't it ironic and tragic that this young woman was made to feel ashamed of her beautiful Catholic family at a Catholic University? Ah, but that is just the point isn't it? How Catholic is Notre Dame these days anyway? Her counterparts, who come form the small wealthy families, boldly want to be able to have sex without children, so they can preserve their shapes. They don't want to be bothered by the giving required in raising children. The horror! As a front-runner of the '60s fiasco, I saw first hand the resulting tragedies as young women and men threw their morals to the wind.
This second generation of women evidences a moral corruption unknown in recent times, which has turned the "gentler sex" into callous, graceless imitators of the worst examples of the male gender. These "best and brightest" sadly don't even recognize the bill of goods they have been sold. Unlike their counterparts in the '60s who had the benefit of being nurtured in traditional Catholic homes, these children evidently have been denied access to much that is holy.
These are our best and brightest? By whose standards? Harvard's? Yale's? Does anyone believe these women are Catholic? Why are they attending a Catholic University? Is anyone at Notre Dame interested in shaping intellectual Catholic crusaders/soldiers/evangelists?
If ever there was an incident that brings home the need for Catholic universities and colleges to get back in line with the teachings of the Church, this is it. Our Catholic students need the support of adults to shield them from the slings and arrows of the secular world — evidently even at their own "Catholic" school. They are still learning and being formed, remember? Where is the guidance? Where is the protection? Where is the refuge?
The president and administration at Notre Dame need to establish admission criteria that demonstrate which applicants are Catholic or at least not opposed to Catholic practices.
It is time we return this school to a religious school, just like the Pope wants. Otherwise, change the name because "Our Lady" doesn't seem appropriate for the type of women who are attracted to this school.
All Viewpoint Stories for Tuesday, February 29, 2000
