in defense of notre dame

In his June 14 blog entry titled “Catholic Spotted at University of Notre Dame,” Tito wrote a satirical article about how his friend, Bill, Director of Young Adult Ministry for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, was unable to find a loyal catholic. at the University of Notre Dame and thus could no longer cheer for the Fighting Irish. While I’m not immune to humor (in fact, some have criticized my daily saint blogs as too silly), one can’t easily laugh at petty or misleading “Catholic” tracts. Doesn’t one get offended to hear “pedophile priest” or “Nazi Pope Benedict” jokes? Well, despite Father McBrien’s misadventures, anti-Notre Dame raves aren’t much different.

Truly, the University of Notre Dame is emblematic of American Catholicism as a whole, with a handful of saints and scoundrels at each end of the spectrum and a wide range of devotion in between. But unlike many Catholic places of higher education, Notre Dame (once called “The City of the Blessed Sacrament”) has dozens of church, crypt and dormitory Masses that take place literally 24 hours a day, as well as a Marian shrine. in good faith, the grotto. So say everybody those who attend daily Mass under the Dome, or every soul who makes a regular pilgrimage to the grotto who is not a devout Catholic, is certainly ridiculous, if not sacrilegious. And, in the last group of grottoes, count Irish soccer coach Charlie Weis. After his grueling sixteen-hour days at work, the coach makes his slow nightly walk to the shrine, where he prays not so much for the football team as for his family, especially his autistic daughter Hannah.

So instead of taking easy shots at Notre Dame’s media beasts and priests, let’s try another approach. We can keep the core of committed Catholics strong, as well as weed out radical scoundrels, simply by praying for Our Lady’s college and supporting their team.

What is that you say? Well, in the 1930s and 1940s, coaches like Michigan’s Fritz Chrysler refused to play for Notre Dame, saying their national Catholic fan base and recruiting base gave Notre Dame an unfair advantage. Not only do I agree with the review of Chryler’s Old Notre Dame, but I’ll go a step further by saying that when those thousands of rosary prayers used to arrive every Saturday to help the Irish gridiron perform, I think Our Lady (the number 1 fan team) was wise (and merciful) enough to reserve some of those Birds for other University needs as well.

And, speaking of wisdom, Coach Weis, in addition to being an offensive coaching genius, now not only has his players raise their hooves in praise of Maria at the end of every game, but also has his charges sing along to the song.” Notre Dame Our Mother”. to honor her after every contest, whether she wins or loses. So cheer up Tito (ND’s prayer is already having its effect), and once again Cheer up, cheer up for the old Notre Dame!