Notre Dame - INSIGHT Winter 1967-68 - 125th anniversary Mass

Sep 29, 2026

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Winter 1967-68 issue of INSIGHT from the University of Notre Dame presents a reflective anniversary message on what makes a truly great Catholic university. Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh CSC evaluates institutional age versus real academic and spiritual quality, recounts historical church-university ties, and contrasts them with the post-Reformation rupture. It discusses modern global transformations shaping university mission and governance, and documents opening of a two-day 125th anniversary celebration with a Pontifical Concelebrated Mass, music, and commissioned compositions.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages32

Reading Time49 min

AccessFree to download

INSIGHT: Notre Dame

Anniversary reflection and historical context

Catholic university mission in a changing world

Opening events of the two-day celebration

□:Notre DameInsiohtWINTER 1967-68 INSIGHT:Notre Dame is publishedquarterly by the University of NotreDame.Second Class postage paid atNotre Dame,Ind.46556. Rev.Theodore M.Hesburgh CSC ◎neHlundred and # Cwenty-five Qears is no considered a very long time as the lives ofgreat world universities are reckoned.However,one should not make too much of this matterof age.Age alone is no real guarantee of qualityunless one is considering wine or cheese.Ourpresent anniversary should be considered,Ibelieve,rather as a grateful memorial to thingspast,an opportunity to assess things present,andhopefully,a look to the future.The proud andcherished traditions of the past,in a fast-movingand ever-changing world,should always be aprelude to what this University might yet become. I hope that you are not shocked when I say that there hasnot been in recent centuries a truly great Catholicuniversity,recognized universally as such.There aresome universities that come very close to the reality,butnot the full reality,at least as I see it in today's world.One might have hoped that history would have beendifferent when one considers the Church's early role in thefounding of the first great universities in the MiddleAges:Paris,Oxford,Cambridge,Bologna andothers.They turned to the Church for the charters thatwould guarantee them a freedom and autonomy theycould not then have had from the State.Knowledge grewquickly within them because there was that newatmosphere of the free and often turbulent clashing ofconflicting ideas,where a man with a new idea,theological,philosophical,legal,or scientific,had to defend itin the company of his peers,without interference frompressures and powers that neither create nor validateintellectual activity,one of God's greatest gifts to man.This mediaeval conjunction of the Church and theuniversities was to undergo a violent rupture in the yearsfollowing the Reformation and,especially,theFrench Revolution.Philip Hughes,writing of thisperiod,said:“Another grave loss was the disappearanceof all the universities.They had been Catholic andoften Papal foundations.In all of them there hadbeen a faculty of theology,and round this mistress sciencetheir whole intellectual life had turned.Now theywere gone,and when restored as State universities,(they became)academies for the explorationand exposition of natural truths alone.Education,theformation of the Catholic mind in the new Catholic Europe, would suffer immeasurably,andreligious formation(would)be to itsintellectual development anextra,something added on.”(PhilipHughes,A Popular History of theCatholic Church,pp.225-6,ImageBooks Edition,1954) What we are trying to do today increating great Catholic universities is,in a sense,a re-creation,so that thelast third of the Twentieth Centurywill not suffer the loss whichPhilip Hughes bemoans for theNineteenth Century and most of theTwentieth.The comeback hasbegun in many places,Notre Damebeing one of them.But this ishappening in a much different world,and in a much different climate ofopinion.Moreover,the university,as rying to create the Catholic university wohereautonomy and freedom are guaranteed. Attired in academic gowns,the Notre Dame faculty and University guests proceed to Sacred Heart Churcltfor tlhe Pontifical Concelebrated Mass which officially opened the two-day anniversary celebration. an institution,has developed in modern times into a muchdifferent reality than it was,even a little over a century ago whenCardinal Newman wrote his "Idea of a University."Thatclassic book can no longer be a complete model for the Catholicuniversity of today.Also,one should reflect that Cardinal Newmannever realized even in his day what he wrote about so well.There are timeless principles in Newman's"Idea,"but he wroteabout a completely different kind of university in a completelydifferent kind of world.The pax britannica and the colonieshave given way to the newly independent and largely frustrated thirdworld.The mainly

FAQs

Why does the anniversary message caution against equating age with quality?

It argues that longevity alone does not guarantee excellence; instead, quality depends on enduring intellectual and spiritual standards comparable to how wine or cheese improves under proper conditions.

What historical change disrupted the early church-university connection?

The text describes a violent rupture after the Reformation, especially the French Revolution, when universities ceased to function as Catholic and Papal foundations and were restored later as state institutions.

How was the 125th anniversary celebration officially opened?

The Notre Dame faculty and university guests proceeded to Sacred Heart Church for a Pontifical Concelebrated Mass that officially opened the two-day anniversary celebration.

Sep 29, 2026

Uploaded by acoobca