In reply to: A comparison of Fr. Miscamble's book vs "Hesburgh" movie: (link) posted by Jess
together, both at Notre Dame and in the outside world of secular society. To do so in the difficult 1960's was a great accomplishment.
I think that Father Miscamble does point out that while Notre Dame gathered a larger endowment and world attention while under Father Hesburgh, one still has to ask, did it lose some of its religious focus and Catholic character in the process?
" Miscamble’s verdict on Hesburgh is as devastating as it is understated: “Without making a major and formal decision he began to allow what might be called the pursuit of excellence approach to supplant the pursuit of the truth.”
...a potential implication of his cleverly worded formulation, namely, that the pursuit of truth is something divorced from the pursuit of excellence. A similarly tendentious reply might be, "Given the institutional Church's pursuit of truth as it pertained to the treatment of persons abused by a number of its ordained people, it's hardly surprising that reasonable minds would question that institution's claim to be the source of truth in any respect."
"Notre Dame can and must be a crossroads where all the vital intellectual currents of our time meet in dialogue, where the great issues of the Church and the world today are plumbed to their depths, where every sincere inquirer is welcomed and listened to and respected by a serious consideration of what he has to say about his belief or unbelief, his certainty or uncertainty; where differences of culture and religion and conviction can co-exist with friendship, civility, hospitality, respect and love; a place where the endless conversation is harbored and not foreclosed."