Walking with Cleopas: Emmaus and the Theological Life

As evening sunlight streamed in through the windows of the Notre Dame Stadium Pressbox, students, faculty and staff at this Spring’s Breaking Bread event—our semi-annual dinner and evening of spiritual discussion—were enlightened by Rev. Michael Heintz. Father Heintz, the rector and pastor of St. Matthew Cathedral Parish in South Bend, offered a reflection entitled, “Walking with Cleopas: Emmaus and the Theological Life.” Father Heintz began his reflection by reading the passage from the Gospel of St. Luke in which Cleopas and an unnamed companion encountered Christ on the road to Emmaus. As they walked, and at first did not recognize Jesus’ true identity, He “interpreted to them what referred to him in all the scriptures,” thereby revealing to them how He fulfilled the prophesies of the Old Testament. Upon their arrival in Emmaus, Cleopas and his friend persuaded Christ to stay with them. “And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight.”

Father Heintz’s selection was apt, as this particular account of the two companions who recognize Christ in the breaking of the bread provided the original inspiration for the Breaking Bread dinner series. This passage, suggested Father Heintz, provides an excellent model for the theological life – a life of faith seeking understanding. Father Heintz examined five aspects of the Emmaus story, in particular “its provisional, communal, conversational, Christocentric and ultimately Eucharistic dimensions.” First, Father Heintz noted that the account involves two disciples traveling from Jerusalem to Emmaus – they were on a journey. “There is something profoundly provisional, deeply incomplete, about our life in the here and now . . . ultimate meaning, complete satisfaction, and enduring happiness are yet to be experienced.” Therefore, the theological life is always a “work in progress.” Second, pointing out the passage’s communal aspects, Father Heintz pointed out that Cleopas was not traveling alone, and that it is “precisely in community that Christ reveals himself, as He did to the two on the road to Emmaus.” Third, he observed that during their walk to Emmaus, Cleopas and his companion were engaged in conversation when Christ joined them. Likewise, the theological life must be “essentially one of conversations” both with one another and with our “forbearers in the Tradition of theological reflection, the saints and doctors of old: a kind of conversation and engagement with their ideas and their thoughts, about our shared experience.”

Next, he examined the inherently Christocentric aspect of the Emmaus experience, pointing out that Christ did not merely walk with Cleopas and his companion, but also revealed Himself and the fullness of his salvific role to them. “For those of us committed to the theological life, Christ must be at its center as a living companion, the pivotal companion on our journey.” Father Heintz concluded his reflection by emphasizing the Eucharistic dimensions of the Emmaus passage – Christ revealed Himself to them in the breaking of the bread. Although Jesus then vanishes from their sight, “the mode of His presence becomes what is later termed sacramental: it is in the Eucharist that Christ abides with them – and with us. Now even those Christians not of the Catholic communion and who may have very different notions of what exactly the Eucharist is or signifies nonetheless have a deep regard for table or meal fellowship.”

The students at Breaking Bread greatly appreciated the opportunity to enjoy their own meal fellowship and to consider Father Heintz’s thoughtful spiritual reflection. In addition to his pastoral responsibilities, Father Heintz teaches in the Theology Department at Notre Dame. He is completing his doctorate in Theology at Notre Dame under John Cavadini and Rev. Brian Daley. He enjoys reading, sports, and is a licensed baseball umpire.

Breaking Bread is chiefly administered by the Center’s current undergraduate assistants, Kate Wilson, Stephen Freddoso and Greer Hannan. It has become the Center’s most popular undergraduate event, and a beloved Notre Dame tradition. The Center once again thanks Mr. Fran McGowen, of Malvern, Pennsylvania, for his generosity in sponsoring this event.

Hollywood: Mission Field or Mission Impossible?

Our inaugural Spring Catholic Culture Series was devoted to the art of cinema and the renewal of culture. Entitled “Hollywood: Mission Field or Mission Impossible?,” this inaugural series featured three prominent Catholic speakers who each took a different angle on the question of how Catholics and their fellow Christians might positively engage the film industry in Hollywood in order to revivify the art of the cinema in the light of the Gospel.

The first of the three speakers in the series was Rev. Willy Raymond, CSC, who since September 2000 has served as the national director of Family Theater Productions in Hollywood. The mission of Family Theater, which was founded in Hollywood in 1947 by Father Patrick Peyton, CSC, now a sainthood candidate, is to evangelize culture by using mass media to entertain, inspire and educate families. Family Theater’s famous slogan is “The family that prays together, stays together.”

On Tuesday evening, April 4, Fr. Raymond kicked off the series by giving a talk in Hayes-Healy entitled “Young Catholic Hollywood.” Fr. Raymond’s central point was the encouraging news that already there are many devoted and talented Catholics, especially young Catholics, doing good things in the film industry in Hollywood. After showing the audience a short promotional film on the mission of Family Theater, Fr. Willy then exemplified his point by showing a short film entitled Christmas Wish List, one of the finalists in the annual Angelus Awards, a film festival for student filmmakers started by Family Theater in 1996. Christmas Wish List—in which a self-absorbed lawyer finds himself the unwitting accomplice in a doctor’s efforts to fulfill the wish list of a child cancer patient, and in the process finds his own heart softened by the act of giving—delighted the audience and demonstrated the promise of young Catholic filmmakers in Hollywood.

Fr. Raymond also pointed out the various pastoral initiatives sponsored by Family Theater, which give Catholics in Hollywood a place to gather with their fellows in the industry who are also fellow believers. Family Theater sponsors an RCIA program (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults), a monthly open house called Prayer and Pasta to welcome newcomers to Hollywood, a course of studies on Pope John Paul II’s theology of the body, and a weekly occasion for reflection and discussion of the faith called “Going Deeper.”

The second speaker in the series was wellknown Catholic writer, speaker and blogger, Amy Welborn. Ms. Welborn is the author of several books, but is perhaps best known for her De-Coding Da Vinci (Our Sunday Visitor Press, 2004), which debunks the many myths masquerading as truth in Dan Brown’s best-selling thriller, now a movie. Her blog, “Open Book,” also serves as a virtual meeting place for those interested in a wide variety of issues affecting the Church and culture.

On Monday evening April 10, in DeBartolo Hall, Ms. Welborn spoke on “De-Coding Da Vinci: The Facts Behind the Fiction of The Da Vinci Code.” She explained the worldwide phenomenon of The Da Vinci Code in terms of the eternal return of gnosticism, which ultimately comes down to human pride in being singled out to share in a very special secret. And what is the secret The Da Vinci Code wants to share with us? The absurdities of its plot aside, The Da Vinci Code seeks to tell us, ultimately, that Christianity is the enemy of truth. Instead of witnessing to the truth, and indeed to the One who is Truth, the topsy-turvydom of Dan Brown’s mythical world sees “official” Christianity as something that must be exposed as a fraud if the real truth about Jesus is to be brought to light. Given not only the enormous success of the novel, but also the premiere of the The Da Vinci Code film directed by one of Hollywood’s most esteemed directors (Ron Howard) and starring one of its most celebrated actors (Tom Hanks), Ms. Welborn underscored the grave threat that certain segments of popular culture pose for a truly Christian evangelization of culture.

To help counter that threat, our third and last speaker in the series, Barbara Nicolosi, founded Act One, Inc., a nonprofit organization located in Hollywood that trains people of faith for careers in mainstream film & TV. Stressing artistry, excellence, professionalism, and spirituality, Act One prepares students to be “salt and light” in writers’ rooms, on sets, and in studio and network offices. Act One’s goal is not to produce explicitly “religious” entertainment, but movies and TV programs that combine “mastery of craft with an unusual quality of depth.”

On Thursday evening April 26, in DeBartolo Hall, Ms. Nicolosi offered a lecture entitled, “Why God Cares About Hollywood: The Role of Entertainment in Human Life.” In her lecture Ms. Nicolosi argued that the Church has always been a patron of the arts because the Church has always situated the arts within what Josef Pieper calls “festivity,” that praise of God that affirms the beauty of God’s creation. The art form that characterizes our moment in history, Ms. Nicolosi stressed, is the cinema; the “Abel’s lamb” of our time. For the cinema to serve as a source of festivity, however, as a manifestation of the beauty that involves a love and longing for God, it must seek to be truly excellent in terms of the three components of beauty: integrity, harmony, and radiance. In particular, Ms. Nicolosi urged Christian writers to follow the example of Flannery O’Connor and seek to tell stories that, even in the midst of suffering, show that grace is being offered to mankind.

This inaugural spring Catholic Culture Series on cinema and the renewal of culture turned out to be a big success, and we now look forward to this spring series being the annual counterpart to our fall Catholic Culture Series on Catholic literature. We are deeply grateful to our three speakers. A special word of thanks goes out to Fr. Raymond and Barbara Nicolosi, who before their talks shared a meal with Notre Dame undergraduates thinking about a career in the film industry. Finally, we acknowledge our happy debt to our friends, Clarence and Frieda Bayer of Arlington, Texas, whose generosity to the Center made this series possible.

Stem Cells, Embryos, and Ethics: Is There A Way Forward?

As the national and international debate over the moral and political implications of human embryonic stem cell research rages on, some scientists have begun to suggest new ways of thinking about the problem. Among them is the Center’s Spring 2006 Schmitt lecturer, Dr. William Hurlbut, a physician and Consulting Professor at Stanford University’s Neuroscience Institute and, since 2002, a member of President Bush’s Council on Bioethics. On Tuesday afternoon, April 18, in the main auditorium of Notre Dame’s McKenna Hall, Dr. Hurlbut delivered a Schmitt Lecture entitled, “Stem Cells, Embryos and Ethics: Is There A Way Forward?” in which he discussed the seemingly paradoxical possibility of harvesting human pluripotent stem cells without destroying human embryos. The destruction of human embryos is morally out of the question, Dr. Hurlbut argued. But he went to outline a path of research he called Altered Nuclear Transfer, which involves “the artificial construction of a cellular system lacking the essential elements for embryological development but containing a partial developmental potential capable of generating embryonic stem cells.

”Altered Nuclear Transfer, in short, creates an entity that fails to bring together the necessary elements of a human embryo, but which nonetheless contains the pluripotent stem cells that scientists believe contain so much potential for curing various diseases." Dr. Hurlbut drew attention to the fact that his research on Altered Nuclear Transfer has received the approval of many notable Catholic moral thinkers.

After receiving his undergraduate and medical training at Stanford University, Dr. Hurlbut completed postdoctoral studies in theology and medical ethics, studying with Robert Hamerton-Kelly, the Dean of the Chapel at Stanford, and subsequently with the Rev. Louis Bouyer at the Institut Catholique in Paris. Dr. Hurlbut’s primary areas of interest involve the ethical issues associated with advancing biomedical technology, the biological basis of moral awareness, and studies in the integration of theology and the philosophy of biology. He is the author of numerous publications on science and ethics, including the co-edited volume, Altruism and Altruistic Love: Science, Philosophy, and Religion in Dialogue (Oxford, 2002), and “Science, Religion, and Human Spirit” in the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Science and Religion. He is also co-chair of two interdisciplinary faculty projects at Stanford University, “Becoming Human: The Evolutionary Origins of Spiritual, Religious, and Moral Awareness,” and “Brain, Mind and Emergence.”

Dr. Hurlbut’s lecture was followed by a reception in McKenna Hall, and then by a dinner at the Morris Inn, after which Dr. Hurlbut graciously took more questions from the audience. The lecture and dinner were once again well attended by Notre Dame’s Schmitt Fellows, those graduate students in the Schools of Science and Engineering who are the principal recipients of the generosity of the Arthur J. Schmitt Foundation to the University of Notre Dame. It was for the sake of honoring that generosity that the Schmitt Lecture Series was founded. Our special thanks go out to Mr. Peter Wrenn, a member of the Schmitt Foundation Board, who joined us for both the lecture and the dinner.

The aim of the Schmitt Lecture Series—which in the past has featured such distinguished lights as Gil Meilaender, Mark Siegler, Paul Griffiths, Stanley Fish, Jean Bethke Elshtain, and last fall’s lecturer Carter Snead—is to provide an occasion to reflect on the ethical, political and religious dimensions of science and technology. Both our Schmitt lectures this academic year focused on the problem of human embryonic stem cell research. This is entirely appropriate, for there is hardly a contemporary issue that answers the charge of the Schmitt Lecture more than this one. The Center is proud to have contributed to this debate by sponsoring these two very fine Schmitt Lectures this year.

21st Annual Clarke Family Medical Ethics Conference

During a quiet spring break week, the time-honored favorite of physicians and scholars, the 21st Annual Philip and Doris Clarke Family Medical Ethics Conference, was held March 17th through 20th at Notre Dame. Philosophers, theologians and legal scholars mixed with Notre Dame students, alumni physicians and health-care workers to explore a variety of issues ranging from the familiar case of Terri Schiavo to recent scandals in medical research and ripped-from-the-headline stories of the challenges facing medical care in emergency and disaster conditions.

The conference, as always, primarily consisted of several small-group discussions of case studies provided by members of the conference audience and reflecting current issues in medical practice. To start off the weekend, on Friday afternoon, Center director David Solomon chaired a session entitled, “Doctor’s Duties in Disasters,” which featured the failures in medical care observed during Hurricane Katrina and the challenges posed by a possible avian flu pandemic. The results of the small-group discussions were then highlighted in a plenary discussion with a panel consisting of Dr. Mark Siegler, professor at the University of Chicago and Director of the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics, Gilbert Meilaender, the Phyllis & Richard Duesenberg Professor of Christian Ethics at Valparaiso University, Alyssa Brauweiler, and Christina Holmstrom, both Notre Dame undergraduate students. During the plenary discussion, participants noted the importance of hope and resourcefulness and the necessity of heroism in disaster cases. Differences in worldviews and in concepts of virtue, limited financial resources, and even the finitude of human life were all highlighted as challenges to ethical care-giving in disaster situations.

The conference continued on late Friday afternoon with the annual J. Philip Clarke Family Lecture on Medical Ethics, delivered by John Robinson, J.D., Ph.D., associate dean and associate professor of law at the Notre Dame Law School. Robinson’s lecture was entitled, “The Three Deaths of Terri Schiavo: Cultural, Medical and Legal.” In his lecture, Professor Robinson first recounted the facts and legal history of the Terri Schiavo case. He then brought this background into focus by emphasizing the near-impossible task assigned to judges in end-of-life cases. Judges, he claimed, must mix the subjective preferences of the patient or the patient’s family with objective legal or statutory standards to determine the appropriate legal outcome in each particular case. He noted, however, that judges are particularly suited to this task and he expressed confidence in judges’ ability to do it well. As he stated, “all normative institutions [including the judiciary] need time to adjust to the radical novelty of contemporary end-of-life medical care.” The Clarke Lecture was followed by a reception and dinner in McKenna Hall.

After the day’s hard work, many attendees attended a beautiful mass in Alumni Chapel concelebrated by Rev. James Bresnahan and Rev. John Young, followed by dinner in the private dining rooms of the Morris Inn. The closing banquet contained a touching tribute to Judy Gibson and Kathleen Sullivan, who are no longer coordinating the conference for the Alumni Association. Judy and Kathy have organized this conference for many years and their presence, guidance and wisdom will be greatly missed. The conference concluded with a final session on Sunday morning, where the participants discussed a variety of topics in a roundtable format, with panelists Margaret Hogan, Tris Englehardt, John Robinson, Jorge Garcia, Kevin McDonnell and David Solomon. Other ethics consultants in attendance at the conference and not already mentioned were Corinna Delkeskamp-Hayes, Mark Jensen (the Center graduate assistant who selected and put together the packet of readings), and Center associate director Daniel McInerny.

As always, we are grateful to the Notre Dame Alumni Association, and in particular to our new partners, Mirella Riley, newly-appointed director of the Academic Division, and administrative assistant Janet Miller, for their tremendous help in coordinating this year’s conference.

National Undergraduate Bioethics Conference (NUBEC)

The weekend of March 10-11 marked the beginning of spring break here at Notre Dame. But instead of heading for the beach, over 100 Notre Dame students and 150 students traveling from other schools gathered in McKenna Hall to discuss the future of bioethics at the 9th Annual National Undergraduate Bioethics Conference (NUBEC), hosted by a group of undergraduate students, the Notre Dame Forum on Biomedical Ethics (FBE), and led by the Center’s own undergraduate assistant and FBE president, Kate Wilson. For the last seven years, FBE has been actively involved in the national undergraduate conference, hosting it in 2001 and sending Notre Dame students with a demonstrated interest in ethics to the conference each year. In the last several years, however, Notre Dame students became disheartened by the secular emphasis in the field of the national conferences and felt that their opinions were dismissed, not on merit, but because being from Notre Dame carried a certain “moral tendency.” In April 2005, a group of Notre Dame students traveled to Philadelphia to successfully propose that Notre Dame once again host the annual conference with the goal of placing a decisive emphasis on the demand that bioethical decisions be oriented within a conception of the human person; a conception that is not adequately supplied by secular ethics.

The conference, entitled “Health Care in an Increasingly Health-Obsessed Culture,” attracted many prominent physicians and distinguished bioethicists from across the nation to discuss the increasing cultural and societal focus on medicine. Dr. Paul McHugh, the Henry Phipps Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University, gave an electric keynote presentation on the disordered state of the field of professional bioethics and the hope for revival through the model represented by the President’s Council on Bioethics, of which he is a member. Eric Cohen, director of the Bioethics & American Democracy Program at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and editor of The New Atlantis, spoke about the “dilemma of old age,” end-of-life care, and the grave problems posed by the dissolution of the family. Deirdre McQuade, director of planning and information for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities, illuminated the “ethical lenses” prevalent in media in discussions of pregnancy, abortion, and stem cell research.

Dr. Carl Elliott, professor at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Bioethics, gave an energetic presentation about the “invention and marketing” of illness. Dr.William Hurlbut of Stanford University, and member of the President’s Council on Bioethics, spoke movingly on the “transformation of medicine” and the way the central idea of healing has been displaced by increasingly perverse ideas of freedom. Carter Snead, associate professor at the Notre Dame Law School, capped off the weekend with his fast-paced discussion of the role of the law in bioethics, the deep connection between the legal and the moral, and the “10 rules of engagement” that are fundamental to reforming the field of bioethics. Finally, at the closing banquet, Dr. Paul Wright spoke to a captivated audience of his years working with Mother Teresa and her “prescription” for life.

The variety of topics and perspectives, and the number of prominent figures from bioethics fields, combined to make the 9th Annual National Conference one of the best in years. While attracting these prominent professionals, the conference maintained its decided emphasis on undergraduate participation, presentation, and involved learning. Not only did several undergraduates present their papers, but they also served on panel discussions and led discussion groups, which all testified to the quality and professionalism of undergraduate work in bioethics. This conference was instrumental to increasing student awareness of and involvement in issues of bioethics.

Through the generous support of the Strake Foundation, the Pfizer Foundation, Mr. Thomas Abood of Minneapolis, MN, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas and Dorothy Gray of Dumfries, VA, and the Fighting Irish football fans who purchased food from the FBE concession stand, the entire conference was available to the Notre Dame community at no cost. Through the continued support of the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture, the undergraduates of the Forum on Biomedical Ethics have big dreams for their organization. FBE was originally established to create a campus-wide forum for student discussion of biomedical ethics and to foster education and awareness of the scientific, religious, cultural, legal and economic implications of current issues in biomedical ethics. Hosting the national conference was certainly a successful step in achieving these goals. Next they intend to launch a website to serve as the hub for all undergraduate medical organizations on campus. With the collaboration of alumni in the medical field and “The Pathos Project” (recently begun by Notre Dame graduates currently in medical school, Yuri Maricich, Keri Oxley, and Phil Slonkowski), the website will provide essential readings in ethics, an online forum with a different topic each month, and resources for internships and graduate programs in the field.

The Edith Stein Project: Redefining Feminism

Snowy South Bend played host to a heated debate this winter over whether the University of Notre Dame should allow The Vagina Monologues to take place on campus. Three Notre Dame students sparked new life into this debate when they initiated an entirely different forum for discussion about violence against women – a discussion more consistent with the mission of Our Lady’s University. This event was a two-day, studentled conference entitled “The Edith Stein Project: Redefining Feminism.” Three undergraduate students initiated the project, inspired by the writings on women of both Edith Stein (Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross) and Pope John Paul II. These three students felt strongly that Notre Dame needed to have a constructive forum for dialogue and education about the dignity of women and the problems women face in our culture, a forum that incorporated the rich teaching of the Catholic Church on the dignity of the human person. With the help of the Center and other campus groups, their desire became a reality.

The first half of the conference sought to take an honest, holistic look at how women are perceived and treated within our culture. Speakers addressed issues ranging from rape, pornography, and eating disorders to abortion, contraception, and current gynecology. The talks explained the physical, emotional and spiritual damage women experience as a result of these practices. Furthermore, they challenged the audience members to reevaluate the culture’s misconceived notion of the nature and dignity of the human person, particularly the female person, which lies at the root of these problems.

The second half of the conference sought to move beyond criticism to a better vision for women in our society. Speakers—including Center senior research fellow Alasdair MacIntyre, Laura Garcia of Boston College, Deirdre McQuade of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Josef Seifert of the International Academy of Philosophy—sought to articulate a solid, philosophical foundation for the “new feminism” called for by John Paul II in Mulieris Dignitatem. This new feminism is one that acknowledges and upholds the reality that men and women are endowed with equal dignity, being made equally in the image and likeness of God, but are also endowed with unique natures and distinct gifts to offer society.

Over three hundred people attended the conference, including students from Notre Dame, the University of Dayton, Taylor University, and Franciscan University of Steubenville, as well as members of the South Bend community. The event has received attention from The South Bend Tribune, Today’s Catholic, Our Sunday Visitor, The National Catholic Register, the Washington Times, and the National Review.

New Center Tailgaters

In order to spend more time with our friends in a relaxed and festive setting, the Center this Fall inaugurated a series of “tailgaters,” which were held before three Notre Dame home football games: vs. Michigan St. (September 17), vs. Tennessee (November 5), and vs. Syracuse (November 19). These tailgaters took place in the Center’s conference room on the 10th floor of Flanner Hall. With plenty of fine food and cold adult beverages, Center director David Solomon, associate director Daniel McInerny, and assistant director Elizabeth Kirk, mixed and mingled with friends and benefactors, including some of our friends from campus and the South Bend area.

Each one of the three tailgaters featured at least one “special guest star.” For the Michigan St. tailgater the special guest star was renowned Catholic scholar Michael Novak, in town not only for the lecture he delivered at the Mendoza School of Business the afternoon before, but also to enjoy the football weekend with his son and daughter-in-law and their family. For the Tennessee tailgater our special guest stars were Gerry Bradley, associate professor at the Notre Dame Law School, and Philip Bess, professor in Notre Dame’s School of Architecture. A trio of special guests were featured at the Syracuse tailgater: Notre Dame’s Ralph McInerny, Grace Professor of Medieval Studies and professor in the philosophy department, Rev. Wilson Miscamble, CSC, of the history department, and Rev. Mike Heintz, rector of St. Matthew’s Cathedral here in South Bend.

These tailgaters were a lot of fun, and have inspired us to make them a Center tradition.

Speaking Truthfully about Stem Cell Research and Human Cloning

There is at present no issue in biomedical ethics more fraught with misconceptions and exaggerated expectations than the field of stem cell research, especially research involving human embryos. To help us separate the facts from the fiction, the Center called upon Carter Snead, associate professor at the Notre Dame Law School, to deliver our semi-annual Schmitt Lecture, which was entitled: “Speaking Truthfully About Stem Cell Research and Human Cloning.” Professor Snead’s lecture was delivered on Wednesday afternoon, November 16, 2005, to a large crowd in the main auditorium of McKenna Hall at Notre Dame.

Professor Snead is uniquely qualified to discuss the moral, scientific and legal ramifications of stem cell research and human cloning. Before joining Notre Dame’s law faculty this year, Professor Snead was general counsel for President Bush’s Council on Bioethics. While serving on the Council, Professor Snead advised its members on the legal and public policy dimensions of numerous ethical questions arising from advances in biomedical science and biotechnology. He was the principal drafter of the Council’s 2004 report, “Reproduction and Responsibility: The Regulation of New Biotechnologies,” a comprehensive critical assessment of the governance (both public and private) of the activities at the intersection of assisted reproduction, human embryo research, and genetics.

In his energetic and engaging lecture, Professor Snead argued that, contrary to much popular rhetoric, science itself provides no answer to the moral question of whether it is licit to do research on human embryos or to clone human beings. He further claimed that the best moral argument for the maximal protection of the embryo was based on equality, claiming further that this was not a religious argument, but one accessible to all in the public debate.

The aim of the Schmitt Lecture Series—which in the past has featured such distinguished lights as Gilbert Meilaender, Mark Siegler, Paul Griffiths, Stanley Fish, Jean Bethke Elshtain, and Michael Baxter—is to provide an occasion to reflect on the ethical, political and religious dimensions of science and technology. It is difficult to imagine a topic which answers more directly to the charge of the Schmitt Lecture than the topic discussed by Professor Snead.

The lecture was well-attended by Notre Dame’s Schmitt Fellows, those graduate students in the Schools of Science and Engineering who are the principal recipients of the generosity of the Arthur J. Schmitt Foundation to the University of Notre Dame. It was for the sake of honoring that generosity that the Schmitt Lecture Series was founded.

A reception immediately followed the lecture in McKenna Hall, and then a special group of Center guests, including the Schmitt Fellows and a cross-section of Notre Dame faculty, convened at the Morris Inn for a dinner in honor of Professor Snead. After dessert, Professor Snead generously agreed to take more questions from the audience. In this lively question-and-answer period, we were especially pleased to see how many of those questions came from Schmitt Fellows, who found this topic deeply compelling. In the end, the day was a great success, and a fitting tribute to Arthur J. Schmitt’s desire to help form young persons in the fields of science and engineering not only as people of technical expertise, but also as moral leaders in their fields.

Valor, Fellowship, and Sacrifice: Tolkien's Catholic Myth

“Is there any pleasure on earth as great as the circle of Christian friends by a good fire?” When C.S. Lewis penned these words, he probably didn’t have in mind a large lecture room in DeBartolo Hall. Nevertheless, taking this warm image as an inspiration to consider the works of J.R.R. Tolkien during our annual Catholic Culture Series, the Center certainly expanded its circle of friends with record attendance at a series of lectures each Tuesday evening from October 25th to November 15th.

Each Fall since 2002, the Center has sponsored a week of evening lectures for undergraduates by experts on various aspects of the lives and works of particular Catholic writers. In the past three years, this series has spotlighted G.K. Chesterton, Flannery O’Connor and Walker Percy, and Graham Greene and Evelyn Waugh. This year, we changed the format of the series by spreading the lectures out over the course of a month, rather than holding them all in one week. This format seems to have worked quite well, as we had approximately 200 persons in attendance each week of the series, including many new faces from the local South Bend community.

The series opened with a lecture by Ralph Wood, the University Professor of Theology and Literature at Baylor University, entitled “J.R.R. Tolkien: A Catholic Writer for our Uncatholic Age.” Professor Wood is a dear friend of the Center and has lectured at several of our past events. Once again, he enriched us all by providing reflections on how Tolkien “gave us such a deepened Catholic vision and understanding of the world.” According to Wood, Tolkien’s Catholic world-view, as depicted in Middle Earth, provides a powerful remedy to the ills of our anti-authoritarian and anti-sacramental modern culture. Tolkien depicts our modern culture in a unique way by using the image of the One Ring in The Lord of the Rings.

For example, the Ring has the quality of deathlessness which has the effect of making the Ring-bearers live longer, but not necessarily of living, or dying, well. This quality of the Ring stands in stark contrast to the specifically Catholic ideal of a good and holy death, such as that made by Boromir. After the lecture, Professor Wood signed copies of his book, The Gospel According to Tolkien: Visions of the Kingdom in Middle-earth (Westminster John Knox, 2003).

The following week, Joseph Pearce, Writer in Residence and Professor of Literature at Ave Maria University, gave a lecture entitled,,“Tolkien: Truth and Myth.” In his talk, Professor Pearce gave us the “key” to unlocking The Lord of the Rings. This key, he said, is found in the appendices of the text: March 25th, familiar to us as the Feast of the Annunciation, is the date of the un-making of the One Ring in Middle Earth. Professor Pearce explained how the One Ring—the “One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them”—is a symbol of the Original Sin which binds us all. In the Christian tradition, the Incarnation of Christ is the un-making of Original Sin. Professor Pearce used this key to unlock the Christian themes and Catholic imagery in The Lord of the Rings. After the lecture, Professor Pearce signed copies of his book, Literary Converts (Ignatius Press 2000). He has also written numerous other books, including Tolkien: Man and Myth (Ignatius Press 2001).

Notre Dame assistant professor of political science, Mary Keys, gave our third lecture, “J.R.R. Tolkien’s Literary Politics of Friendship and Humility.” Professor Keys focused on The Hobbit and its dialectic between justice and friendship. During this lecture, several of the questions from the audience revealed a frustration among common folk—us mere hobbits—with contemporary government and political administration. Professor Keys provided an admonition, on behalf of Tolkien, that may not be intuitive to the modern political mind, but is thereby even more persuasive: if you want justice, work for friendship; if you want friendship, set a high value on humility. Understanding the role of friendship and the virtue of humility are essential to unlocking the works of Tolkien, suggested Professor Keys, and are critical to establishing social and civic happiness in our own world.

In the fourth and final lecture, Greg Wright, Writer in Residence at Puget Sound Christian College in Everett, Washington, provided his reflections on The Lord of the Rings films in a lecture entitled, “Missing the Spirit: The Scouring of the Shire, Tolkien’s Catholicism and Peter Jackson’s Return of the King.” Mr. Wright’s critical analysis of the relationship between J.R.R. Tolkien’s work and Peter Jackson’s trilogy was a wonderful way to end our series, as it tied together many of the themes addressed by the other speakers, including Tolkien’s Catholicism, from a new perspective that all in the audience could appreciate—that of the wildly successful films.

According to Mr. Wright, the films’ significant departure point from the books is the failure to include the “Scouring of the Shire.” The victory at Mount Doom, suggested Mr. Wright, is meaningless if the hobbits could not fight evil in their own backyard. While acknowledging practical reasons for omitting the Scouring of the Shire from the film, Mr. Wright declared that in so doing, Peter Jackson missed Tolkien’s spirit. After the lecture, Mr. Wright signed copies of his book, Peter Jackson in Perspective: The Power Behind Cinema’s The Lord of the Rings (Hollywood Jesus Books 2004). He has also written Tolkien in Perspective: Sifting the Gold from the Glitter (VMI Publishing 2003).

Welcoming the Stranger

A sumptuous meal in the Notre Dame Stadium press box. One hundred Notre Dame students eager to talk about the Christian spiritual life. Rev. Mark Poorman, CSC, associate professor of theology and vice-president for student affairs.

Such were the ingredients for “Welcoming the Stranger,” the Fall 2005 edition of Breaking Bread, a dinner and evening of spiritual discussion shared by Notre Dame students, faculty and staff that took place on Wednesday, November 2, 2005. The theme of the evening’s discussion, the virtue of hospitality, was suggested by our special guest speaker, Fr. Poorman. And so, during the salad course, Fr. Poorman delivered some reflections meant to prompt discussion of this virtue. He talked of his experience in the novitiate with the Congregation of Holy Cross, and how his work with the poor challenged him to overcome complacency in order to better serve others in need. He also spoke of his sister’s decision to adopt two children from China, and how this act of generosity demanded that she lovingly upset the settled pattern of her life. In the remaining portion of the meal, each table—consisting of seven or so students and a member of the Notre Dame faculty or staff discussed how to live the virtue of hospitality and what changes one might have to undergo in order to live this virtue ever more generously.

Specific topics of discussion ranged from providing care to the homeless and poor, to asking whether Notre Dame was living up to its institutional call to welcome students from diverse backgrounds; from analyzing whether contemporary architecture, especially of the home, reflects hospitality, to questioning whether technology has had a negative impact on human relationships. Yet all conversations were inspired by Fr. Poorman’s stimulating reflections and centered on the Christian call to hospitality.

One participant’s reflections sum up the success of “Welcoming the Stranger”: “Not only was I moved by Fr. Poorman’s personal experiences and reflection, but it was so refreshing to hear the different perspectives from my peers. I participated in a summer service internship this summer, and it was the primary reason that I was interested in hearing Fr. Poorman. Not only did I find his speech relevant to my summer, but also to my overall experiences here at the University and out in the community. Additionally, I had the opportunity to speak with Fr. Poorman after the dinner, and found him to be so approachable, conversational, and genuinely interested in what I had to say. I would not only specifically recommend asking Fr. Poorman to speak again at this event, but to undoubtedly continue to promote this type of event and dialogue among faculty and students. I could not speak more highly about my Breaking Bread dinner experience.”

Breaking Bread is swiftly becoming a beloved Notre Dame tradition. The Center once again extends its profound gratitude to Mr. Fran McGowen,of Malvern, Pennsylvania, whose generosity makes possible this event.