The semi-annual Bread of Life dinner was held on February 15 in the Notre Dame Room at the Morris Inn. Organized by the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture and sponsored by the Notre Dame Fund to Protect Human Life, the event features speakers who offer a perspective on current life issues.  Wednesday evening’s dinner was the seventh Bread of Life event and featured Peter Kilpatrick, dean of the College of Engineering.

Fr. Bill Miscamble, CSC, history professor at Notre Dame, opened the evening with a prayer. Liz Everett, a sophomore PLS and English major and student assistant at the Center for Ethics and Culture, gave a welcoming address.

“This event offers an intimate setting for discussing life issues freely and openly,” she said.

Kilpatrick’s speech centered on Christ’s words from the bread of life discourse in the Gospel of John: “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me will not hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst.” He spoke about the bread of life with regards to the Eucharist and the Catholic belief of transubstantiation and discussed the body of Jesus as the source of life.

“Every week that the priest raises up the Eucharist, he is raising up Jesus on the cross…Jesus’ suffering, passion, and death on the cross is crucial to the life giving element of the bread of life,” Kilpatrick said. He said that suffering, failure, and hardship are life-giving, because the Christian can shoulder his own cross and grows closer to Christ when he endures suffering patiently.

“The most important life lessons I have learned were when I failed, suffered, or had to endure a hardship,” Kilpatrick admitted.

Kilpatrick finished his speech with a story about a personal friend named Maureen.  Kilpatrick and his wife became friends with Maureen through their parish while she “was in some ways a broken woman, divorced and estranged from her children.” In 1997, she was diagnosed with colon cancer. As Kilpatrick told of her treatments, remission, and relapse, he concluded that “5 years of cancer was the best thing that ever happened to Maureen.” He recounted that he had witnessed a transformation in her life: she made new friends, became more joyful and grateful, and grew closer to God amidst her pain and suffering.

Kilpatrick finished his story by returning to the evening’s theme.

“Jesus is the bread of life and the cross Maureen bore gave her life,” he said. “When God gives you trials, accept them with joy.”

Kilpatrick’s speech provided students like freshman engineering major Emily Moser with a fresh perspective.

“I got the email from the Center for Ethics and Culture and thought the event sounded like something I would want to go to,” she said.

Angela Pfister, the associate director for the Center for Ethics and Culture, reflected on the evening’s events.

“Bread of Life is a wonderful forum for thoughtful discussion on the most pressing issues of our day: life issues,” Pfister said. “Dean Kilpatrick’s reflection provided beautiful insights on suffering and the way it enriches life.”

Kat Stultz is a freshman living in Welsh Fam who enjoys invisibility cloaks in addition to her theology and pre-med studies.  Contact her at kstultz@nd.edu.