SERIES NOTE: THIS SEMESTER, THE CAMPUS SECTION WILL RUN A SERIES OF ARTICLES HIGHLIGHTING THE WAYS IN WHICH THE CHARISM OF THE CONGREGATION OF HOLY CROSS IS LIVED OUT AT NOTRE DAME.
One of the most memorable pieces of mail many Notre Dame students have ever received was a thick booklet from the Admissions Office sometime during senior year of high school. ‘WELCOME HOME,’ it invited them, and each of their journeys as Domers truly began.
But when, and how, does Notre Dame become a home, rather than a mere institution of higher learning? From where did each student receive his or her first introduction to the ‘Notre Dame family?’ As scores of RAs and hundreds of Frosh-O Staff were reminded just a few weeks ago in preparation for the arrival of a new class of first year students, that family environment is fostered first in the residence halls.
The unique sense of community that permeates every residence hall on campus did not arise by accident; that sense is deliberately cultivated. Fr. Drew Gawrych, CSC, priest in residence in Keough Hall, explained the ways in which Notre Dame’s commitment to hospitality is embedded in the charism of the Congregation of Holy Cross.
“Notre Dame was founded by the Congregation of Holy Cross, and so much of what we know as the Notre Dame tradition actually has its deeper roots in the Holy Cross tradition,” he said. “The residential life on campus is one great example of this reality.”
The idea of family, Fr. Gawrych added, has been central from the start. “Blessed Basil Moreau, the founder of Holy Cross, modeled the Congregation on the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. His purpose was twofold. He wanted his religious to be family to each other, but he also wanted us to become family to those we served… Here, we clearly [glimpse] the beginnings of the Notre Dame family.”
To foster the direct and personal relationships that constitute a family, Blessed Basil Moreau wanted his religious to live in the midst of those they served as their neighbors. That is why most of the Holy Cross religious on campus live in the residence halls.
“It is not that we necessarily like staying up to 2 AM, although some of us are night owls,” said Fr. Gawrych mused. “It is also why the other religious and lay men and women who join us in residential ministry at Notre Dame are your neighbors as well. We live in your midst so that with you we can continue to create a true family here at Notre Dame.”
Fr. Gawrych went on to emphasize how significant familial relationships are in particular, beyond other manifestations of community. “We only have to have a few friends who have gone to other colleges and universities to know that the way Notre Dame seeks to foster residential life is different,” he said. “We are trying to make a real family here – not just a community, but a family – and not just any family, but ultimately God’s family. At Notre Dame, as in Holy Cross, God clearly is at the center. That is why there is a chapel in every residence hall with the Blessed Sacrament. We can truly say that God has come to dwell in our midst. God has come to be neighbor to us.”
Even students who may not be Catholic and do not participate in Dorm Masses or other forms of worship benefit from the sacramental foundation of Notre Dame’s residential life, Fr. Gawrych said. “Our non-Catholic students [too], I believe, receive the graces that spill over from that fact that the Eucharist is the source and the summit of our family life. It is God who is drawing us and binding us together, and that makes all the difference.”
Fr. Gawrych also pointed out the centrality of residence halls, noting its prominence in any ND introduction. When meeting for the first time, he observed, students waste no time asking in which dorm the other lives. “Sometimes, among alumni, that question even proceeds what year the person graduated,” he said. “We ask that question because we know our Notre Dame experience has been filtered and shaped through the hall in which we live because of the family that we formed there… it really is the lens through which we see and do everything.”
“It is the bonds of family that hold us in such a way that we are able to take more risks in reaching out to others and in striving to do great things,” Fr. Gawrych continued. “In other words, I believe it is the Notre Dame family that empowers our students to be so zealous and ambitious in seeking to be agents of change in our world. I know that was my own experience.”
In his opinion, campus residential life has equipped students with something special to offer as they seek to serve the world at large.
“From my experience, what begins to distinguish our students in their service is the emphasis they place on building community and creating family in the places they serve,” he concluded. “They instinctively do in the place they serve what they have done here. And in a world, and even a Church, that is increasingly divided, that is a tremendous gift to bring.”
Yuko Gruber is a junior biology major & peace studies minor and Brendan Hansen’s biggest fan. To rehash the olympics with her contact her at ygruber@nd.edu.
