Colin Devine, Staff Writer

You don’t need to knock in Keough Hall. I walked into my assistant rector’s room last Saturday night, and saw him and two other RAs enthusiastically cheering on a basketball game. Immediately I was reminded why I wanted to write this column about him.

Exactly 6 months ago, I began college and moved into Keough Hall. I still vividly remember my first day here; I felt like Harry Potter when he saw Hogwarts for the first time. For those who have seen South Dining hall, the comparison is well-merited. How would I fit in? Would I like Notre Dame? Could I be a capable wizard since I grew up with Muggle parents? I was anxious about moving into a new dorm and a new life, but from the first moment I arrived into Keough Hall, I felt like I was at home.

I met Daniel Whitehouse in my first few days at Notre Dame. I was immediately struck by his humility and kindness. Daniel is a Masters of Divinity student who is living in Keough for his second year. I sat down with him to hear his story.

Daniel was born and raised in Owensboro, Kentucky.  He lived an idyllic childhood; he and his family lived on 30 acres out in the country where he spent his days fishing, hiking, and enjoying the outdoors. He called his house a “boyhood dream.” Despite this beautiful backdrop, Daniel reflected that throughout his early life, he “always had a sense something was missing.” He had an idea that it had something to do with his Catholic faith—Daniel was born and raised Catholic—but candidly admitted that like most teenagers he “had no idea what living his faith meant.”

When the day arrived to choose a college, Daniel realized that he wasn’t ready to pick any particular school. Instead, he took a gap year and travelled the country in a twelve-passenger van working for a Catholic evangelization group called NET Ministries. He told me that in 9 months, he led 120 retreats. For those PLS majors like me, that’s a retreat roughly every other day. Daniel told me that this was so demanding that he truly had to “learn to pray” simply to make it through this difficult time in his life. He shared that this gap year “changed his life,” because it gave him the chance to “get off the conveyer belt” rather than substituting one educational environment for another.

After this gap year, Daniel decided to enroll at Franciscan University. He observed that at Franciscan, “faith is the air you breathe,” and that you receive “intense Catholic formation.” After receiving his undergraduate degree, Daniel initially wanted to teach high school, but some of his professors encouraged him to pursue a higher level of education. He was accepted into the Master’s of Divinity program at Notre Dame in 2011.

Daniel lived off campus his first year at Notre Dame, but decided to move into Keough Hall last year.  When I asked him why he decided to switch, he responded, “I had such a great formation in my undergrad that I wanted to give back.” I think ministering to college students would be incredibly difficult, even at Notre Dame, so I asked Daniel what his perspective was. He told me his own life experiences have been invaluable, as he has done ministry throughout his life. His primary goal is to get students to “interrogate their desire,” because he has observed that a perennial freshman problem is “not being comfortable in your own skin.” He shared a quote from Pope Benedict that he always keeps in mind when talking to students: “The world can offer you comfort, but you were not created for comfort, you were created for greatness.” The amazing thing is that as Daniel said these words, I could tell that he truly believed them and wanted me to find the greatness that he believed I was created for.

Ask anyone on campus which dorm is the best, and they will invariably, confidently reply that it is their own. In fact, this has struck me as one of the most amazing things about Notre Dame. Despite being randomly sorted into a dorm, students are convinced that their dorm is the best one. I think this is largely because of people like Daniel—every dorm on campus has a residential staff that truly cares about the students that live there.

I had one more difficult question for Daniel. From the perspective of many people, a career in ministry is a bad idea. You can make a lot more money while spending a lot less time working in lots of other careers. My question then was “why do you want to work in ministry?” He looked me straight in the eye and answered immediately, “because it’s worth it.”

Daniel Whitehouse is one of the reasons Keough Hall is the best dorm on campus. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

If anyone wants to challenge the assertion that Keough is the best dorm on campus, they are welcome to play our rector, Father Pete, in a 1-on-1 basketball game.  Email cdevine1@nd.edu to set up the game.