Class of 2030,
Welcome to Our Lady’s University. Congratulations on earning a spot at the world’s preeminent Catholic university, in its most competitive cycle yet. Your resumes are undoubtedly impressive, but they are not what brought you here today.
No, it was Our Lady who chose you for this great institution. Why you? I’ll offer one possibility, drawn from St. John Henry Newman’s meditation, included in this edition: You have your mission here at Notre Dame. It is particular to you, and it cannot be accomplished without you.
This uniqueness of your vocation is understandably daunting, so allow me offer three lessons I learned in my freshman year, which I hope will prove valuable to you—to cultivate beauty, to excel as an act of devotion to Christ, and to remember what true success is.
The first lesson was in a faculty lecture to the men of Morrissey Manor in which David Richter, professor of Civil Engineering, recounted how reading novels influenced him during his undergraduate years. Great literature reminds us that every moment is beautiful, part of a larger work being divinely authored. These novels cultivated a sense of beauty that enriched his coursework, relationships, and everyday life. Ultimately, it was this beauty that led him to Holy Mother Church. Richter urged us all to pursue this beauty during the academic year, and I encourage you to do the same.
The second lesson was from Santiago Schnell, then dean of Notre Dame College of Science, now provost at Dartmouth. At the 2023 de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture’s (dCEC) Bread of Life Dinner, Schnell articulated a compelling vision for Catholics living in the world. He called for excellence in our chosen field of study. When one’s excellence is realized, others take notice. The respect Schnell earned through his excellence in science allowed him to spread the Gospel of life. So devote yourself to your studies, and endeavor to work excellently for God’s glory.
Third and finally, I was deeply moved by the keynote lecture John O’Callaghan, Professor of Philosophy, delivered at the dCEC’s 2023 Fall Conference. He discussed what it meant to fail as a human being. Is it poverty, or stupidity, or meekness, or dependence that render us failures? In the eyes of the world, perhaps. But let us recall our purpose: Christians are on this earth to witness to Christ. When we fail to witness, we fail as people. Our lives must reflect His; our faces must be radiant with Christ. This is true success.
At the conclusion of his lecture, O’Callaghan challenged the audience to look into his face and discern whether it reflects God’s love. I challenge you in your first year to ask yourself this question every morning, and to seek an answer in the faces around you.
I chose these three examples to demonstrate that college is unique in its access to great minds. If we allow it, our professors will teach us great academic and moral lessons. Inspired by Richter, I have consistently kept great novels nearby. They have proven a supplement to my engineering studies, a far superior study distraction to my phone, and a reminder of God’s beautiful authorship. Schnell reminded me that study can be an act of devotion to God. O’Callaghan’s words have stuck with me through academic and moral failures, reminding me that only one of those is ultimately important.
Before I arrived at Notre Dame, I worried that I would struggle to live a life of faith on this campus. I had heard that Notre Dame had lost its way—that it was Catholic in name only. On a more basic level, I was concerned that I would lose my habit of prayer. Would my roommate think it strange if I knelt by my bed at night to pray? As it turns out, this was a foolish concern, not least because there was no space in my freshman quad to kneel down and my bed was raised six feet in the air. More importantly, it was foolish because just two floors beneath my room, Jesus Christ was present in the tabernacle. What a blessing it is to have constant access to the Blessed Sacrament!
While a student, you will find these and many more treasures of the Church readily awaiting your encounter. This campus is alive with the Sacraments. Over 200 Masses are celebrated in the various chapels each week, Eucharistic adoration is available on weekdays in Coleman-Morse, confession lines regularly stretch to the back of the Basilica three times a day, and hundreds of prayers are offered each day at the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes.
The Irish Rover exists to promote this extant goodness and stand against those forces which pull the university away from her Catholic mission. This ‘Freshman Edition’ offers a showcase of our archives to familiarize you with the Rover.
Please feel free to reach out to me at cvaugha2@nd.edu. I truly hope these four years will be filled with Christ’s joy. Let us leave this place a more perfect reflection of God’s kingdom than we found it.
In Notre Dame,
Caleb Vaughan
Editor-in-Chief