•••••••••••••••••~~~~~~~~=======i•;121rn•=•••••••·1m1n11s1r1rii''"'''-'""'"" ( 0 N T E N T ~ Letters ~ Newsbrlefs Milestones As Fordham's Sesquicentennial begins, a look at past anniversaries reveals that they often coincided with important turning points­ for the University, the Catholic Church and the nation. 1~ What Makes a Catholic University Great? Father Theodore Hesburgh on the future of American Catholic higher education u West Side Stories The West End Intergenerational Residence is bridging gaps between young and old, black and white. H Denzel Washington: Glory Days It's no coincidence that Academy-Award-winner Denzel Washington's repertoire consists largely of likeable characters. 11 Family Stories: Why They Matter .. Tales about our ancestors can help us change our lives. i~ Ramifications Has Fordham's evolving athletic program found a home in the Patriot League? Commencement Alumni News a Class Notes COVER: faces from a recent commencement and the 1943 Maroon yearbook reflect the Sesquicentennial's theme of continuity and confidence. Background photo by Tom Sobolik. C E E B R A T N G F 0 h D H A M SOU CENT NN A -· -------- ------------------- ----- n why American Catholic colleges and unlve'l'sltles have thrived The vitality of Catholic higher education over the past generation is my biggest surprise. Many of the 800 or so private schools that are not Catholic are A N I N T E I R v E w getting into hard times in attracting stu­ I dents. That hasn't happened to the 250 or so Catholic schools. They are not only j prospering, but are growing in academic vitality with their alumni becoming in­ I creasingly distinguished. The key to our l success is that we are directly committed to values - as well as intelligence. ll w T I' H F A T H E A Switching to lay control, as Notre Dame did in 1967 and Fordham in 1968, ii11' put us in a very strong position to main­ tain our academic freedom. That has given us a kind of strength that simply isn't possible if you're on a string to peo­ ple who can tell you what to do - whether it's church or state. T H E 0 D 0 A E H E S B U A G H n why the Church's view of the American I schools Is often mistaken My biggest disappointment is that the church we serve doesn't always recognize our value or our particular na­ ture and what it requires. I'm talking mainly here about freedom. I think we are totally dedicated to the Church, to­ Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, tally dedicated to being a place where .. C.S.C.,president of the University of the Church can do its thinking about a lot of things that need a great deal of Notre Dame from 1952 to 1987, has thought, but which can't be easily done I I given the church structure or parishes I ! been called "the most influential and catechetical centers. I At times we are accused of not being I cleric in America" and is widely Catholic. That's a pretty fundamental ac­ considered the "dean" of American cusation. I've heard it a thousand times I II guess, mostly not from the Church di­ I! rectly, but from groups \\ithin the I, Catholic higher education. In 1967, he was awarded an honorary Ii Church, splinter groups, far right-groups degree by Fordham. To mark the beginning of Fordham's that are hypercritical and not under­ standing. I would imagine bushel baskets II Sesquicentennial Year, Father Hesburgh spoke with FORDIIA:\f full of mail go to the Vatican all the time i! ,,if saying that we're listening to people fa­ magazine contributing editor jerry Buckley (FCO '77) about Fordham : I voring abortion, that we're not strong 'I' i II enough on birth control. But the moral , I and the future of American Catholic higher education. Excerpts: , I, convictions we started with, without I ,,/i doing the rest'arch and listening to other peoplt'. wouldn't be \'t'f}' \'alid in our kind of pluralistic society. I tell :\otre Danll' 0 S benefactors that if you're not F 0 R 0 H A M <D ..... convinced we're a Catholic university, n vocations and the you can't price yourself out of the mar­ you ought to give your money to some­ danger of secularization ket. Fordham has consistently kept its body else. The greatest challenge ahead is tuition low compared to the public edu­ I think the Holy Father has a sincere not money. If we're doing a good cation competition and has continued to interest in Catholic higher education and job, we'll be financed. The greatest dan­ grow and be concerned about the great he has said some good things. The main ger is that we'll become secular. If that cultural questions. I think, for example, objection from many of us in this country happens, we don't deserve to be fi­ of Father Joe Fitzpatrick and his great is the Vatican's current attempt to put nanced. The great bulk of the people work with Hispanics. out a universal document regarding who contribute to Notre Dame do so be­ The Catholic community has to say Catholic higher education that has to be cause it is a Catholic university. these are gems in our crowns and they applied in the most diverse cultures and Vocations are important and fortu­ ought to have our total support. political situations. It would be a prob­ nately they're leveling off. We need a lem if they were to propose to tell us really vital core. n what makes who can teach and who can't. They say People wonder why so many great a great university everybody who teaches has to have some universities founded by churches became I My basic point is that university sort of mandate from Catholic authority, so totally secular. The Methodists is the substantive and Catholic is whatever that is. But you can't legislate founded Syracuse University, Boston the adjective. Small-minded people tend for the whole world with strict regula­ University, Duke, Emory, Southern to put the Catholic first and the univer­ tions. Methodist, University of Southern Cali­ sity second. As a result, it becomes not a The assumption is if you put out a fornia and Denver, and no one would great university, but a great Catholic whole new schema of things it's going to claim that those schools, with the possi­ center of some kind. It may do good make us more Catholic. We're Catholic ble exception of Emory, now have much work, but you're not going to mistake it within om circumstances. There's no of a religious tradition. Catholic universi­ for a university. A great Catholic univer­ conditioning of our commitment. We ties, when they went under lay control, sity must be three things. just have to exercise it in ways appropri­ didn't [become secular) because they had First, a beacon, because in addition ate to our pluralistic culture. a strong religious affiliation and that is to all the secular studies that all univers­ It is worth noting that in general, the something that must be kept up. ities must do, it brings the light of phi­ people who have produced these docu­ You can't avoid secularization per se, losophy and theology to bear on all of ments have never created anything in but you have to constantly be alert to it these other studies. Faith seeking under­ Catholic higher education themselves. and as much as possible, strengthen the standing. Reason seeking faith. That is a (The Jesuits] have responded to Catholic core in the selection of faculty, function no other kind of university changes in [the J cities very well by including non-Catholics. I'm strongly of [has]. opening their universities up, making a the opinion that lay people are the most Second, it has to be a crossroads in­ big effort to get minorities in and to hold important part of the Church. The tellectually and morally. It has to be a .. high the Catholic concern. Loyalty is the Church is now more than ever the peo­ place where everybody passes and where important thing. Anyone who would ever ple of God. That was the big message of all points of view are seen and heard, accuse the Jesuits of being disloyal ought the Second Vatican Council. So we're even conflicting points of view that are to have their head examined. Many of not going to have as many priests as we argued with great fervor at times, and them have died for the Church, includ­ had. But you can make the case that we where there is a great tolerance and ci­ ing the six in El Salvador. had too many priests in the old days. vility. You can learn a great deal from Historically, the American Church people who don't agree with you. hierarchy has been very supportive of n Fordham and the Jesuits Finally, it has to be a bridge - be­ us. At no expense to the Bishops, we ed­ If you mention five or six Catho­ tween all the things that are separated in ucate 500,000 young Catholics every I lic universities in America, you society- young and old, black and white, year and they appreciate that. But if always have to mention Fordham ignorance and learning, rich and poor, they get orders from Rome, some of because it has a history, a record of ser­ East and West, North and South.