This is not a campfire story meant to scare children. It is true: By the year 1450, France had been devastated by the Hundred Years’ War. The English had laid waste to the country side, leaving the people hungry and seeking safety. Many fled to the great city of Paris. But Paris was not great anymore. The loss of able men to the war effort meant Paris was without adequate defenders. Worse, the cost of the war had diverted funds away from vital building, leaving the once-formidable ...
Good Fridays w/Padre: Sunday Services
I haven’t had to perform too many theological gymnastics in order to accept that we start this year’s Football March to Victory on a Sunday. Yes, it is The Lord’s Day. But you can go to Mass on Saturday evening and it still counts. The Lord is just happy to see you, and He appreciates that you stopped in for a visit. Besides, we don’t take the Bible literally. If we did, there would be a lot of eyes plucked out for looking at filthy images (like USC and Alabama playing with each other), and a ...
Good Fridays w/Padre: Bring It! (or not)
An errant flyer was slipped under my door recently. It was a series of lists from the Office of Housing, instructing incoming freshmen in “What to Bring to Campus.” I found this amusing, because the Office of Housing used to be Brother Paul the Hermit; and “What to Bring to Campus” was “Whatever You Can Fit into Four Saddle Bags or One Steamer Trunk.” So I found these lists…quaint: Personal Supplies - Shower Caddy: This better not mean a fellow who carries your soap into the scrub room ...
Holy Saturdays w/Padre: Hatred
I have never been the most peaceful person. And that is my fault. Yet, my form of chiding and ridiculing has never been designed to inspire hatred. I was taught back in France that we adore God, we love people, we like things, and we hate the devil. Perhaps that simplicity has been lost. We love Our Lady, and therefore we love Our Lady’s University. But any loyal sons and daughters have learned that we do not hate. We compete, we defeat, we supersede. We win. But we do not hate. We do not ...
Good Fridays w/Padre: Iconic
Icons never blink. I’m not talking about the things that show up on computer screens, or popular celebrities. I’m talking about real icons – deeply religious images. They constantly stare out at us; and they never blink. Just as the word ‘icon’ is overused and improperly used, so, too, is the word ‘iconic’. It seems everything today is described as ‘iconic’ – party songs, adventure films, sports stars. Yet none of these things demands contemplation, or touches the soul the way a real icon ...
Good Fridays w/Padre: Cross Your Heart
If you attended last weekend’s Blue-Gold Game, you experienced what we on campus experience on a daily basis: The Project. Most work stopped so fans could enter the Stadium. Otherwise, the sounds, the juddering, the shouts – it’s like living next to a tramp steamer that just hit the rocks…and then backed up and hit the rocks again, and again, and again. Anyone walking around the Stadium, or sitting therein, will have realized that The Project is well on its way to completion. Anyone who ...
Good Fridays w/Padre: Hell-ucinations
Students at Indiana University saw a Dominican priest and thought he was a Ku Klux Klansman. This is not a joke. Oh, how I wish this really were a joke. They saw his Rosary and thought it was a whip. Since most students at Indiana University didn’t attend Catholic grade school or high school, how would they ever know that a Rosary can be used very effectively as a whip? A priest wearing the white habit of his order – an order that’s been around for roughly 800 years, represented in art, ...
Spy Wednesday w/Padre: Faith, Hoops, and Charity
Normally I write on the last day of the week, and I title my article “Good Fridays w/Padre.” For religious reasons, this is the one week of the year during which I simply cannot write that column. I also consider Maundy Thursday off limits because of the whole Last Supper thing. That left me with Palm Sunday, which was otherwise occupied by watching the basketball lads defeating a giant leprechaun and his Texan team (and I must applaud the cheerleaders’ intensity during that Pom Sunday game); ...
Good Fridays w/Padre: NDowment
A generous fellow named Murphy has just endowed the men’s basketball coachship. This goes along with previous endowments for the women’s basketball coachship, the lacrosse coachship, and of course, the football coachship. The defensive backs coachship is also endowed, and even the athletic directorship. Some people think this is crass, that only professorships should be endowed. I don’t have any problem with setting money aside to pay coaches, since it frees up funds to be used elsewhere. But I ...
Good Fridays w/Padre: Core Values
We’re tinkering with the curriculum again because…why not…or it’s time…or we’re bored. For whichever reason, the so-called Core Curriculum is being made more…flexible…or integrated…or learningish. If we have a Core Curriculum, I suppose this implies we also have an Appendage Curriculum, perhaps even an Extremity Curriculum. Though I’m not exactly sure what all of this means, I have a few suggestions for muddying the waters making our Core Curriculum…more better. Filosophy of Phootball – Why ...