Viewpoint: Conviction and Daring

by Sister Joy O'Grady '73, CSC, president, Sisters of the Holy Cross

When I was a senior at Saint Mary's College, many years ago, I was one of the fortunate students who had the opportunity to take an elective class in the philosophy of education from Professor Willis Nutting. By this time, Professor Nutting was retired from Notre Dame but continuing to teach at Saint Mary's. I still remember, with great intellectual fondness, Professor Nutting's words to us that first class day. He said that his goal for the class was to break our cultural shells. Being the young, self-important student that I was, I wondered to myself, what have I gotten into? What is he talking about, "breaking our cultural shells?"

As the class unfolded over the semester, I found myself eagerly looking forward to drinking in the fresh ideas of this icon of wisdom. When it came time for semester finals, Professor Nutting offered us three options: 1) We could do a 20-page paper. 2) We could take a traditional essay exam. 3) We could come up with our own creative way to show him that we had learned the material and integrated it into our philosophy of life. The thought of getting out of writing a 20-page paper was wonderful, and yet it was the creative challenge that he placed before us to be novel and create our own form that seemed most exciting to me and to be where the real education lay. I reveled in the challenge and turned in a 20-line poem with a broken sea shell. I never forgot the lesson learned in this class, nor the challenge to look beyond the norms in life.

This true story from 1970 illustrates the Holy Cross educational heritage begun in 1855 with the founding of Saint Mary's College. Father Basil Moreau, founder of the Sisters of the Holy Cross, was a man passionately committed to education who introduced revolutionary ideas into the Catholic education system of his time. He believed that knowledge and scholarship had the greatest importance when placed in the context of values. His vision for education included both intellectual and moral formation. For Moreau, a liberal education included physical activity, social activity, music and art, along with the more normative classical subjects. From his own words in 1849, Moreau writes to his dedicated teachers: "No one need fear that we will confine our teaching within narrow and unscientific boundaries. We will accept the discoveries of science without prejudice, and in a manner adapted to the needs of our times. We do not want our students to be ignorant of anything they should know." From the beginnings of our ministry as educators in the United States, our vision was one with a worldwide perspective, one that addressed the challenges of the time.

Moreau's vision was not deterred by finances or numbers but enriched by conviction and daring. Moreau didn't settle for the norm, but transcended the boundaries of acceptable education and cultural expectations. In my view, a challenge for Saint Mary's today is to reflect on its rich heritage and the early stories of its birth and ask what is the focus of the College's vision. How does Saint Mary's today reflect conviction and daring? How does Saint Mary's transcend the educational boundaries of our time? In Moreau's time, people criticized, why do we need art and music? Moreau believed in the importance of educating the whole person and making the best education available to rich and poor alike. How might returning to our heritage help to embolden the mission and tradition of Saint Mary's?

We, the Sisters of the Holy Cross, are committed to the teaching ministry of the Church. In keeping with our earliest beginnings, we desire to support and encourage Saint Mary's College in its efforts to be a community of learning and force for the transformation of society.