Haughtiness and hubris know no bounds. You may need to venture outside of your narrow room on occasions and get a since of how others perceive the aroma. Believe me, there are many women who object to this so-called change to promote inclusiveness, and you don’t have to search long to find them. Some feel it is a slight to the men on campus by implying that only now women are respected after this change. Some feel it insults parents who feel they have done something wrong if they raised daughters with such fragility. And yes, others feel that it insults the women themselves who had no problem with the lyrics and did not feel their fellow classmates were being disrespectful with the tradition, and they were grounded enough to be the strong women that we admire with their own since of collegiate rebelliousness which prompted them to change the lyrics on their own without anyone’s permission.
Father Jenkins is priest, a Catholic priest, for goodness sakes. Does he not understand that some folks will never be happy until all gender roles are erased? Do you think there are some folks who would be more than happy to break down the barriers of exclusivity within his own ranks?
We are Christians, and Jesus is at the center of our worship, but you will never see the men of Notre Dame pushing for inclusive representation on top of the Dome. Notre Dame is Our Mother, and our love for her is immeasurable. Of all the women who ever were or will be she reigns with unmatched and unassailable splendor. Jesus chose her, A WOMAN, as the vessel to bring true love into the word. Nothing will ever diminish my love for Our Lady. Yes, we often fall short, and my own imperfection is immeasurable within the cast of her shadow, but I am and always strive to be Her Loyal Son. It truly saddens me that Our Lady’s University has allowed itself to now mark an occasion, more than 100 years after Sorin’s arrival, to now suggest that women are finally loved, honored and respected.
We are a Catholic University, and today is the day of Pentecost. We have been commissioned to go forth, not inward. I know that I am older now, and I just don’t get it, and that what I am trying to say for some is difficult to understand, but I wish there was a way for me to place all of the women of Notre Dame within a tight circle so that we all may embrace them and in so doing to ask them—and to also ask ourselves—to go forth, not inward. This is one thing Our Lady’s University should be able to teach. As you walk in her shadow, if you have any doubt that you are known, loved, honored, and respected do not turn inward, please, just look up.