American Priest: The Ambitious Life and Conflicted Legacy of Notre Dame's Father Ted Hesburgh

 

 

The above link is to the Amazon page for an interesting new book about the long time head of Notre Dame.  Famous for both civil rights and public activity, Hesburgh also was part of the Land O Lakes statement that ushered in the era of Catholic Universities downplaying their Catholicism to appear 'independent'.  The author of the book is Fr. Wilson Miscamble, C.S.C, a fellow Priest of the Holy Cross who was friends with Hesburgh but who apparently has written a balanced account of his legacy.  I just finished watching a good interview with the author by Raymond Arroyo on EWTN.  Fr. Miscamble was clearly on the side of those who felt the Land O Lakes statement and subsequent actions in Catholic higher education hurt the transmission of the faith to the younger generations.  It seems like this book will be a great book about a great and imperfect priest.  Crux News has a shorter written interview on the book here.

 

Father Kedjierski named to lead US Bishops’ Secretariat of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs


"Father Walter Kedjierski has been appointed Executive Director of the Secretariat of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). The announcement was made at noon April 24 in Washington, DC, by Msgr. J. Brian Bransfield, General Secretary of the USCCB. The appointment will take effect on June 3, 2019.

Father Jason Grisafi, pastor of the Church of Saint Joseph in Babylon, will assume  Father Kedjierski’s  ecumenical and interreligious responsibilities in the Diocese of Rockville Centre.

 

Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth


In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.” With these words the Oxford professor J.R.R. Tolkien ignited a fervid spark in generations of readers. From the children’s classic The Hobbit to the epic The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien’s adventurous tales of hobbits and elves, dwarves and wizards have introduced millions to the rich history of Middle-earth. Going beyond literature, Tolkien’s Middle-earth is a world complete with its own languages and histories. Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth celebrates the man and his creation. The exhibition will be the most extensive public display of original Tolkien material for several generations. Drawn from the collections of the Tolkien Archive at the Bodleian Library (Oxford), Marquette University Libraries (Milwaukee), the Morgan, and private lenders, the exhibition will include family photographs and memorabilia, Tolkien’s original illustrations, maps, draft manuscripts, and designs related to The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.

This exhibit is at The Morgan Library and Museum in NYC until May 12th.