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260 The Notre Dame Alumnus June. 1937 I have repeatedly called your attention to the fact that we must not look upon these principles a§ mere academic theories. What philosophers think in one generation is popularized in the second and then reduced to practice in the third. How different would have been the history of the past 200 years if the intellectual leadership of the world had remained in Christian hands. As a matter of fact, the intellectual leadership passed from our hands to those outside the Church. They had little sympathy with and less understanding of the Christian philosophy of life. In politics, in sociology, in science and in economics the secularist view-point and the ultra-liberal spirit has predominated. In order to illustrate this fact let us cite the names of four men who were in the forefront of these respective fields of thought and activity during the past century and a half. Four Secular Evangelists In political science Jean Jacques Rousseau exercised more influence than any other writer of the past 200 years. By reason of his "Social Contract" he gave direction and impetus to the liberal democratic movement but he did so by repudiating not merely the divine right of kings but also the divine right of the Lord God Himself. The principle of divine authority was shattered. The will of the majority was made the supreme law of society. Thus minorities were left defenseless in the face of attack on those inalienable rights with which they had been endowed by their Creator. In social science Auguste Comte, who coined the word Sociology, easily assimied the leadership and gave his so-called science a definitely anti- Christian bias. He denied the validity of any objective standard of morality and substituted in its plnce the shifting norm of human tradition, custom and fashion. Morality became mere conventionality. .\s a result men felt free to tinker with the sacred institutions of society such as marriage and the family. Experiments in stsrilization, birth control and euthanasia supplanted the right to life and personal integrity. In the field of experimental science no name is more significant than that of Charles Darwin. Even though he did not originate the theory of evolution, yet by his book the "Origin of Species" he created an entirely new spiritual mood or temper of mind in which to pursue experimental knowledge. If the theory of evolution carried over disastrously from biology into metaphysics, psychology and religion, it was largely due to the momentum which he gave by his book "The Descent of Man." Science after Darwin became irreligious in tone and purpose. In social economics Karl Marx became the new evangelist and his book "Das Kapital" became the new gospel from which millions of people were to seek in oar generation the inspiration of their economic and political activity. If Red revolution flames fearfully in many countries of the world, let us not forget that he who set the torch to the combustible material was Marx, the author of the "Communist Manifesto." Here you have the four great secular evangelists of the past century who gave a definitely anti-Christian bent to the trend of thought. Nothing can be more false than to assume that theories do not count. St. Paul understood well the mischief that can be done by intellectual error and it was no idle warning that he gave to his disciples at Colossae when he said: "Beware lest any man cheat you by philosophy or vain deceit; according to the traditions of men, according to elements of the world, and not according to Christ." In view of these premises what is the duty of the Catholic college graduate today? Following the scriptural principle that shall be held accountable according to the talents which we have received, then I am justified in saying that the men of Notre Dame have a threefold responsibility to discharge. Accept Intellectuality In the first place you must accept the responsibility of being intellectual. You must live henceforth on a high intellectual plane. The men of Notre Dame should never be content with the humdrum life of mediocrity but should be eager to exercise vigorous and active mental life. It is not necessary for me to labor the point that your practical daily lives must be in harmony with the Christian principles which have been inculcated in your minds and hearts through every part of the college curriculum. To fall short in this respect is to repudiate your Alma Mater. But more than this is expected of you. You must cultivate the intellectual as well as the moral virtues. The remedy for most of the ills which afflict society today is to be found in the intellect; in straight thinking; in a profound grasp of truth in all its dimensions and in all its implications. The intimate relation between religion and culture; bet\veen sound Christian philosophy and our political social and economic well being must be rediscovered. We suffer more in this generation from bad thinking than from bad will. The second responsibility which I recommend you to assume is that of being articulate. The Church suffers today not because we lack the truth but because the truth lacks adequate presentation. We lack creative artists, students and scholars in every field of intellectual endeavor. Until we regain our rightful prestige by reason of original and worthwhile production, we shall continue to witness a decline in our civilization. That might sound like • smug selfcomplacency if we did not know that there is no other name under heaven given to man whereby he can be saved—except the name of Jesus. Change to the Offensive The third responsibility to which attention may properly be directed is the responsibility of changing our strategy in the intellectual combat in which we are engaged. AVe have stood entirely too long on the defensive. We have been fighting a rear guard action for several centuries and it is high time that we change our tactics and pass to the offensive. This purpose can be achieved, not by assuming a belligerent attilsude, nor merely by substituting some new kind of political or economic program for the panaceas that are currently offered, but rather by changing the whole spiritual climate in which we live. We must have a different focus of thought. We must present in its full splendor and wide comprehension the glorious vision of the universal kingdom of God established by' Christ in contrast to that limited, narrow, earthbound vision of a kingdom full merely of material plenty. Theorists of every description are expending their ideas for the building of a better world and hurrying to set up the new Jerusalem at one according to their particular pattern. At the same time we who have the heritage of the faith—in whose veins flows the blood of martyrs—have lost somehow our enthusiasm for the building of the City of God. We must capture once more the vision which animated our forefathers and enter with new zest into the great adventure of reconstructing our Social Order by restoring all things in Christ. Each one has his own allotted task to perform according to the measure of his ability and training. But the whole enterprise in which we are enlisted has only one objective. St. Paul clearly states that objective when he writes thus to his people at Ephesus: "And he gave some apostles, and some prophets, and others some evangelists, and others some pastors and doctors, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: until we all meet into the unity of faith, and the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, until the measure of the age of the fulhiess of Christ." (Ephes. iv-11-14.)
1937 The Notre Dame Alumnus 261 Association Officers Elected For 1937-38 Arthur J. Hughes was the most effective, president the Alumni Association has ever had. The illustrious men who preceded him in the office— many of whom graced the head table at the 1937 Alumni Banquet—^^vould be the first to endorse this statement. Picking his successor to follow the trail he blazed was one of the major problems that have confronted the nominating committees. Their choice of James E. Deerj' and William E. Cotter was probably the finest action the circumstances could have asked. And the result was also most auspicious. The vote was close enough to indicate that both men are popular, representative alumni. Happily, the election was a double ^"ictor}- for the Association, as Jim Deery has another year to ser\'e on the Board of Directors and will be available to President Cotter with all the background of fraternal experience that has marked his career. Bill Cotter is undoubtedly the most thoroughly 100 per cent Notre Dame man ever to hold the office of president. And that says a lot. The assertion is based on the fact that Bill never went to any other school. He entered the Minims at Notre Dame in 1899, and for 14 years was a Minim, Prep and College, graduated in 1913, after a brilliant student career, as valedictorian of his class. Alumni who knew the Preps and the Minims realize that Bill's education was far more extensive than the classrooms of the famous teachers who influenced the curricula of those years. As manager of athletics in 1912- 13, Bill Cotter won a lasting place in the Notre Dame hall of fame by arranging the first Notre Dame-Army football game. But that was only the climax of a most able administration of that important office, which found Notre Dame emerging from Cartier Field, looking for the new worlds that an end on the teams of those years was to conquer. Bill Cotter, together with half a dozen other veterans of the campus, lived in the Main Building, during his senior year, and the tales of political strategy which emanated from this small group bode well for our William E. Cotter, ' 13, Chosen as President; James E. Deery, '10, Remains as Director; Harry F. Kelly. '17, is First Vice-President. organization and the progress of the program Art Hughes launched. As lecturer of the Knights of Columbus, Bill gained a valuable campus backgi-ound in the first campus council of the Order, founded in his sophomore year at Notre Dame. It was while he held office, too, that the fund for the K. of C. Union Building was begun. Bill was business manager of the Players Association, a lively group which included such stars of the Washington Hall stage as Harry Scott (who hasn't lost the art as the '17 Reunion found out this year), Knute Rockne, whose Indian Souaw and The 1937-1938 Board Negro Mammy still live in Notre Dame's theater traditions, and John F. O'Connell, Chicago's probate judge. Bill's student days were spent with a Chicago residence background. Since then, he has lived in New York with frequent trips linking him to his old home and to many of the cities in between. Geographically, therefore, the new president is well grounded in the territory holding the bulk of his constituency. His business connection, since his graduation, has been w-ith the Union Carbide and Carbon Co., of which he is now the legal counsel. He was married, in the best Notre Very Rev. James A. Burns, C.S.C, '88, Notre Dame, Ind Honorary President William E. Cotter, '13, New York City President Harry F. Kelly, '17, Detroit, Michigan First Vice-President Charles A. Mooney, Jr., '26, Cleveland, Ohio Second Vice-President James E. Armstrong, '25, Notre Dame Secretary-Treasurer William R. Dodiey, '26, Notre Dame Assistant Secretary James E. Deery, '10, Indianapolis, Ind Director to 1938 Don P. O'Keefe, '03, Detroit, Michigan Director to 1939 Joseph M. Byrne, Jr., '15, Newark, New Jersey Director to 1940 Francis H. McKeever, '03, Chicago, Illinois Director to 1941 Arthur J. Hughes, 'I I,Chicago, Illinois Director to 1938 (ex-officio) To be elected—Member of 1937 Class Director to 1938 The 7937-7938 Distrief Governors A. Gordon Taylor, '18, LaPorte, Ind District I John M. Montague, '23, Chicago, 111 District 2 Otis S. Winchester, '29, Cleveland, Ohio District 3 Harold Watson, '25, Milwaukee, Wis District 4 Joseph J. Norton, '24, Detroit, Mich District 5 James D. Hayes, "17, Washington, D. C District 6 Henry T. Frey, '30, New Vork City District 7 John G. Byrne, '23, Williamsville, N. Y District 8 Walter J. Stapleton, '24, Fairfield, Conn District 9 Thomas A. Daffron, "30, Richmond, Virginia District 10 Joseph E. Fitzpatrick, '25, Miami, Florida District 11 James A. McKee, '93, Versailles, Kentucky District 12 William H. Miller. '30, Vicksburg, Miss District 13 M. E. Walter, '14, Houston, Texas District 14 Daniel F. Foley, '23, Ft. Leavenworth, Kan District 15 J. Henry Fannan, '24, Rockford, 111 District 16 Leo F. Craig, '04, Sioux Falls, South Dakota District 17 Raymond M. Humphreys, '17, Denver, Colorado District 18 Anton R. Hebenstreit, 'II. Albuquerque, New Mexico District 19 Royal Bosshard, '17, San Francisco, Calif District 20 Natt McDougal, '00, Portland, Oregon District 21 C. C. Fitzgerald, '94, Havana, Cuba District 22
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