December 30, 1996
I
decided to make use of the children’s Christmas vacation to visit Notre Dame
campus. I was hoping to create some kind
of memory for them; I had no idea what an awesome opportunity they’d have to
look back on! I took the four youngest,
since Nicole had been there when we went with Mom, Dad, and the exchange
students, and this day she was going to shop with Grandma Yoder for her
birthday.
Once we
parked, we made our way across campus toward the Golden Dome as fast as we
could, since the air was damp and freezing.
The boys were going, “Wow, they have their own police! Wow, they have their own post office! This must be the most important school in the
world!” I assured them that it was
probably at least the most prestigious school in the Midwest.
We
gladly took shelter from the cold in the beautiful Basilica of the Sacred Heart. We walked along the aisles and alcoves,
whispering and pointing to the incredible art in stained glass windows,
statues, nativity scene, and the awesome painted ceiling, which seemed as if
you were looking into a sky full of angels.
Jesse asked about how Catholics are different than other Christians, and
if you go to Notre Dame, do they make you be a Catholic. They were all pretty impressed by the
beautiful church.
Back out
in the cold, we found our way through the maze of ancient halls to the stadium,
where they at least got to see where Notre Dame football is played. Facing the stadium is the Hesburgh
Library. That was the other main
attraction I wanted the kids to see, since it was too much to hope for them to
tolerate hunting down the Snite Museum and actually going through it. The mosaic on the front of the library of Jesus
with his hands stretched up, (“Touchdown
Jesus,” according to Nathan, who was just on campus with the third
graders), is impressive, even in the cold, and the children started running to
it. Jesse asked if it was painted, and I
told him it was all inlaid—all nine or however-many stories of it.
Once
inside, we headed to the elevator. I got
in, hoping no one would stop us and say, “Hey, what are you doing here with
those kids!”
As Jesse
was asking what button to push, a hand waved in between the closing doors. A grey-haired gentleman in a cap that was
similar to Nathan’s Dutch boy hat got on and said, “How’d you like that!” as if
he were Moses, having made the doors open without touching them. “Are you looking for a good view of the
campus?” he asked.
“Yes,” I
said, “Do we want the ninth floor?”
“No, you
want the thirteenth floor. Hit 13, young
man. I’ll show you the best view on
campus.” Then he offered me his hand and
said, “I’m Theodore Hesburgh.”
I
couldn’t believe it! “Oh, it’s nice to meet
you!” I said, in awe. “I’m Sarah
Yoder.” I wanted to add, “…the meek and
lowly.”
“Are you
related to John Yoder?” This Catholic
icon can even play The Mennonite Game??
I knew the Father had spoken at one of Goshen College’s
commencements. This was probably who he
had contact with. I found out later he
must have been referring to John Howard Yoder, a Mennonite theologian who was a
professor at Notre Dame.
Since
all Mennonites are certainly related if you go back far enough, I said, “Very
distantly.” Being a very intelligent
man, he was probably thinking, “This broad’s not related to him.”
He gave
a little tug on Carmen’s hood and asked, “Who’s this little gal?”
“Cahmen,”
she said in a tiny voice.
“Karen?”
Hesburgh asked, proving he is not God.
“Carmen,” four children said, in a rather
loud voice.
“Oh, Carmen,” said the Father, and he started
singing something from the Opera Carmen.
I
laughed, “She’s not familiar with that yet.”
(Actually, neither am I.)
We got
out on the thirteenth floor. “This is
the top floor that’s open for general use,” he explained. There’s another floor that’s just used for
receptions. I told them when they were
putting this up that I wanted a room with a view of the dome. And I wanted floor-to-ceiling
bookshelves. I never had enough room for
my books.”
He led
us back, unlocking several large, wooden doors, and then we found ourselves in
a spacious but homey room, the outer walls of which were all windows. “Wow!” said the kids. I found out later that what impressed them
most about the room was the big screen TV!
Father
Hesburgh motioned us toward a window behind his desk. “Go ahead, take a look.”
The kids
rushed to the window. There was a very
large Bible, or some other ancient book, on a stand which they had to go
around, and I said, “Oh, careful, guys!”
“Don’t
worry, they can’t hurt anything in here,” offered the Father. We looked down over the campus of Notre
Dame. He certainly did have a good view of the dome!
“On a clear day, you can see clear to the dunes,” he said with a smile.
The
children were pointing out places we had just seen. “There’s that monument thing!” Jesse
exclaimed.
The
president emeritus said, “That’s the last thing I put in before I left the
office. It’s a memorial for all the boys
who were killed in the Vietnam War.”
He held
out a box of chocolates. “Do you mind?”
“Oh, not
at all,” I said. The children each took
one, except Nathan, who said, “No thanks.”
I’m sure I probably had to prompt the others to thank him.
The boys
had asked me if some Irish people started the college, so I asked the Father,
“Was the school started in the 1800’s... by some nuns?” That’s what I thought I remembered.
“No, a
French priest named Edward Sorin started it in 1842. See, here’s his name.” He drew our attention to a huge circular rug
in the middle of the room. “It has the
name of each president and the years he was in office. And here’s my name—but they didn’t put any
years for me, because they gave it to me while I was still in office, in
1985. I was president for 25 years,
until 1987.”
“And
since then you’ve been…teaching?”
“No, I
taught before I served as president.
Since I’ve retired, I’ve been mostly traveling. There are things in this office from all
around the world. I just spent Christmas
on an aircraft carrier.”
The kids
were looking out the north window now. I
said, “It looks like you still have Christmas presents to open. Well, thank you so much for showing us your
office!” And we made our way to the
door. I did not want to impose on his
generosity.
“My
pleasure.” He saw us out to the public
area. I shook his hand and said, “This
was a real treat. It was very nice to
meet you. Can you thank him, children?” And each of the kids thanked him and shook
his hand.
“Why,
you’re welcome! Come to the campus again
sometime.”
And with
that, we left the realm of Father Theodore Hesburgh.
Back
down in the library’s lobby, I put my hands to my face and tried to get a grip
on what had just happened. “Do you guys realize
who that was?? That was Father Theodore
Hesburgh, the famous theologian and past president of Notre Dame College! This building was made in honor of him! He hob-knobs with Heads-of-State and
dignitaries of all kinds!”
“Wow!”
said Jesse.
“Oh,
man!” said Nathan. “I thought he was
just a guy who works here!”
We were
all trying to take it in. “And I had no
film in the camera!” The boys had just
finished off the roll at the Basilica.
“I didn’t even get his autograph!
Why didn’t I get his autograph??”
“Whoa,”
said Jesse, “This would be kind of like seeing Michael Jordan and not getting
his autograph, wouldn’t it!”
“Kind
of! All we have to show for our meeting
with Theodore Hesburgh is a few candy wrappers,” I said, as I saw Tony fish the
brown paper from the chocolate out of his pocket. I grabbed it and said, “Who else has
one?” Carmen produced hers and I put
them both safely in my pocket.
“Darn,”
said Jesse, “I just took the candy and left the paper!”
“And I
didn’t even take a candy!” moaned Nathan, “Why didn’t I take a candy?”
On the
way home, we continued to talk about what an awesome event it was, who would
get the candy wrappers in their scrapbooks, who all we had to tell, and how
unfortunate it was that we didn’t get his picture. “Well, it’s better to have met him and not
have anything to show for it than to not have met him,” observed Jesse.
“That’s
right!” I agreed. “And just think, it
may have been special to meet Father Hesburgh, but it will be even more special
to meet Jesus some day in heaven. That’s
even more awesome than this!”
The
famous Father Hesburgh invited us into his inner chambers, but the Creator of
the universe invites us into his family!
Yes, it
was a day to remember.
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