The challenge of the secular campus Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/details/challengeofseculOOIuka The Challenge of the Secular Campus by Ronald Luka, C.M.F. AVE MARIA PRESS Notre Dame, Indiana 46556 NIHIL OBSTAT: John L. Reedy, G.S.C. Censor Deputatus IMPRIMATUR: * Most Rev. Leo A. Pursley, D.D. Bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend S| * Copyright 1968 Ave Maria Press All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced by any means in whole or in part without prior permission. 2 CONTENTS Welcome! 6 In the Modern World—Really IN 8 Potential Is Only Potential 12 More Than Token Involvement 16 Faith Is Made of Sterner Stuff 21 Personalizing the Campus 25 Your “Love Life” 28 Freedom FOR 29 3 ' . .... THE CHALLENGE OF THE SECULAR CAMPUS Students, parents, chaplains, and teachers have spent many hours discussing whether the secular campus forms a threat or a challenge to the religious faith of the Catholic student. As a chaplain, I meet many students each semester who still feel this uncertainty themselves. I hope the insights contained in this booklet might re- assure them of the important and vital role they have to play during their college years. Welcome! So, you’re off to college — and a secular one at that. The lid’s off . . . you’re on your own. No more parents to “bug” you, to look over your shoulder every day of the week. Your choices from now on will be your own. As you enter college, you are going to be faced with perhaps the biggest choice of your life — at least concerning your religion. You’re aware of the pressure exerted by your parents and teachers in the past. Possibly this was a big help toward the development of your Christian life. But per- haps it also made you bristle a little. As you grew up, you wanted people to take account of your growth and give you a little more credit for being able to make your own responsible decisions. Now you’ll have this freedom. After you’re through with college, married, and settled down with a family, religion will again probably be a pretty natural part of your life. This time, not so much because of the influence of any individuals, but because of real personal conviction or because of the general expectations of the society in which we live where some sort of church affiliation is taken for granted. But in the meantime, while in college, you’ll probably experience the greatest intellectual and emotional development of your life. If your re- ligious growth slackens off, you’re liable to spend the rest of your life religiously retarded. I’m not advocating a holding action here — merely keeping in contact with the Church — but real progress, growth, and development. We’re 6 living during the age of the greatest scientific, technological, and possibly religious, progress of all times. As individuals we have to make sure these times don’t just pass us by. Phonies Among the Pepsies One of the many contributions of this genera- tion to our society is an insistence on authenticity. All the world hates a phony, especially the campus world. If we claim the title of Christians, we had better be real, honest, and authentic Christians or we leave ourselves wide open to the charge of hypocrisy which many college students level against the Sunday-morning Christian. You and your fellow students make a lot out of being real and authentic. And the rest of the Church joins you in this concern — we’re looking for real, authentic Christians. The Vatican Council gave us a big hand in this search. It drew up a blueprint for the real Christian of the 20th century. “The times they are a-changing,” and the Church is trying to make herself more relevant and to change along with them wherever she can. Written Off Without a Hearing I admire many qualities of the young genera- tion, but I must honestly admit that one attitude that really rubs me raw is the lack of interest in the Council, the writing off of the Church as ir- relevant without even giving her a hearing. At the Council the Church bent over backward to 7 speak meaningfully to us. If we refuse even to listen to her, we end up with the closed mind we often accuse her of having. The Council did a lot more than change the liturgy. After all, 2,000 bishops taking three years — to change the altar around! The Council actually marks the official starting point for many completely new ways of thinking in the Church. It’s a pity that it is taking so long for the ideas of Vatican II to trickle down to the average American Catholic. I’ve spoken to hundreds of high school and college students for whom Vatican II had less meaning than page 476 of the Yellow Pages. And I’m hamstrung in this situation, be- cause I can’t really expect people to find the docu- ments of Vatican II as interesting and intelligible as the last Ian Fleming novel. Would that more priests and teachers could bring these documents to life with their people and students! In the Modern World — Really IN The very title of the Constitution on the Church IN the Modern World sets a new note for our activities on campus. A couple of decades ago, this document might have been called, “The Church and the Modem World.” In fact, Pius X’s condemnation of Modernism is just this: the Church sitting apart and judging the world. Now the Church, a growing and developing body, wiser now than she was yesterday, can look at the world and say, “The joys and hopes, the griefs and anxi- 8 eties of the men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ. In- deed, nothing genuinely human fails to raise an echo in their hearts” ( Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, #1). This means that the hopes of the secular humanist on campus, the anxieties of the student searching to find himself, the joys of the student who was just awarded a scholarship, and the griefs of the prof who was just passed over in the latest promotions are the joys and hopes, griefs and anxieties of all the followers of Christ, es- pecially of those who form a common campus community. “Secular” in a World Made Sacred? As a Catholic student, you’ll often be referred to as a Catholic on a secular campus. But if some campuses are secular, then others must be sacred. However, what can really be secular in a world made sacred by the God who trod upon it? And what on this earth can really be sacred which is not made of its very dust? You and your fellow students come to college with attitudes about the Church built up during your years in grade and high schools. Those who have gone through Catholic schools should have a thorough knowledge of their Faith and an in- terest in really living it. But this is not always the case. Some of them might feel that they have been overexposed to religion in a school situation. 9 Students who have merely gone to an hour’s Con- fraternity class a week possibly grow up with little appreciation or knowledge of their beliefs, dignity, and responsibilities as Christians. Now that you’re entering college, are things going to be any different? Maybe for you they will be. For many of the other million-plus Cath- olics on non-Catholic campuses, this will depend not only on the student but also upon the interest the institutional Church is showing in their campus. The Church still has a huge indemnity to pay to its members who are not in its schools. Our bishop is just awakening to this need; many of his fellows are still placing all their eggs in the basket of the Catholic schools. Here is a shocking statistic: On the Catholic campus we find one priest or religious for every 35 students, whereas on the secular campus we find one full-time New- man chaplain to every 3,100 Catholic students! But on ours and many other campuses the Church does have something to offer the stu- dents. In fact, it’s begging the students to offer it something. Acting Like Adults Vatican II issued the call to all of us to start acting our age, to start acting like adult Chris- tians. A big difference between an adult and a child is in the area of dependence: A child needs services. He depends on his parents for food, clothing, a home. He is more conscious of his own needs than those of others. An adult, on the other hand, is productive; he supports himself 10 and his family and contributes to the rest of society. Many people who chronologically are adults are kids in their relationship to the Church. Some have called the average American parish a service-station church : a spot you coast into for a weekly refueling, a place where you come for a seasonal tune-up in the sacrament of Penance, a rectory where you can run for advice when your transmission gets fouled up. You notice, it’s all a matter of getting something — like hungry kids around the family table. But you’re an adult now. For some time you’ve been trying to convince your parents that you’re not a kid anymore. On campus, your adulthood will be completely acknowledged by the Church. You’ll have the freedom and the responsibility that go with adulthood. “Help Wanted” From the Council The Council strongly emphasizes adult re- sponsibility and productivity in the Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity where we not only get a general challenge but also read help-wanted notices in particular areas. The decree wastes no time in getting warmed up. In the very first para- graphs we read, “Their [the laymen’s] apostolate flows from the very calling to be followers of Christ,” and, “the invitation to be a Christian is of its very nature a summons also to the apostolic mission of the Church,” and again, “Lay people must take the renewal of the secular order as their own proper task. . . . 11 Principal among the tasks of their aposto- late is the social action of Christians, which this holy synod today desires to see ex- tended to the whole range of temporal realities, and especially to the advance- ment of the intellectual order ” (# 1, 2, and 7 ). Some might feel that this idea of being apos- tles is all right for the Papal Volunteers or the Young Christian Students, but it just doesn’t turn them on, they can’t be bothered. The Council pulls no punches with these people when it says, “Any single member who does not act to build up the Church according to his abilities must be said to do a disservice both to the Church and to himself” (Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity, #2). Potential Is Only Potential You do a disservice to yourself if you fail to use and develop your potential. God has given you physical and mental capabilities: If you don’t develop your body through exercise and training, you do yourself a disservice; if you don’t de- velop your mind through study and concentra- tion, again you do yourself a disservice. God has also given you capabilities for the extension and development of His Church: if you don’t use and develop them, you do yourself a disservice. You can also do irreparable harm to the Church by not using your personal resources — position, influence, time — in apostolic pursuits. God didn’t give you your place in life by accident; 12 He did so in His providence with a definite pur- pose. He intends to influence specific areas of particular people’s lives through you. If you let Him down, these people might never be reached. You’re probably wondering just what form this apostolic activity should take on campus. Obviously, you don’t get up on a soapbox with your Bible to sell your wares in the gym during registration or in the football stadium during half time. The bishops mention that the apostolate is exercised by bringing the Gospel to mankind and by 'permeating and perfecting the secular order. They really hit this last point hard asking you “to be immersed in the secular world” and “to act as a yeast in the secular order” (Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity, #2). This is a far cry from the defensive attitude of every Catholic child in a Catholic school or the attitude that would make you a second-rate Catholic for going to a secular college. This rep- resents a turnabout in Catholic spirituality which previously advocated flight from the world for one’s salvation. The bishops even go so far as to say, “People by fulfilling their obligations to the secular order in their everyday lives, deepen their union with Christ through their secular work” (Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity, #4). Doing What You Can What does this permeating and perfecting the secular world mean for you, a college student? 13 It means making the college a better institution in any way you can. It means making your classes more intellectually alive; it means making your dorm a more welcome place in which to live; it means making the basketball or football team play better ball because you happen to be on the team; it means making your fraternities as fra- ternal as possible. In a word, it means making the campus a better campus precisely because you happen to go to school there. You see, your apostolic involvement can’t wait until you’re out of college and established in life. You’re in training now; intellectual, tech- nological, physical — and apostolic. And don’t forget, you learn a lot by doing. Throwing Spotlight on Youth The Decree on the Laity has a special section on youth in which the bishops state, “In modern society young people exert a most significant in- fluence” (#12). They must have been listening to the top 10 on their transistors when they wrote that, or perhaps they noticed the style of clothes advertised in the morning paper. Or, seriously, they might have pondered the faces of the mili- tary they met on the street and seen the youth and promise reflected there. Continuing on youth, the bishops state, “The increased influence they wield in society requires of them a proportionate apostolic activity. And the natural endow- ments of youth equip them for such an 14 apostolate. As the awareness of their own personality grows, their enthusiasm for life and their youthful energies make them want to take on their own responsibilities and become involved in social and cultural life. If this enthusiasm be touched with the spirit of Christ and enlivened with an obe- dient love for the Church, it can produce very fruitful results. Young persons them- selves, then, should become the first and im- mediate apostles of youth” (Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity, #12). Certainly no holding tactic here. The bishops are giving you all the responsibility and freedom you want and they are prodding you to use it. Truth or Alibi? One of the phrases 1 most frequently hear from college students is, “I don’t have time, Father.” But I just can’t buy this alibi. I know you don’t like to hear reminiscing about the good old days, but it hasn’t been too many years since I was in college. Then I was, and now I am, able to find time for anything I really want to do. And I had to plod as hard as the next guy in my studies. We all have exactly the same amount of time in a day, 24 hours. What we do or don’t do is not a matter of time, but of priorities and values. If something is really important to us, we’ll make time for it. If you want something done, have you ever noticed that the best person to ask to do it is the fellow who is always busy? He’s used to making time; that’s why he’s so 15 busy and that’s why he gets so much done. “Tithing” Time for Service You’ve probably heard a lot about budgeting your time in college and also about tithing in church. Tithing, you know, is a system whereby a parishioner gives a specified percentage of his income to the Church. It would be a great idea to combine these two practices and start tithing our time for the service of others. Many students have caught the idea of personal service and have volunteered for a year or two in the Peace Corps, Extension Volunteers, or a similar group. But, unfortunately, this is a small minority. A lot could be done for the Church, the campus, and the general community if you and many more of your classmates would set aside four or five hours a week, only about two and one-half percent of your time, specifically to serve others. Aside from what you would actually do, this practice would convey the idea to you that your responsi- bility to the Church and to the civic community is not completely discharged in a Sunday envelope and tax return. More Than Token Involvement The Council asked for a lot more than token involvement when it stated, “The foremost task of every faithful Christian is to pour out his energies so that the divine message of redemption may be heard and welcomed by all men every- 16 where” (Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity , #3). There is no better ideal in this pouring out of energies than Christ Himself who really went all the way for us — even as far as pouring out His very life’s blood. Your very union with this ideal can be developed through your ordinary daily routine, for, “People by fulfilling their obligations to the secular order in their everyday lives, deepen their union with Christ through their secular work” {Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity, #4). Check These for Size On any campus, there are loads of opportuni- ties for service: working with the mentally re- tarded or on voter registration, getting involved in a Big Brother program or interracial home visits, serving as a reader or sacristan at the chapel, assisting on blood drives or inner-city re- development, being hospitable to foreign students, getting involved in summer projects such as New- man mission, making and hanging posters for Newman programs, possibly even instructing a non-Catholic who is trying to learn more about the Faith. The harvest is sure great, but the laborers are really few. But unless you use the deepest Christian mo- tivation in your service of others, you are liable to miss its real meaning. Remember Christ’s words that whatever you do to others you do to Him? This means that this retarded child, 17 this orphan, this octogenarian, this kid with a reading problem, this foreign student, is really and truly Christ. If you lose sight of this, your involvement with others will be little different from that of a secular humanist. The Meaning of Study There are other areas of your college life that can lose their meaningfulness too. One of these is the activity on which you’ll be spending most of your time — study. It’s a shallow viewpoint of study, indeed, which sees it only as mastering a page of a text- book, successfully completing a math problem, or finishing a work sheet in accounting. The deep- est meaning of study involves an effort to grow in knowledge, an attempt to grasp the truth, an endeavor to understand the mysteries of this world. But remember who it is who created the world with its mysteries, who it is who said, “I am the Truth,” who it is who possesses all knowl- edge. Your study, then, actually helps you to become more like God. This is one of your most important responsibilities as a Christian student — not just to get by, but to excel in your studies. Work: Perfecting Creation You can apply a similar understanding to work and uncover its deepest meaning too. Your work isn’t just a means for keeping you in school or keeping food on the table. Any work you do is really developing and perfecting God’s creation, 18 either by developing the material world or per- fecting man’s life itself. In this light, creation is a continuing event which God started off and then allowed man to join in the act. Even our social contacts as Christians have a deep underlying meaning. Many Newman stu- dents do a great job at throwing picnics, parties, dances, etc. One of my main concerns is to help them understand the depths of what they?re do- ing. There is a fundamental difference between a social run by a Christian and a non-Christian group. When we run a dance or a picnic, we’re really extending into another area of our life the love and unity we express around the altar; we’re continuing to live the liturgy. This idea can be brought out when Mass is celebrated as part of a social function. All Life Is Liturgy This really gets to the heart of the Church’s life on campus. No, not socials, but the liturgy. Vatican II stated, “The liturgy is the summit to- ward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the fountain from which all her power flows” (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, #10). This is a real mouthful. The bishops are actually saying that everything the Church does either leads to or flows from the liturgy, and specifically from the celebration of the Eucharist. Here on campus, we’re trying to do all we can to make a meaningful Mass the center of our life: We try for the fullest participation; we use music 19 with which students feel at home; we try to get to know and recognize one another around the altar; we try to prolong and live the love we share; I try to make my homilies as meaningful as possible to the lives of the students, and I’m always completely open to their ideas on how the Mass can be even more meaningful. Another prime area for your apostolic activity might be your determination to make the liturgy more meaningful by participating as a reader or leader of song or simply by really entering into the prayers and songs. A Chaplain’s Worry One of the big worries among us chaplains is what happens to the student when he gets back to a parish where he may be sitting in a pew watching the priest say Mass still facing the wall, listening to a 15-minute pitch for the church building fund, not even knowing the people around him, rushing out of the parking lot without a chance to meet any of them, and feeling sure that his ideas on changing things would be as wanted as an insurance policy in a graveyard. There is a real danger that a person will give up going to Mass under these circumstances. But I feel that if any of my students did this I would have failed to convey to them what the Mass really is. It’s great if the Mass can actually be an experience for us, but any experience gets dull after a while. Besides, the Mass is much more than an experience. It’s a sacrifice and an act of love offered to God; it’s the prayer offered for and in the name of the entire Church. If you 20 really understand the meaning of the Mass, you won’t be drawn to it just for the experience nor repelled from it because it leaves you flat. When a person complains that he gets nothing out of the Mass, I like to ask him what he brings to it, how generously he has responded to the contact he had with Christ in the last Mass he celebrated. Faith Is Made of Sterner Stuff A student with a mature faith appreciates the external actions of the Christian community but realizes that there is much more than meets the eye. Occasionally I’ll run into a student who says he left the Church because some priest was harsh with him or because he just can’t see Christ in the Church he knows. We need to realize that our commitment to Christ and to the Church is fundamentally a leap of faith. We are followers of Christ, not of any particular priest, and we are members of the Body of Christ, not just of a worldwide power structure. Getting back to the liturgy as the center of our campus life, all our apostolic work flows from the altar too. The work you do for others will extend to them the love you have experienced around the altar and will possibly draw them back to the altar with you. When we come together as Christians, we don’t gather just to make ourselves feel good. We gather for Mass in order that we might be strengthened to go out from the Mass bringing Christ’s love to others. 21 Avoiding “Catholic" Cliques The same thing holds true for Newman activi- ties or Catholic fraternities and sororities on cam- pus. These are great assets to the life of the Church and the campus if their members come together to plan how to exercise a Christian in- fluence outside their own group. Yet they can easily become little cliques and then they become a contradiction in terms, because you can’t have a Catholic, or universal, clique. In theory, if not always in practice, the New- man movement is identified with the Church on campus and it is usually a good framework with- in which a Catholic student can work. If its activities are broad, apostolic, and outgoing, it can help you greatly in exercising your apostolate. And even if it is not, it can offer you an area for personal involvement in the Church’s attempt at renewal. Education complements the liturgy as the basis for your apostolic work. If you are going to bring Christ’s ideals to the campus and the community, you must know both the world in which you live and Christ’s ideals. The Consti- tution on the Church in the Modern World gives us a good cue on this score. After stating what the conditions and problems of the modem world are, it points out what can be done in the present situation. Your classes, TV, newspapers, and lecturers, films, and discussions sponsored by the campus or the Newman community will offer information on the world in which you live. 22 Ideals Need Support But how about the problem of the ideals of Christ which you are to project into this world? The liturgy will give you some knowledge of these, as you hear the Scriptures read and related to your life. But 15 minutes to a half hour a week is obviously not enough. A continued reading and meditating on the New Testament will give you further contact with Christ. You might also do some additional reading of challenging, adult-level Catholic papers, magazines, or books on a regular basis, say 15 minutes a day. You might also enroll in a college-level formal course in your religion. I’m sure you sense there’s an awful lot going on in the Church; you’re going to be more and more confused by all this unless you do something to understand it. You would be confused by the world around you too if you never watched, heard, or read the news. No Mom and Dad to Push You’re on your own now regarding your reli- gious education. Two or three hours of religion class won’t be part of the schedule now, or Mom and Dad won’t be around to shuttle you down to CCD class. By now you might have the catechism coming out of your ears anyhow. But there’s a lot more to our Faith than the catechism, and it can be presented with a great amount of interest and challenge on an adult level. Right now the decision is up to you: either to go through the rest of your life with the religious knowledge of 23 a child or to strive for an adult comprehension of your Faith, either to let your religious knowledge stagnate or to let it grow, develop, and mature along with your knowledge of other fields. Faith Can Stand Inquiry During your college years, you’re liable to have doubts about your religious beliefs. Don’t be surprised by these. Your fund of knowledge is growing, and you naturally start reexamin- ing what you were taught before. Many of these doubts have answers if you’re willing to look for them. Some questions might not have completely satisfying answers. Like the whole Church, we as individuals might have to spend many years searching for a fuller understanding of God’s truth. We just might have to learn to live with these difficulties as part of our human condition. Our doubts can grow or diminish with the type of reading we do. If you resolve to read one book that is sympathetic toward your Faith to balance any one you read that is antagonistic, you’ll prob- ably be in pretty good shape. See Your Chaplain If there’s anything you ever want to discuss about your Faith, drop over to the chaplain’s of- fice. Some of you have been close enough friends with priests that I don’t even need to tell you this; you’ve knocked around many problems that were bugging you in the past, and I’m sure you’ll con- 24 tinue to do so in the future. But you’ll run into many students who don’t have much familiarity with a priest. You’ll get into a good many dis- cussions with them. If you run into any chal- lenges to your beliefs that you can’t answer, don’t hesitate to drop by. Another area of campus life that will prob- ably throw you is the impersonality of the whole setup. In grammar school and high school, you knew many of your teachers and fellow students. At college, you can get the feeling that you’re just a number of holes in an IBM card or a beep on a computer tape. For a lot of people that’s what you’ll be, and we can hardly avoid this. Per- sonalism has to suffer somewhat for efficiency if we are going to educate thousands of students at one school. It won’t do much good clamoring for a personal approach either: The president of the college just won’t be able to walk down the side- walk calling every student by his first name. Personalizing the Campus We Christians have a particular responsibility to make the campus a little more personal for our being there. This is one of the greatest con- tributions the Church can make to the campus. Christ died for us as individuals and He lives in us as individuals. Each one of us individually is worth His very life. This is why we try to know one another as personally as possible around the altar and then try to prolong this contact. This is also why we get together in smaller groups in 25 the Newman Apostolate or Young Christian Stu- dents. I’m pretty terrible at names, but this is why I try to call students by name when I see them on campus or when I exchange the kiss of peace with them or feed them with the Body of Christ at the altar. If you too start seeing your fellow students as individuals and go out of your way to know them, the campus will seem less and less impersonal. But don’t stop at knowing people as indi- vidual persons: fully accept them as such. Ac- cept them just the way they are and then you’ll have a real chance of meeting Christ in them. This acceptance applies especially toward our long-haired friends. Many of the so-called “washed” fail to recognize Christ in their brother if he is unwashed. What difference does it really make how long a person’s hair is, how torn his Levi’s are, or whether he wears sandals or shoes? Most of these people are trying to tell us some- thing, but we won’t hear it if we demand that they go to the barber before they start talking. Maybe these students give us conforming Chris- tians a lesson that we too should be different from the rest of men — not in the length of our hair, but in the strength of our love. Where Are You Now? Much of my emphasis up to now has been on the challenge facing you on campus. I could have spent more time on the problems of a college stu- dent, like drugs, liquor, dating, career choice, 26 cheating, etc., but this would have left you right where you are now; this would have contributed to another more inclusive problem — the one that ties you up in your own little world. After seeing the challenge, we can see our own troubles as obstacles hindering our response. Even though these problems are worth much more than a couple of paragraphs, I do feel that if I have sketched the challenge, I must offer a couple of insights into the problems as well. Some of the best qualities of modem youth we’ve been discussing previously, like honesty, authenticity and personalism, can offer these in- sights. Flight From Life Drugs and liquor form big problems for stu- dents your age. Many want to know exactly what’s wrong with drugs and why getting mari- juana should be any more difficult or wrong than buying a six-pack of beer. A single experience with a nonhabit-forming drug may be in the same category with having a few drinks. But the use of both liquor and drugs under strain can cause serious problems. Both of these represent a flight from life. The craving for either is equivalent to admitting that you’re not enough a person to face life without a prop; this undermines that tremendous respect for the human person which your generation professes to value so highly. Some might say that drugs expand the person. I think just the opposite is true: they contract a 27 person. I haven’t yet, for instance, heard of any- one who took drugs that he might be of greater service to others. This would be true expansive- ness. Your “Love Life” Another area where you have been having problems and will continue to do so is in the field of sex and personal love. By now you’re past the high school stage of asking, “How far can I go?” and you’re asking, “Why should marriage make the difference in the way a fellow and girl show their love for each other? I feel we really and truly love each other, so why can’t we express this love?” Here again we get back to the area of honesty. True love between any two people, married or not, has to draw them closer to the source of love, God Himself. True love also has as its prime goal the securing of the one loved. If you really love an- other, you’ll want only happiness for him. Oc- casionally I’ll meet a student who feels his world had just ended because the girl he thought he loved is trying to find happiness with someone else. If this would really bring the other happi- ness, it should bring us happiness too; this would be true love. Again, your expressions of love must be hon- est and true. Physical union between man and woman is a symbol of their complete and per- manent giving of themselves to each other. This complete and permanent giving takes place in 28 marriage, so the expression of it outside of mar- riage cannot be true or authentic. That Hang-up “Authority” Chances are that even back in high school you’ve had difficulty with authority, that of your parents and teachers. I guess this is part of grow- ing up, when you’re striving to assert your inde- pendence and those in authority fear you’re not able to exercise this independence yet. You’ll have more independence here at college, but you won’t always be as mature and responsible as you know you should. There’ll hardly be anyone to call you on the carpet for it either. But it’s im- portant that when we goof, we admit it to our- selves and resolve to profit by the mistake. I’ve heard it said that it’s only human to make a mis- take; it’s wrong to repeat it. I would encourage you not to write off every- one over 30 (I’ve turned 30 this year) as com- pletely prehistoric. You don’t like it when the older generation writes you and your fellows off as a bunch of irresponsible troublemakers. You protest loudly that you should be considered as an individual, and you should. But don’t forget to consider old-timers as individuals too, and don’t knock any of them until you’ve tried them. Freedom FOR . . . Another area of concern to the college student is that of freedom. You probably want greater freedom from the guidance and direction of your 29 parents, from the narrow attitudes of your rela- tives telling you what they think you should or shouldn’t do, from the rules and regulations of school life, maybe even from the Church and the guidance she offers. God wants you to be free too; He planted this desire for freedom in you. Christ died as a pris- oner to break your bonds and set you free, but before this He said, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” Both Christ and His Church want you to be free. But is it enough to be free from ? Doesn’t free- dom also involve being free for? And have you ever thought what you wanted to be free for? If you want to be free just for yourself, you’re liable to end up in a new enslavement. Be free for others. Be free to grow and mature into Christ. Be free to serve Christ as He lives in your brothers and sisters on and off campus. Be free to break away from the problems of growing up and live as a free, mature person. This has been quite a long session. I hope it will influence you during your college years. It seems we read so many things, we hear so many things, and we discuss so many things. Why is it then that we do so few things? I hope these thoughts will help you determine to do things, and great things, for the Christ who has done so much for you. Rest assured that some of us will be around to help you in your efforts in any way we can. Pray that God might help you and me and all your fellow students as we work to- gether to establish a real Christian community on campus. 30 arp AVE MARIA PRESS Notre Dame, Indiana 465S6