At age 30, my life's work is quickly becoming apparent: I help young people find Christ in the Church he founded. I'm a theologian, a catechist, and an apologist. I'm a retreat leader and a spiritual director. I'm a husband and a father motivated deeply by my faith and the faith of my family, devoted to Catholic schools, raising my sons in the faith, and praying earnestly with them that they become saints. It's good work.
None of this would be the case if it weren't for Notre Dame's core curriculum requirements in theology. I came to South Bend a disenchanted, apathetic cradle-Catholic. I was certain that I knew better than the Church, and I was destined for law school. This seemed good enough, my having no notable vocation or passion.
It was Professor William Mattison, in Theology 101, who told me that I should consider doing more Theology, a remark that I'll never forget. The next year, Professor Margaret Pfeil totally wowed me in her course on War and Nonviolence. Her friendly advice, and the model of lively faith she offered, remain in my mind when I teach today. Beginning to listen to the whispers of grace, I declared a minor in theology. My undergraduate studies entranced me, leading to a graduate degree with those same theologians, and an entirely new life. It started in Theology 101.
I can identify key moments where almost every one of my professors offered an insight or encouragement that remains with me to this day. Professors Jean Porter, Randall Zachman, Gerry McKenny, David Fagerberg, Jennifer Herdt. Fathers Brian Daley, Paulinus Odozor, Michael Driscoll, Charles Gordon. The people doing theology at Notre Dame—past, present, and future—deserve the chance to continue disrupting students' lives. And students deserve that disruption, when theology leads them into the heart of grace, the heart of the Church, and the heart of God. It sometimes starts in Theology 101.
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