God, Country, Notre Dame

by Theodore M. Hesburgh

As I mentioned before, if a book leaves me thinking about it for a good time following or leads me to tell everyone I encounter that they must read the book, it will get five stars in my book.
This is the life story of Father Ted Hesburgh, CSC, former president of the University of Notre Dame in South Bend. In addition to living the life of a priest at Notre Dame, he was an international player in atomic energy politics, founding member of the Civil Rights Commission and has met more Presidents of the United States and Popes than I could name (maybe not true, but point the same).
One particular story that stuck out for me was when one of the Presidents asked him what he could do to help repay Fr. Hesburgh for all of his work. The good priest said to fly in the fastest plane in the world, at the time being the SR-71. The request was denied at first since the military does not allow that. Without hesitation, Fr. Hesburgh replied that the military works for him.
The section of the book telling about his life as a priest impacted me the most. First, he tells of what the Holy Cross seminary experience was like. Then he tells of his experiences as a simple priest at ND. The discussion of this is some of the greatest vocational material I’ve read. Perhaps, this might because it wasn’t written to be vocation material. Just a priest doing what he was ordained to do.
Fr, Hesburgh is obviously a very intelligent person able to discuss the finer points of almost any topic. In the context of the book, there is a little bit of something for everyone.