“We mourn today a great man and faithful priest who transformed the University of Notre Dame and touched the lives of many,” said the Rev. John I. Jenkins, Notre Dame’s current president, in a statement. “With his leadership, charisma and vision, he turned a relatively small Catholic college known for football into one of the nation’s great institutions for higher learning. In his historic service to the nation, the Church and the world, he was a steadfast champion for human rights, the cause of peace and care for the poor.”
Over the course of a career that spanned more than seven decades — 35 of them as president of Notre Dame — Hesburgh ended up at the highest levels of both church and state.
He marched with civil rights leaders. He was instrumental in giving influence to the laity at Catholic universities. He was a Vatican representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
He was an adviser to presidents, serving on commissions concerning civil rights, immigration and military clemency issues. (And, incidentally, angering Richard Nixon over a report about racial discrimination, which prompted Hesburgh’s resignation.)
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He was amply honored during his long life. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Gold Medal and more than 100 honorary degrees.
For all his influence, Hesburgh never saw himself as high and mighty. His calling was service, and that alone was enough.
“I never wanted to be anything but a priest, which is in itself a great and unearned grace,” he said. “I hope to live and die a priest, nothing more, but nothing less either.”
