Battling for the Heart and Soul of a Catholic University

Rev. Wilson Miscamble, author and professor at the University of Notre Dame, discusses Catholic higher education

About the Book

For Notre Dame gathers together the important contributions of a devoted Holy Cross priest to the continuing debate over the mission and identity of the University of Notre Dame. Read together, these essays and addresses by one of the most consistent and committed participants in this ongoing discussion serve to cast vital light on many of the major issues that Notre Dame has confronted in the past two decades.

Fr. Bill Miscamble’s spirited essays in For Notre Dame cover a range of topics and reflect his multiple roles at Notre Dame, where he has taught for a quarter century. An award-winning scholar and a noted teacher Miscamble writes thoughtfully of the place of teaching and research in Catholic universities. Crucially, he also is unafraid to explore more contentious subjects like the composition of the faculty and the responsibilities of faculty members who serve in a Catholic university like Notre Dame. Nor has he backed away from the controversies that have beset Notre Dame in recent years. In this volume a reader can learn how he courageously addressed such matters as academic freedom and The Vagina Monologues and, of course, how he protested the Notre Dame decision to honor President Barack Obama at its 2009 Commencement.

Throughout this engaging volume, Miscamble’s distinctive voice rings clear. His passion for Notre Dame’s Catholic mission is evident on every page. Also evident is his deep concern for the moral and spiritual well-being of Notre Dame’s students and his deep commitment to the priesthood and to the Congregation of Holy Cross. For Notre Dame is essential reading for all those who love Notre Dame and who are interested in its past, present, and future. It is a book that asks its readers to reflect deeply about the ongoing struggle to determine the university’s present mission and its future course. Readers – including faculty, students, administrators, trustees and alumni – will surely discover through its pages how they too might stand more truly for Notre Dame.

About Rev. Wilson (Bill) Miscamble

Rev. Wilson D. (Bill) Miscamble, C.S.C. joined the permanent faculty at Notre Dame in 1988. The Australian native was born on July 23, 1953, and educated at the University of Queensland, from which he graduated in 1973 and obtained a master’s degree three years later.  In 1976 he came to Notre Dame to pursue graduate studies in history.  He received his doctoral degree in 1980.  He then served for two years as North American analyst in the Office of National Assessments, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Canberra, Australia. In August of 1982 he returned to Notre Dame and entered the priestly formation program of the Congregation of Holy Cross.  He was ordained a priest on April 9, 1988.  In the History Department he teaches at all levels from first year courses to doctoral seminars.  He chaired the History Department from 1993 to 1998.  In addition to his responsibilities on the history faculty, he has served (2000-04) as Rector and Superior of Moreau Seminary, the principal formation site for the Congregation of Holy Cross in North America.  Fr. Miscamble’s primary research interests are American foreign policy since World War II and the role of Catholics in 20^th century U.S. foreign relations and political life.  His book entitled George F. Kennan and the Making of American Foreign Policy, 1947-1950 was published in 1992 by Princeton University Press and received the Harry S. Truman Book Award.  He also has authored Keeping the Faith, Making a Difference (2000), and edited American Political History: Essays on the State of the Discipline [with John Marszalek] (1997), and Go Forth and Do Good: Memorable Notre Dame Commencement Addresses (2003).  His 2007 book From Roosevelt to Truman: Potsdam, Hiroshima and the Cold War was published by Cambridge University Press and received the Harry S. Truman Book Award in 2008. More recently Father Miscamble has published  The Most Controversial Decision: Truman, the Atomic Bombs and the Defeat of Japan (2011) and For Notre Dame: Battling for the Heart and Soul of a Catholic University (2013).  He also has published a number of other articles, essays and reviews. Father Miscamble has notable interests in the areas of Catholic higher education and Catholics and public life and he lectures and writes on these topics.  During the 2013-14 academic year he holds a visiting appointment as the J.S. Paluch Chair in Theology at Mundelein Seminary of the Archdiocese of Chicago.