American Priest: The Ambitious Life and Conflicted Legacy of Notre Dame's Father Ted Hesburgh

Description

A major new biography of the well-loved and controversial priest and president of Notre Dame University who served as an adviser to Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, Carter, Reagan, and Clinton. Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C. (May 25, 1917-February 26, 2015) served a record term of 35 years (1952-1987) as president of the University of Notre Dame. Considered for many decades to be the most influential priest in America, Hesburgh played important roles in higher education, the Catholic Church, and national and international affairs. American Priest examines his life and his many and varied engagements at the university he led and in places far beyond it. It also evaluates the extent and importance of his legacy. This biography of Fr. Hesburgh tracks his life and work at Notre Dame and sheds light on significant developments in the United States in the postwar era. Hesburgh was a key participant in the transformation of Catholic higher education in the United States after World War II and an important and much-celebrated voice in American higher education more generally. His more than 150 honorary degrees suggest the extent of his reputation. He also contributed in significant ways to broader American developments, including those on such momentous issues as civil rights, immigration, and refugee policy, through his service as an adviser to every president from Dwight Eisenhower to Bill Clinton. Furthermore, understanding Hesburgh's life and work allows for a deeper appreciation of the journey that the Catholic Church traveled over the second half of the 20th century. Exploring and evaluating Hesburgh's importance then, contributes not only to the colorful history of Notre Dame but also to the American Catholic experience.

REVEREND WILSON D. (BILL) MISCAMBLE, C.S.C., joined the permanent faculty in the History Department at Notre Dame in 1988. He chaired the History Department from 1993 to 1998. He also served as Rector and Superior of Moreau Seminary (2000 to 2004), 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 20th-century U.S. foreign relations.

"Very few men, clergy or lay, have shaped the American Catholic experience of the last century more powerfully than Notre Dame's Theodore Hesburgh. Priest, religious, educator, visionary, builder, emissary, celebrity - he inhabited all these roles with exceptional passion, skill, and commensurate ambition. The author captures the complicated genius, and the equally complex times, of Hesburgh the man with exactly the right balance of admiring and critical eye. This is a deep, rich, superbly engaging biography of a force of nature on the post-conciliar American Catholic scene."-Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., Archbishop of Philadelphia "Fr. Wilson Miscamble is uniquely qualified to tell the story of the legendary Fr. Hesburgh. Balanced, thorough, and gracefully written, this remarkable biography will be of interest to anyone who wants more fully to understand American Catholicism in the twentieth century."-Robert Barron, Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles and author of To Light a Fire on the Earth "An incisive portrait of Theodore Hesburgh as the influential embodiment of one way of being Catholic and American in the last half of the twentieth century."-George Weigel, author of The End and the Beginning: Pope John Paul II - The Victory of Freedom, the Last Years, the Legacy "In this ground-breaking, clear eyed biography of Father Theodore Hesburgh, we finally have the man in full. With charity and historical candor, Father Wilson Miscamble takes readers inside the glories and contradictions of this renowned man of faith-caught between the world and Notre Dame. Through personal interviews with Hesburgh and careful reportage, Miscamble reveals the Hesbergh legacy from the inside, fearlessly exposing unexplored corners of Fr. Ted's story that hold important lessons for anyone who cares about education, faith, and The University of Notre Dame."-Raymond Arroyo, New York Times Bestselling Author, Fox News Contributor, EWTN News Managing Editor "Fr. Hesburgh was the most influential and remarkable man I have ever met. Reading American Priest helped me understand him better, both his struggles and his many accomplishments."-Coach Lou Holtz "With the scholarly acumen of an accomplished historian and the personal commitment of a Holy Cross priest, Miscamble has crafted an important, critical re-telling of the life and work of Father Theodore Hesburgh, C.S.C. This is not hagiography, nor historical biography in the conventional sense. This is an extended conversation, at times a candid debate, concerning what both author and subject care about most: Notre Dame, Holy Cross, national and international politics, and how Catholic higher education can best fulfill its mission of serving the church and the world and thus giving glory to God."-Michael J. Baxter, Ph.D., Director of Catholic Studies at Regis University "Ambitious . . . [Reverend] Miscamble skillfully guides us through the jungle of campus politics." -The Imaginative Conservative