The Notre Dame Sponsorship Transition

Bishop Kane Homily from Board Installation Mass

By Bishop Francis Kane
All-School Liturgy
Feb. 6, 2007

I am very happy to be here this morning. This is a very special celebration. We come to honor the Holy Cross Fathers and to thank them for their ministry here at Notre Dame High School for the past 51 years. We also come to install the new Board of Directors. We thank them for their generosity and enthusiasm. Because of their commitment, the spirit and the traditions of this great school will continue in the years to come.

I wish that it was a little warmer outside. I also wish the Bears could have been a winner in the Super Bowl last Sunday. However, it is still really cold, and the Bears did not win the Super Bowl.

While the Bears did not win, I think we should really be proud of them. At the beginning of this year, many of the so-called experts did not pick the Bears to win their division. In fact, these experts did not think the Bears would have a winning season. Then, when two of their best players were injured, and were out for the year, these experts just wrote them off.

These football forecasters were wrong. They missed the intangibles. They missed the things that are really important.

The Bears were dedicated and committed to winning. They had a great team spirit. They supported each other. When the reporters were critical of Rex Grossman, they went to Brian Urlacher. These reporters thought he would be negative about the young quarterback. Instead, Urlacher just said that he is our leader and we are behind him. That is how they treated each other.

The team also had high expectations. The players performed to the best of their ability, and they expected everyone on the team to do the same.

The Bears won their division. They won their conference. They made it to the Super Bowl.

While they didn’t win it all, I think they will be back next year. They have the core of a good team, and they have those intangibles that it takes to be a winner. The Bears have hope for the future.

In a sense, that is what we celebrate this morning—hope for the future. The first reading tells the story of God creating the world. It is a story that is awesome, and almost beyond our imagination. God created the world and all that is in it.

He also made us the stewards of creation. That means that He made us responsible for nurturing and maintaining all the wonderful things that are a part of our world. That is why it is important to confront pollution and global warming.

But there is more. The world is not finished. God also called us to continue the work of creation. We are to continue to form and shape our world. We are to write the future history of this Earth by what we do and how we act.

In a sense, this creation story, and the story of the Bears this season, can be an inspiration and a blueprint for Notre Dame High School. Like those so-called expert sports writers and their stories about the Bears, some wanted to write off this great school. They predicted that it would not do all that well, but they did not take into account the intangibles that make this school great: the students, the faculty, and now the Board. They did not realize the commitment you have to continue to build this great school.

So, too, you have to see the opportunity to continue to build the great tradition. You have to create an even greater school. I would suggest three areas that will be extremely important.

Dedicate yourself to academics. There is a great program here. It is important that you work hard at your studies. It is important for you to prepare for life and for further schooling. It is important that you make academic excellence the hallmark of this school.

Second, develop an even stronger school spirit. You have to care about your school. You have to have a pride in this great high school. You need to care about each other. You need to support faculty, the administration, the sports teams and all the wonderful programs that contribute to a strong school spirit. You have accomplished a lot with a strong school spirit. You will accomplish even more in the future.

Most importantly, you must build a deeper and more committed Catholic identity into Notre Dame High School. Be proud that you are a Catholic school. Learn about your faith. Live your faith. Come to Mass on Sunday. Be men of integrity and honesty. Live morally. Show your compassion for the poor and the marginalized. Work to make our world a better place.

Those three elements—academics, spirit and faith are at the heart of Notre Dame High School. They make this school great. They are the intangibles that make a difference.

There are great challenges before you. Look at yourself in the mirror. Have pride in your school. Be proud of being a Don. Consider the people who have been nay-sayers and skeptics, and turn them into believers. Most importantly, know that you have the responsibility for creating the next chapter in the history of this great school. Make it a chapter filled with academic excellence. Make it a chapter written with a strong school spirit. Make it a chapter filled with faith and values.

May God bless you. May God bless Notre Dame High School, today and for the many years to come.