Here Come the Irish

At the Notre Dame Forum last month, Fr. Jenkins (president of the university) in his remarks made brief mention of a Millenium Development Initiative at Notre Dame. As he continued on with his speech, I was thinking "What? Wait! Go back and talk about it some more!" I was glad to have recieved a copy of his letter about it a week or so later.

I've been in correspondence with two of the guys working on it, Fr. Dowd and Tim Lyden. Their last email came from Uganda. I hope they don't mind that I share some of their comments:

"I wanted to pass along Fr. Bob's and my warmest greetings and again thank you for showing interest in the NDMDI. ...We just recently arrived in Africa and will spend the next 5 weeks traveling and meeting with our future partners in this project to further develop how Notre Dame may best contribute to alleviating poverty in Uganda.

...I will be sending out periodic emails to members of the greater Notre Dame community who have shown interest in the NDMDI regarding developments here in Uganda and would love to include you in these updates."


I'm thrilled that ND is involved. This is a university that, famously, has lots of wealth and power. In many ways it is a Rome of the western hemisphere. Where ND goes, Catholics (and all Christians, I hope) all over the US will follow.

This is HUGE. And it makes me proud.

It's an exciting week. As it happens, I told him, some of my friends and former colleagues from the African Well Fund just returned from Uganda where, for the first time, they visited some of the actual water wells that we helped to build. I am usually the last person lost for words, but I honestly can't describe how amazing it is to get such observable, tangible, measurable results and how must feel for them to be able to connect with the fruit of their labor -- the very people, the lives they've touched.

And tonight, as we speak, some of them are in D.C. at Africare's annual benefit dinner where Bill Clinton is the Humanitarian Service Award recipient and of course, the main speaker. I was lucky enough to have attended a few years back, when I was still serving on the board of directors. Bill and Melinda Gates were the recipients of the Bishop Walker Humanitarian Service Award, and Gates' father spoke on their behalf. Youssou N'Dour sang a moving song about Africa. There were African kings and princes and heads of state, all decked out in their traditional fabrics with colorful African patterns. It was beautiful. It was surreal.

I hope the AWF is having a lovely time tonight and I do hope they take photos!

Ahem.

So, with all of that and the (RED) cherry on top...It's been quite a week!

You know, I think Bono was right when he said, in the speech he gave at the President's Prayer Breakfast last year....

"God is on the move."


. . . . .


Here Come The Irish

Well I remember the leaves a fallin'
And far off music like pipes a callin'
And I remember the golden morning
I saw the long ranks as they were forming

And there's a magic in the sound of their name
Here come the Irish of Notre Dame

The pilgrims follow by the sacred waters
And arm in arm go the sons and daughters
The drums are rolling and forward bound
They're calling spirits up from the ground

And there's a magic in the sound of their name
Here come the Irish of Notre Dame