I Call You Friends: John Cavadini and the Vision of Catholic Leadership for Higher Education

In North America over the last three decades no one has thought as long and hard about the nature of the Catholic university has been so passionate in its avowal so visionary in its conception and so persistent in reminding all who would listen that the university is a specifically Catholic achievement and the Catholic university an enduring legacy as John Cavadini. As the long-time chair of the Department of Theology at the University of Notre Dame and the even longer-serving McGrath-Cavadini Director of the McGrath Institute for Church Life John C. Cavadini has provided a vision for leadership in Catholic higher education and especially the Catholic universitys call to serve the Church with unparalleled creativity industriousness and hope. The breadth and wisdom of Cavadinis distinctive leadership is a model for guiding the Catholic university along its unique mission both within higher education and for the life of the Church. This vision is captured in Cavadinis person and by extension in the initiatives projects and institutional activities that he has designed and executed. The vision is difficult to see all at once because of its comprehensiveness but once glimpsed it shines as a standard by which leadership in Catholic higher education may be measured. This leadership has never been more necessary for the life of the Catholic university and its service to the Church.