A changed nation salutes a change agent at 90

The moon was rising over the Wisconsin lake where the six men had spent the day fishing when they sat down in the cool pine-scented air to work on 10 resolutions that would lay the groundwork for changing the future of race relations in America.

It was 50 years ago, and the members of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights -- half Democrats and half Republicans, and equally divided North and South -- had heard hours of testimony about race in the U.S. They then reached near-unanimous agreement on the resolutions so swiftly that President Eisenhower called them to the White House to find out how they did it.

“I said, ‘Mr. President, you appointed six fishermen and we wrote that report after a wonderful day of fishing in Wisconsin where we caught a lot of big bass,’ ” recalled one commission member, Father Theodore Hesburgh. “He said, ‘Golly, I better put more fishermen on.’ He said, ‘Can I go fishing up there?’ ”

Welcome to the office of “Father Ted,” the charming priest who spent 35 years until 1987 leading the University of Notre Dame, traveling the world serving presidents and popes and witnessing history.

Hesburgh is 90 years old now, but still comes to his office in the library named after him nearly every day to visit with students, alumni and anyone else who wants to stop by for some advice, to chat or to hear a piece of the history he has seen.

The university recently honored Hesburgh at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, a Notre Dame graduate, was a speaker.

The gallery was recognizing Hesburgh’s social activism by accepting a photo of him and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. into its permanent collection. The photo shows them holding hands in solidarity during a 1964 civil rights rally against segregated housing in Chicago. A copy of the photo hangs outside Hesburgh’s office.

Hesburgh decided to attend the rally after hearing Chicago Cardinal John Cody would not be there. “I figured someone ought to show the flag, so I went anyway,” he said. “I was mingling in the crowd. Someone on his staff spotted me, and they pulled us up on the platform.”

It’s a common theme in Hesburgh’s life.

The man who says he wanted to simply become a Navy chaplain always seemed to be called to greater things.

After being ordained in 1943, he was told to get his doctorate at Catholic University. After completing a four-year course in two years, he again asked whether he could become a Navy chaplain and instead was told he would start teaching six classes at Notre Dame in two days.

He was appointed head of the religion department three years later, the university’s executive vice president in 1949 and the school’s 15th president three years later. Then came the calls from presidents and popes to weigh in on such issues as race relations, global poverty and nuclear proliferation.

He still celebrates Mass daily. He walks with a cane and his sight is failing, so he depends on students to come by and read the newspaper and magazines to him. Hesburgh listens to 20 to 25 books on tape a month.

“I read widely. Everything under the sun,” he said. “Fiction, nonfiction, science, history, autobiographies, the works, I just read across the board.”

Just as when he was university president, he still answers every piece of mail he receives and talks to the many people who call him.

“The phone is almost a nuisance because it’s ringing all the time. But again. I’m not griping about it. It’s good to keep interested rather than crawl up in a hole and die,” he said.

The one thing he doesn’t do is spend time e-mailing people. He’s never used the Internet and never will.

“I get along on this,” he said, pointing to a stack of newspapers and magazines. “What am I going to do with a computer? I think I’ve led a perfectly interesting life. I don’t need a computer to make it interesting.”

Hesburgh regularly speaks to Notre Dame classes. Often the topic is civil rights and his work with that commission, which he served on from 1957 to 1972.

“When I tell them what it was like to be a black in America back in 1963 or ‘64, they don’t believe me,” Hesburgh said. “They think I’m spinning webs.”

Notre Dame football coach Charlie Weis wrote in his book “No Excuses” about an encounter he had with Hesburgh in 1975 while he was a student.

Weis, who didn’t play football in college, was upset about the way the team had performed and called Hesburgh’s office on a Sunday to leave a message. Instead, Hesburgh answered.

Hesburgh invited Weis to his office, where he told him his opinion didn’t matter and that he should be a good student who was loyal to the school and its teams.

Weis last year called it one of the most humiliating experiences of his life. But a meeting between the men after Weis was named coach three years ago went much better.

“You just sit there and don’t say anything and just listen because he can tell the whole history of things you didn’t even know you didn’t know,” Weis said. “That was probably one of the most inspiring conversations I’ve had since I’ve been here.”

Father John Jenkins, the current Notre Dame president, was a student when Hesburgh was in charge. He said Hesburgh’s strength was his ability to combine his mission as a priest with his vision as a leader.

“He had such a wonderful spiritual influence on people who weren’t Catholic, who maybe weren’t even religious. That was his core,” Jenkins said.

To mark Hesburgh’s 90th birthday, the university invited alumni and others to send good wishes. In all, more than 1,000 messages came in from around the world.

A note from Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) said in part: “In South Bend, Rome, Washington and in homes throughout America, you have truly made a difference.”

Former President Carter wrote: “I’m not far behind you in age, and I hope my years will be as productive as yours have been, and will continue to be, in the many years you still have ahead of you.”

Civil rights leader and former Ambassador Andrew Young, an ordained clergyman himself, offered a scriptural reference: “Father Ted, let me wish you a very happy birthday and warn you that Moses was 80 when he started wandering in the wilderness, and it took him until he was 120 to get to the Promised Land. So, God is not through with you yet. You’re a blessing to us all.”