University of Notre Dame Thank you for that introduction, John, and thank you to the Alumni Association for this incredible honor. My deep thanks also go to Joe Cassidy for his nomination, and to my family and friends who traveled here today to share in this moment. When I was a student at Notre Dame, I frequently passed the iconic photograph in the LaFortune Student Center of Fr. Ted Hesburgh and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. standing arm-in-arm, singing “We Shall Overcome.” That image embodied Fr. Ted’s radical commitment to serve others, especially when it was difficult or controversial. Fr. John Cavanaugh gave Fr. Ted this advice, “Decide what is the right and just and best thing to do, and then do it, no matter what it costs, no matter if it makes you very unpopular, no matter how difficult it will be to make it stick." I could never get a photo without my own reflection in it. Over time, however, I saw my reflection in the image as a personal invitation to put myself in the sce...
These posts are the collected homilies of Deacon Ned Berghausen, permanent deacon of the Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville, assigned to St. Agnes Catholic Church. The title "Foot Washer" refers to the Last Supper (John 13:1-20) in which Jesus washed the feet of the apostles and challenged them, "“Do you realize what I have done for you? If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow."