Selected Moments from the Career and Contributions of David J. O'Brien

Selected Moments from the Career and Contributions of David J. O’Brien Rodger Van Allen A check of the Notre Dame Archives shows that the papers of David J. O’Brien currently occupy thirty-five linear feet and that their expansion is ongoing.1 These reflective comments must necessarily be highly selective. I will begin with my first engagement with O’Brien’s work as a reviewer of The Renewal of American Catholicism, then report on a special bicentennial project in which he was a key participant, and also some dialogue three decades ago about the need for a new journal dealing with Catholicism in the United States. I will conclude with attention to some dimensions of his scholarly service to the Church. The Renewal of American Catholicism This collection of essays that brought historical perspective to contemporary issues confronting American Catholics, was mostly written during the late sixties and early seventies, a time that called for a deeper understanding of both American and Catholic identities.2 “Pope John XXIII and President John F. Kennedy, those two idols of my generation,” said O’Brien, “unwittingly shifted the fulcrum of Catholic life and permanently altered the Catholic conception of allegiance to God and country .” Situated in the midst of the most difficult days of the Vietnam War, O’Brien said he wrote “with my sense of the depth of the national crisis and the importance of the Catholic response” very sharply etched in his mind.3 Two other elements of O’Brien’s approach are also notable. First, it was clear that he wrote as a committed Catholic. It was his tradition both for study and for life. The quite famous prayer of Thomas Merton preceded the dedication page of the book: 25 1. Available at http://archives.nd.edu/findaids/ead/index/DOB001.htm 2. David J. O’Brien, The Renewal of American Catholicism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1972). 3. Ibid., xi. My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope that I never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. The second notable element in O’Brien’s approach was the following unambiguous statement: “It will be clear to the reader that I have no intention of making detachment or objectivity the hallmark of this study.” O’Brien explained that his goal was to sharpen the issues in such a way that he might make a contribution toward appropriate action. Peter Maurin and Dorothy Day had talked of “clarification of thought” achieved through regular discussion of what Christian commitment should mean in social and political life. In that spirit, O’Brien hoped his book would “clarify thought.” Historical consciousness, he argued, “enables us to understand our situation and to act with perspective, deepened sensitivity and humility.”4 Those who lacked historical awareness deserved the reproach of H. Richard Niebuhr: “the evil habit of men in all times to criticize their predecessors for having seen only half of the truth hides from them their own partiality and incompleteness.”5 One of the most striking and enduring essays in O’Brien’s book was a brilliantly informed and analytical review of the major histories of American religion.6 The narratives for the most part exhibited an uncritical American and Protestant triumphalism. That assessment was not limited to the perspective of a Catholic scholar like O’Brien. When O’Brien stated that American religious history had been invariably written as Protestant history, resting on the unannounced...