<p>In the Catholic church there are all the rules and encyclicals and canon law and all sorts of other stuff we are supposed to believe it that gives me a headache to think about it. Catholics as individuals can and will exercise independent judgment on a number of them. No one's checking. There are no "sin police." Thank God.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, as a Catholic institution, Notre Dame does adhere to those rules, policies and whatnot. Du Lac is the codification of Church teaching on sexual morality. I was a student in the early '80's, remember--not exactly the Victorian era as alumni of my era can no doubt attest. Du Lac was breeched. All the time. It was, in fact, somewhat of a running joke. So it isn't like it's going to get in the way of two young adults smart enough to get into Notre Dame... What is does do, however, is prevent sexual liaisons from being the expected thing. Even if only 15% of the student body is still virgin
--and I'd bet it's higher than that--it's worth having Du Lac, if for no other reason than to affirm the life choices of those who do choose to follow the church's teachings. Can't even fathom how many stupid mistakes and life-altering experiences it has prevented. </p>
<p>Our culture glamorizes hook-up sex in a blatant and often disturbing way. We are inundated with sexial liaisions in our media. We are not, however, likewise inundated with images of the emotional cost and consequences, the tremendous risks involved in such hookups. Hooray for Notre Dame for standing for something decent.</p>
<p>Has my opinion changed since I was my daughter's age? Sure it has. Trust that I have absolutely no room to talk with my kids--which is the position many of us are in our generation. How can we tell our kids that, for their own good, they should not engage in behaviors in which we ourselves engaged? Yet that is the pickle our generation is in...and has put ourselves in. Alas, we more than anyone know how self- and other-destructive some of the behavior can be. </p>
<p>I don't know what to tell my kids when they ask about two people who are deeply in love who are considering crossing the threshold of premarital sex. Like humanae vitae, I guess it depends on the situation. Most of the sex in the "I am Charlotte Simmons" hook-up collegiate culture, however, is not based on love, but on feeling good. If we could walk away from sexual trysts seeing them as little more than an action like taking a shower, we'd be okay. But our emotions get wrapped up in all sorts of different ways. All sorts of people who have no business being together end up together not because they are truly in love, but because they had sex early and often and mistook that for thinking that they were.</p>
<p>So, before we go to trashing ND for being so wildly uncool, we might want to think about the lives that will be spared a lot of pain because they decided to hold back when holding back is the wisest course of action.</p>
<p>I believe I speak for a lot of folks of my generation when I say that the reason I hope my kids do follow Du Lac is not because I'm a hypocrite, but because, as has been the case for all their lives, I want them to be spared the pain of repeating mistakes I made a generation ago.</p>
<p>The more I think about it, the more I believe the spike is applications isn't despite DuLac and the university's Catholic identity, but precisely because of it. I want my kids at ND not just because I think it's a great place in many ways, but because I know it is a place where there's a real chance to live a spiritual and healthy lifestyle without being left completely on the sidelines. As my son puts it, lots of kids party and hook up there and it is considered cool. Nothing rare there. But it is also a good place to be if you just don't feel like partying and hooking up. There's plenty to do, and plenty of like-minded people to hang with.</p>