In his autobiography, “Seeking a Center: My Life as a ‘Great Bookie,’” Bird described his personal search for truth, and how he made use of methods learned from Gilson and Adler to rediscover the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas, which eventually led him to the Catholic Church. That search was, in the words of his Notre Dame colleague, Ralph McInerny, “the journey of an intellect, of a soul, that puts before the reader a vision of the intellectual life one wishes were more palpably present in Catholic colleges and universities than it is nowadays.”from http://pls.nd.edu/about/news/
The same could be said of Dr. McInerny.
My own personal memories of Dr. McInerny at Notre Dame are all positive. I first was introduced to him at a conference when I was in high school that my grandfather, also named Ralph, took me to. They both greeted each other with a hearty handshake, and "Hello, Ralph!" "Hello, Ralph!" I suppose if your name is Ralph you have a sense of connection to other Ralphs. I was touched and a little surprised when Dr. McInerny recognized me on campus several seasons later and asked after Grandpa Ralph.
My husband was a student in one of his undergraduate Aquinas classes and still refers to something he learned in that class almost every month. He knew he was in the presence of a genius because Dr. McInerny made something so difficult so accessible. And it was Dr. McInerny who taught my husband that meeting his future wife was providential. While Dr. McInerny was describing the difference between accidental and intentional causes, he used the example of how when you go to the dining hall, you intend to eat a hamburger, but then accidentally meet your wife, the accidental cause is God. And so it was!
His autobiography, I Alone Have Escaped to Tell You, is not only entertaining but enlightening, like all of his essays and books and poetry. Our deacon gave a homily today about preaching the truth with charity, which is what Dr. McInerny always did. A true man of letters who will be missed.
