In mid-July 2020, in partnership with a small group of Flannery O’Connor scholars, I composed the following letter to oppose the removal of Flannery O’Connor’s name from one of the buildings on the campus of Loyola University Maryland.
The letter, along with the campaign, was endorsed by novelist Alice Walker, and garnered some 200 signatures from some of America’s premier writers, literary scholars, theologians, professors, religious leaders (including a number of Jesuits), and devoted readers whose lives, minds, and hearts have been shaped by their encounter with Flannery O’Connor.
The letter was presented to the president of Loyola, Rev. Brian Linnane, S.J., on July 31st, 2020, the Feast of St. Ignatius Loyola.
–Angela Alaimo O’Donnell
Dear Fr. Linnane,
We must honor Flannery for growing. Hide nothing of what she was, and use that to teach.—Alice Walker, statement issued to Loyola University Maryland, July 27, 2020
It has come to the attention of the Flannery O’Connor scholarly community, professors who teach O’Connor in university classes, distinguished writers, and many readers and admirers of her work, that Loyola University Maryland has decided to remove Flannery O’Connor’s name from one of your buildings on campus. We believe this gesture is a mistake.
Flannery O’Connor is among the finest writers America has produced. More to the point, she was an observant Catholic whose work is deeply informed by the tenets of her faith. O’Connor believes in the Imago Dei, the fact that every human being is beloved of God and made in God’s image. Her stories champion the despised, the outcast, and the other, demonstrating their humanity, and call to account people who try to deny their God-given sacred nature. Among the despised in her stories are African Americans, and the primary objects of her satire are most often racist whites.
It is also a fact that Flannery O’Connor grew up in the mid-20th century, virulently racist culture of the American South. She was marked by that culture, as surely as whites growing up in the current racist culture of America are marked. Living in a toxic, racially unjust environment inevitably shapes us all. What makes O’Connor extraordinary is her conscious choice to use her God-given gifts as an artist to oppose her culture and create anti-racist work. In the course of O’Connor’s career as a fiction writer, we see her becoming bolder, more nuanced, and more outspoken in her opposition to the “inburnt beliefs” of her fellow Southerners and fellow Americans. This was her way of wrestling with and struggling against the racist legacy she inherited. O’Connor “grew,” as Alice Walker observes in the statement that appears in the epigraph to this letter, and she grew in remarkable ways.
Given this, it is deeply ironic that of all writers, Flannery O’Connor, the radical Roman Catholic, should be “cancelled” at a Roman Catholic university. From an unapologetically Catholic angle of vision, she portrayed America and the human soul as it was and as it is–deeply divided, broken and flawed, and much in need of conversion and repentance.
O’Connor’s work and example offer contemporary readers and students a great source of hope and encouragement, especially in the historic moment we find ourselves in. The heartbreaking and very public killing of Ahmaud Arbery & George Floyd (as well as the brutal lynching and murder of so many black men and women before them, both those we can name and those we cannot) have forced white Americans to look closely at the ugly face of racism in our history, in our institutions, in our population, and in ourselves. O’Connor may—and does—make some racially insensitive statements in her private correspondence. There is no excusing this. But in her stories her better angel rules. She holds herself—all of her racist white characters—and all white people—up for judgment. She lays claim to America’s original sin of racism, seeks atonement, and she atones. Given the deeply Catholic, deeply theological character of her work, the name of Flannery O’Connor—perhaps above that of any other American writer—belongs on a building at a Jesuit university such as Loyola Maryland.
In many ways, we are poised at a crisis point as a nation and a culture. As you are surely aware, cancelling Confederate generals and dismantling Civil War monuments is a very different matter from cancelling writers, thinkers, and artists, none of whom were ever presumed to be saints or paragons of conventional virtue. This is antithetical to university culture and intellectual life. Few, if any, of the great writers of the past can survive the purity test they are currently being subject to. If a university (Catholic or otherwise) effectively banishes Flannery O’Connor, why keep Sophocles, Dante, Shakespeare, Dickens, Dostoevsky and other writers who were marked by the racist, misogynist, and/or anti-Semitic cultures and eras they lived in the midst of? No one will be left standing.
We urge you to reconsider this unfortunate decision and to keep O’Connor’s name among those honored names that grace your buildings. We also applaud your decision to add Sister Thea Bowman’s name to your named buildings, as well. What could be more fitting than to see these two Southern Catholic women’s names appear side by side, one white, one black, both pioneers of the faith who employed their talents and imaginations in the service of God, their Church, and the greater good?
We must honor Flannery for growing. Hide nothing of what she was, and use that to teach.—Alice Walker, statement issued to Loyola University Maryland, July 27, 2020
This statement made by novelist Alice Walker in response to this decision and quoted at the opening of this letter seems a fitting place to close. It is brief and eloquent in its truth and power. We must “honor” O’Connor for who and what she was, not hide her from view because she was not perfect, not pretend that she never existed, not erase her from the daily experience of students, faculty, and members of the university and the human community. Walker praises O’Connor “for growing,” for having the courage and humility to confront, through her writings, her own shortcomings and prejudices and to critique them, via the characters she invented in her stories. Finally, Walker, consummate teacher that she is, urges us to use this as a teachable moment. We are all desperately in need of conversion and transformation. O’Connor died young, 39 years old, in 1964 at the height of the Civil Rights movement. As she lay on her death bed, she was writing story after story about white racists who arrive at the difficult knowledge of their sin. Reading these stories, we watch her coming to a painful but necessary understanding of herself. O’Connor once wrote that conversion is not something that happens in a minute. It is like a continuous blast of “annihilating light, a blast that will last a lifetime.” Reading her work, as all students and all people of our moment in history should and must, we see her standing in that light. And she does not flinch.
It is no small thing to remove Flannery O’Connor from the pantheon of Catholic writers and intellectuals honored on your campus. We urge you to reconsider this decision.
Sincerely,
Alice Walker, writer
Richard Rodriguez, writer
Ron Hansen, writer, Santa Clara University
Mary Gordon, writer, Millicent C. McIntosh Professor in English and Writing (Emeritus), Barnard College
Marilyn Nelson, writer, Former Poet-in-Residence of the American Poets Corner at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine; former Poet Laureate of Connecticut, former Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets
Patricia Hampl, writer, Professor of English (Emeritus), University of Minnesota
Tobias Wolff, writer, Professor emeritus, Stanford University
Catherine Wolff, writer
Angela Alaimo O’Donnell, Associate Director, Curran Center for American Catholic Studies, Fordham University
Ralph C. Wood, University Professor of Theology & Literature, Baylor University
Thomas F. Haddox, Lindsay Young Professor of English, University of Tennessee
Jessica Hooten Wilson, Louise Cowan Scholar in Residence, University of Dallas
Henry (Hank) T. Edmondson III, Ph.D, Georgia College
Farrell O’Gorman, Chair, Professor of English, Belmont Abbey College, NC
John Sykes, Mary and Harry Brown Professor of English and Religion, Wingate University
His Excellency, The Right Reverend Robert Barron, Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles
Michael Garanzini, SJ, Georgetown University
Francis X. Clooney, SJ, Parkman Professor of Divinity, Harvard University
Mark Massa, SJ, Boston College
Dónal Godfrey, S.J., Associate Director for Faculty and Staff Spirituality, University Ministry, University of San Francisco
Fr. Anthony McGuire, Diocese of San Francisco
Joseph A. Brown, SJ; Ph. D., Professor, Department of Africana Studies, Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Joe Feeney, S.J., Saint Joseph’s University
Thomas Joseph White, OP, Angelicum, Rome, Professor of Theology, Director, Thomistic Institute
Fr. Robert Imbelli, Associate Professor of Theology Emeritus, Boston College
Fr. David Stokes, Providence College
James J. Buckley, Professor Emeritus, Department of Theology, Loyola University Maryland
Maria Desmond, Former Loyola University MD faculty, Cork, Ireland
William Desmond, Inaugural Higgins Chair (Emeritus), Loyola University MD; David Cook Chair in Philosophy, Villanova University, USA; Thomas A.F. Kelly Visiting Chair in Philosophy, Maynooth University, Ireland;
Professor of Philosophy Emeritus, Institute of Philosophy, KU Leuven, Belgium
Paul Richard Blum, Ph.D., T.J. Higgins Chair in Philosophy, emeritus, Loyola University Maryland
Elizabeth Blum, Ph.D., Department of Philosophy former faculty, Loyola University Maryland
Peter Steinfels, Fordham University
Paul Mariani, Professor of English (Emeritus), Boston College
Anthony Esolen , Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts
Richard Giannone, Professor of English (Emeritus), Fordham University
Joseph Viscomi, James G. Kenan Distinguished Professor of English Literature, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
George Lensing, Mann Family Distinguished Professor of English, Emeritus, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Susan Srigley, Ph.D., Professor, Chair, Department of Religions and Cultures, Nipissing University, Canada
Mark Jarman, Centennial Professor of English, Emeritus, Vanderbilt University
Bruce Gentry, Professor of English, Georgia College, Editor, Flannery O’Connor Review
Sarah Gordon, Professor Emerita of English, Georgia College, Milledgeville, GA
Louise Westling, Professor Emerita of English, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR
Margaret Whitt, Professor Emerita of English, University of Denver, Denver, CO
Angel Ruiz, Professor of Classics, University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain)
Paul Nisley, Professor emeritus of English, Messiah College
Virginia Wray, Dean Emerita, Lyon College
Dana Greene, Dean Emerita. Oxford College, Emory University
Robert Donahoo, Professor of English, Sam Houston State University
Jennifer A. Frey, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of South Carolina
Christopher Frey, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Philosophy, University of South Carolina
Kimberly Rae Connor, Professor/School of Management, Faculty Chair for Mission Integration/Lane Center, University of San Francisco
John Schwenkler, Associate Professor, Dept. of Philosophy, Florida State University
Scott D. Moringiello, Associate Professor of Catholic Studies, DePaul University
Paul J. Contino, Professor of Great Books, Seaver College / Pepperdine University
Michael P. Murphy, Department of Theology; Director, Catholic Studies; Director, The Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage, Loyola University Chicago
Christina Bieber Lake, Clyde S. Kilby Professor of English, Wheaton College
Amy Alznauer, Lecturer, Northwestern University
John Bailey, American Academy of Cinematographers
Jill Peleaz Baumgartner, Professor of English (Emerita), Wheaton College
Bernardo Aparicio, Publisher, Dappled Things Literary Magazine
Suzanne J. Fournier, Associate Professor of English, Associate Director of Liberal Arts Honors Program, Providence College
Robert Barry, Providence College
Paul Gondreau, Providence College
James Keating, Providence College
Sandra Keating, Providence College
Patrick Macfarlane, Providence College
Patrick Reid, Providence College
Barbara Bennett, Ph.D.
Betty Littleton, Ph.D., J.D.
Gabriel Connor, Bookseller & Collector, Heaven/Haven Books
Zena Hitz, St. John’s College
Albert Gelpi, William Robertson Coe Professor of American Literature, emeritus , Stanford University
Barbara Gelpi, Emerita Professor of English, Stanford University
Jon M. Sweeney, author and publisher
Susanna Barsella, Professor of Modern Languages, Fordham University
Rebecca Steinberger, Professor of English, Misericordia University
Gary M. Ciuba, Professor of English, Kent State University
H. Collin Messer, Professor of English, Grove City College
Thomas Rzeznik, Seton Hall University
James Matthew Wilson, Associate Professor of Humanities and Augustinian Traditions, Villanova University and Poet-in-Residence, Benedict XVI Institute for Sacred Music and Divine Liturgy
Bryan Giemza, Ph.D., J.D., Associate Professor of Humanities and Literature, Texas Tech University
Joshua Hren, Ph.D., Editor of Wiseblood Books & Assistant Director of the Honors College at Belmont Abbey
Karin Coonrod, Director of EVERYTHING THAT RISES MUST CONVERGE, Yale School of Drama, faculty
Carlton Terrence Taylor, lead actor in EVERYTHING THAT RISES MUST CONVERGE, Associate artist with Compagnia de’ Colombari
Sarah Marshall, Actor, Adjunct Professor of Acting at Georgetown University
Paul Vasile, Musical Director of EVERYTHING THAT RISES MUST CONVERGE, Faculty, Eden Seminary
Dietrice Bolden, Managing Director, Impact Repertory Theatre, Actor in Compagnia de’ Colombari
MaryBeth Wise, actor, EVERYTHING THAT RISES MUST CONVERGE, Compagnia de’ Colombari
Mary C. Sommers, Professor Emerita, Department of Philosophy, Center for Thomistic Studies, University of St. Thomas
Jeffrey P. Bishop, Professor of Philosophy, Professor of Theological Studies, Tenet Chair in Bioethics, St. Louis University
Frances Howard-Snyder, Professor of Philosophy, Western Washington University
Katy Carl, Editor in Chief, Dappled Things Magazine
Karen Swallow Prior, PhD, Research Professor of English and Christianity and Culture, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
Jamie Spiering, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Benedictine College, Atchison, KS
Ashleen Menchaca Bagnulo, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Texas State University
Daniel de Haan, PhD, Faculty of Theology and Religion, Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion, Oxford University
Theresa Smart, PhD, Assistant Professor , School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership, Arizona State University
Robert K Garcia, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Baylor University
Siobhan Nash-Marshall, Professor of Philosophy, Manhattanville College
Antonia Arslan, Professor of Modern and Contemporary Italian Literature, University of Padova
Theodore P Rebard, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of St. Thomas, Houston
Janet Lowery, Ph.D., Professor of English, University of St. Thomas, Houston
Bernadette Waterman Ward, Associate Professor of English, University of Dallas
Grant Kaplan, Steber Chair and Professor of Theology, St. Louis University
Alice M. Ramos, Professor of Philosophy, St. John’s University
Joe B. Fulton, Professor of American Literature, Baylor University
Jessica Schnepp, Catholic University of America
Mary Hathaway, B.A., William & Mary
Anne Maloney, Associate Professor of Philosophy, St. Catherine University, MN
Kori Frazier Morgan
Owene Phillips Weber Courtney, Dir. of Spirituality, St. John’s Cathedral, FL
Beverly Willett, J.D., Catholic University of America; lawyer, writer & immediate Past President, the Flannery O’Connor Childhood Home Foundation
John Paul McKinney, Professor emeritus, Departments of Psychology and Pediatrics and Human Development, Michigan State University
Dr. Mary Reichardt, Professor of Literature, University of St. Thomas, MN
Brent Little, Ph.D., Department of Catholic Studies, Sacred Heart University
Michael Cass, Professor Emeritus, Mercer University
Michael D. Torre, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of San Francisco
John Marson Dunaway, Professor Emeritus of French and Interdisciplinary Studies, Mercer University
C. Kavin Rowe, George Washington Ivey Distinguished Professor of New Testament, Duke University
Jeremy Begbie, Thomas A. Langford Distinguished Professor of Theology, Duke University
Stanley Hauerwas, Gilbert T. Rowe Professor Emeritus of Divinity and Law, Duke University
Rebecca Vaccaro, Ph.D.
James K. Gilligan, Retired President and CEO, Blue Cross Life Insurance Company of Canada
Eric J. Silverman, Associate Professor of Philosophy,Christopher Newport University
Craig A. Boyd, Professor of Philosophy and Humanities, St. Louis University
Daniel Qualk, Masters Student English Lit, Catholic University of America
Nathan S. Lefler, Theology/Religious Studies, University of Scranton
Mike Aquilina, Executive Vice-President, St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology, Contributing Editor, Angelus News, EWTN host
Maria Poggi Johnson Ph.D., Chair, Department of Theology, University of Scranton
Joseph Sendry, Professor of English Emeritus, Catholic University of America
Maire Mullins, Professor of English, Pepperdine University
Jessica Sweeney, Managing Director of the Ars Vivendi Arts Initiative, Collegium Institute
Terence Sweeney, Adjunct Professor of Philosophy, Villanova University
Kirsten Hall, PhD candidate and Assistant Instructor in the Department of English, University of Texas at Austin
Stephen Miles, Ph.D, Loyola University Theology Dept, former member
Joe McElligott, Ph.D., Lehman College, NYC
Melody Bell, Baltimore, MD
Stephen Holmes, Towson University, Baltimore, MD
Rita Lawler, Lindale, GA
Sarah Stevens, Clarkston, GA
Sue Dunham Danielson, Pittsburgh, PA
Jason Walker, Tyler Junior College, Ph.D. candidate, Univ of Texas at Dallas
Deanna Witkowski, University of Pittsburgh
Dr. Richard Rankin Russell, Professor of English, Graduate Program Director, 2012 Baylor Centennial Professor, Baylor University
Fr. Claude Pavur, S.J., Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies, Boston College
Fr. Peter S. Rogers, S.J. Professor Emeritus, Loyola University New Orleans
John G. Trapani, Jr., Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, Walsh University
Peter C. Brown, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, Mercer University
Charlotte Thomas, Professor of Philosophy, Mercer University
Daniel Nodes, Professor of Classics, Baylor University
Paul Gutaker, Department of History, Baylor University
Julia Hejduk, the Reverend Jacob Beverly Stiteler Professor of Classics, Baylor University
David Lyle Jeffrey, Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Literature and the Humanities
Michael Foley, Associate Professor of Great Texts, Baylor University
Michael Parrish, Linden G. Bowers Professor of American History, Baylor University
Charles Ramsey, Lecturer, George W. Truett Theological Seminary, Baylor University
Richard Russell, Graduate Program Director, Department of English, Baylor University
Andrew Wisely, Associate Professor of Modern Languages and Cultures, Baylor University
Ann Astell, Professor of Theology, University of Notre Dame
E. Jane Doering, Director Emerita Teachers as Scholars Program, University of Notre Dame
Lawrence Cunningham, Emeritus Professor of Theology, University of Notre Dame
Mary M. Keys, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Notre Dame
Philip Best, Professor of Architecture, University of Notre Dame
Ruthann Knechel Johansen, Kellogg Institute for International Studies, University of Notre Dame
The Rev. Michael Rennier,Pastor, Epiphany of Our Lord Catholic Church, St. Louis, MO, Web Editor, Dappled Things Magazine
Gregory R. Beabout, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Philosophy, Saint Louis University
Jason Baehr, Professor of Philosophy, Loyola Marymount University
M. A. Rothaus Moser, Assistant Professor of Theology, Honors College, Azusa Pacific University
Lee Bacchi, Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet-in-Illinois
Ryan McGonigle, Fordham University, Class of 2011
Angela Alaimo O'Donnell 