Submitted by: Dan Rich
Rev. William M. Lewers, CSC
June 1, 1927 - April 19, 1997
South Bend Tribune 4/22/1997
Rev. William M. Lewers, CSC, 69, died following a lengthy illness at 2:50 p.m. on Saturday, April 19, in Holy Cross House, Notre Dame, Ind.
Father Lewers was a former Provincial Superior of the Indiana Province of the Congregation of Holy Cross. At the time of his death he was a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Notre Dame, a professor of law and director of the Center for Civil and Human Rights in the Notre Dame Law School, and a fellow in the Helen Kellogg Institute for International Studies at Notre Dame.
Father Lewers was born in Kansas City, Mo., on June 1, 1927, the son of the late Mirah (McIntyre) and Charles Lewers.
He was educated through high school in the public schools of Kansas City. He graduated from the University of Illinois with a bachelor of science degree in law in 1948, and in 1950 earned his J.D. with honors, also from Illinois. He was a graduate fellow at the Yale Law School from 1952-1954. He was a member of the law faculties of the University of Kentucky from 1954-55 and the University of Illinois from 1955-57, and practiced law in Kansas City before entering the Congregation of Holy Cross.
Father Lewers entered the Sacred Heart Novitiate in Jordan, Minn., on Aug. 15, 1960, and pronounced his first vows there a year later. He studied theology at Holy Cross College in Washington, D.C., from 1961-65, and there made his perpetual profession of religious vows in the Congregation of Holy Cross on June 1, 1965. He was ordained to the priesthood at the Basilica of Sacred Heart Church, Notre Dame, by the Most Rev. Leo A. Pursley, D.D., Bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend, on June 9, 1965.
Following his ordination, Father Lewers taught in the Notre Dame Law School from 1965-1967, also serving on the staff of Moreau Seminary in 1967. While on leave from the law school from 1967-69, he was visiting professor of law at Catholic University of Chile and was Director of Professed Seminarians at Holy Cross Community Center in Santiago. He returned to the law faculty at Notre Dame from 1969-73, and served as director of Notre Dame's London Centre for Legal Studies in 1971-72.
At the Provincial Chapter of 1973, Father Lewers was elected Provincial Superior of the Indiana Province, a post he held until June 1979. Following his service as provincial, he enjoyed a sabbatical year at the Trappist Monastery in Santiago, Chile. He then served as Superior at Casa Santa Cruz in Phoenix for a year, following which he joined the staff at Holy Cross Novitiate in Cascade, Colo.
Father Lewers served the Catholic Bishops of the United States as Director of the Office of International Justice and Peace of the United State Catholic Conference in Washington, D.C., from 1983-88.
Father Lewers returned to the Notre Dame Law School as professor of law and director of the Center for Civil and Human Rights in 1988, also serving as a fellow in the University's Helen Kellogg Institute for International Studies. In response to the need for education in human rights, he was a driving force in initiating Notre Dame's Master of Laws Program in International Human Rights Law, which has brought lawyers from numerous countries together for specialized study and research in this vital field. He also received a Ford Foundation grant to underwrite the translation and publication, by the University of Notre Dame Press, of the report of the Chilean National Commission of Truth and Reconciliation, which documented human rights abuses during the former military regime in that country.
The University of Notre Dame awarded Father Lewers an honorary doctorate of laws in 1979 and the Notre Dame Alumni in 1996 awarded him its Rev. John J. Cavanaugh, CSC, Award, given in honor of outstanding achievements in the fields of government or public service.
Father Lewers served on the Board of Trustees of Stonehill College in North Easton, Mass., from 1972-79. As Provincial Superior he served ex officio on the Board of Regents of the University of Portland and the Board of Fellows and Board of Trustees of the University of Notre Dame. He was returned to the Board of Trustees of Notre Dame by election in 1984.
Father Lewers was a member of the Missouri Bar and the Bar of the Supreme Court of the United States, the American Society of International Law and the Phi Alpha Delta law fraternity.
Father Lewis is survived by a niece and two nephews. As a staunch defender of human rights, he is remembered nationally and internationally by many who called him colleague and friend, including church and political leaders. Students and law faculty colleagues likewise held him in great respect.
A wake service will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday in Moreau Seminary, Notre Dame. The Funeral Mass and Rites of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at Notre Dame. Burial will immediately follow in the Community Cemetery at Notre Dame.