“The true Christian is a warrior, not because he loves the fight, but because he loves the truth.” – St. John Henry Cardinal Newman
Notre Dame is a microcosm of the Catholic Church in America. We too have our fair share of students who are “cafeteria Catholic,” “trad,” “Creaster,” and “based.” But similar to the trend of American Catholicism, Notre Dame has shifted over the past decade. For the better.
During my time at Notre Dame, I’ve heard many harsh critiques of the university’s deviance from Catholic teaching, and I’ve made a lot of them as well. But what many onlookers don’t realize is that, despite—and often because of—challenges to the Catholic faith, campus life is bursting with opportunities for spiritual and intellectual growth.
First, several organizations on campus—all established relatively recently in the history of Notre Dame—have responded enthusiastically to Blessed Basil Moreau’s call to educate the “mind, body, and heart” of students in the true tradition of the faith.
One of these organizations is the Sorin Fellows Program, founded in 2014 as part of the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture. As a community of undergraduate, graduate, and professional students, the Sorin Fellows Program provides “integral student formation in the Catholic tradition,” according to their website. Programming includes international pilgrimages, dinners with professors, stimulating lectures, and much more. The Sorin Fellows Program currently has close to 500 undergraduate members.
Another recently-founded organization is the Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Government (CCCG), established in 2021 in conjunction with the minor in constitutional studies, itself created in 2012. Similar to the Sorin Fellows Program, the CCCG forms students in the intellectual tradition of America with classes in the undergraduate minor, notable speakers, and a flourishing community of students.
The CCCG explicitly supports the university’s mission to educate students in the Catholic faith. According to its website, “The Center aspires to further Notre Dame’s Catholic character and mission by providing a forum where, through free inquiry and reasoned discussion, the Catholic intellectual tradition is brought to bear on enduring and contemporary questions concerning a just constitutional order.”
Yet another organization that actively furthers the university’s Catholic character is the Business Honors Program (BHP), established in 2021 in the Mendoza College of Business. The BHP is a three-year course of study and programming that consists of classes, colloquia, networking opportunities, personal mentorship, and faith formation.
And like the Sorin Fellows Program and the CCCG, the BHP’s mission page also affirms its commitment to Catholicism: “While market trends come and go, we orient ourselves to the eternal. Our Catholic identity informs our approach to structuring a business education and to preparing our students for virtuous careers and lives.”
But even aside from these recently-formed institutional organizations—and others that go unmentioned—the student population itself has also shown signs of a Catholic shift.
Every week, over 200 Masses are celebrated on campus, which many students attend daily. Adoration times amount to almost 50 hours combined. The basilica’s daily confession lines often stretch to over 30 students. Perhaps most significantly, a record number of 61 students are currently participating in Campus Ministry’s formation to receive Sacraments of Initiation this year, with 30 preparing to enter the Church. And if you ask Catholic professors, priests, and alumni of the university, they will tell you that Notre Dame students are more devout than ever.
This trend is mirrored by a more general return to conservative ideas and values. According to a recent Irish Rover poll, undergraduate students favor Donald Trump in the upcoming presidential race, 48 percent to Harris’ 46 percent. Compare that to 2020, when a different poll showed Biden ahead with 66 percent of the student body to Trump’s 29 percent. A decrease in support of the party of abortion, birth control, and LGBTQ+ rights is clearly a step in favor of Catholic principles.
Certainly, Notre Dame has its failings, and I write not to inspire a false security, but rather hope and action in the midst of adversity. Readers of the Rover need not look far beyond our website’s front page to find examples of scandal at Our Lady’s University. In accordance with the mission of the Rover itself, we conduct our reporting to draw attention to these failings, but more importantly to unite the university’s actions to her original mission and to the convictions of so many current students, faculty, and alumni.
But even the flaws—tragic, to be sure—can nevertheless prompt students to grow in their faith while defending their beloved institution.
To name one example, a recent article in the National Catholic Register describes the conversion of one student’s entire family, in which his brother’s specific motivation for conversion was his participation in the protest of last year’s drag show. The student—a current senior at Notre Dame—explained his family’s conversion in a post on X, saying, “[I]t was really enemies of the Church who did the most to help them become Catholic.”
This story does not stand alone. The Rover itself attempts to bring its readers, writers, and staff closer to God through its work of upholding truth and combating the attacks on the university’s Catholic character.
Notre Dame is a battleground, and students should come ready to defend the faith with prudence, fortitude, and charity. Our Lady’s University has not forsaken her authentic mission like so many other formerly-Catholic institutions, and innumerable professors remain thoroughly devoted to Notre Dame’s tradition of academic excellence and formation of Catholic virtue. Through it all, Notre Dame still provides students with ever-growing resources—spiritual, intellectual, and communal—to fight the battle and emerge victorious.
Michael Canady is a junior studying classics from Falls Church, Virginia. He can be reached at mcanady@nd.edu.
