“To a great extent the level of any civilization is the level of its womanhood. … The higher her virtue, the more noble her character, the more devoted she is to truth, justice, goodness.” – Fulton Sheen
What do you first think of when you hear the words, “Notre Dame?” Most Americans probably envision scenes of football—gold helmets, Rudy, and the greatest fight song of all time. But how many think of Our Lady, the true meaning of “Notre Dame”?
Though images of Mary are not lacking on campus—our golden dome bears a 16-foot statue of her—that abundance does not conceal the sad truth: Notre Dame has abandoned her namesake, and with it, her female students in particular.
As a Catholic university named after the Mother of God, Notre Dame holds a special obligation to her female students, one that it struggles to fulfill. In an age dominated by resentment between the sexes, bitter arguments about “reproductive rights,” and rampant confusion in youth who believe gender is a choice, female students at universities are often given the wrong resources to embrace their femininity and womanhood. Unfortunately, Notre Dame is no exception.
In recent years, programs and events offered by various departments and clubs at the university have increasingly supported feminist ideologies that tear down women on campus, rather than build them up to be examples of selfless virtue.
The Gender Studies Program recently hosted a film screening of Therese Schechter’s My So-Called Selfish Life, a documentary about the “freedom” of childlessness. In the film, Schechter, a feminist and pro-abortion movie director, explores the “social taboo” of not becoming a mother, criticizing motherhood as a burdensome choice that should not be inflicted on all women.
Last year, a coalition of departments at Notre Dame hosted a drag show performance at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center on campus. Despite voiced outrage from students, staff, parents, and alumni of the university, the administration defended the drag show in the name of “academic freedom.”
Even Notre Dame’s Campus Ministry regularly offers programs in support of LGBTQ issues, directed by its female “LGBTQ Chaplain.” An LGBT and Allies retreat occurs each year, seeking to “integrate [participants’] spirituality with their LGBTQ Identity and their allies.”
Events like these not only endanger the Catholic character of Our Lady’s university, they inflict terrible harm on the women here. Notre Dame has supported the mockery of women, and as one myself, it is incredibly disheartening to see.
Why has femininity been under attack in recent decades? Why are feminists the loudest voices for women, as they insist that killing their children is a preservation of “bodily autonomy,” and that a man can become a woman simply by dressing as one? Why does Notre Dame push female students to choose a career over the vocation of being a “stay-at-home mom”?
There is no room here to dwell on the long and complicated history of feminism, but suffice it to say that modern feminism has turned any true concern for women into a radical rejection of woman: She is not equal with man until she is the same as man in every way. Modern feminism has reduced woman to a random aggregate of body parts, which can be taken, swapped, removed, and returned like the parts of a car.
Though the modern feminist might claim to have the true understanding of womanhood, in reality she understands nothing. Drag shows, supposedly a celebration of expression and femininity, are nothing but a mockery and gross parody of womanhood.
Motherhood, a beautiful calling for many women, is indeed difficult, but it is also the physical embodiment of women’s caring nature and a means of fulfillment in vocation. Any support for transgender ideology is support for a deeply confused understanding of gender—no one who truly understands what men and women are thinks that the two are interchangeable. Basic science can show that.
I challenge the university to take its name seriously as it forms its female students. Committed to shaping “mind, body, and spirit,” Notre Dame has failed in all three areas to her women. How often does it hold Mary up as an example of womanhood and femininity? Why are we being told instead that motherhood is a burden and a restriction of freedom, that femininity is nothing but a tacky and lude display?
Notre Dame should be primed to support women: The university is named after Mary, the model of femininity. A mother herself, Mary understood the pain and the sacrifice of such a role, but she also most definitely knew of its immense joy and fulfillment.
A society is only as strong as its women: They are the foundations of every family, which are the most fundamental unit of every society. Culture today promotes a vision of a radically autonomous woman who has cut off all relationality. We see this everywhere: In abortion clinics, in corporations, in movies. If Notre Dame is truly concerned about shaping students who are forces for good, who contribute to society, she should rethink how she promotes this culture of relational femininity.
Any success of Notre Dame as an educational institution should be measured, not by her ranking or football team, but by the holiness and happiness of her students. Fr. Sorin wrote, “When this school, Our Lady’s school, grows a bit more, I shall raise her aloft so that, without asking, all men shall know why we have succeeded here. To that lovely Lady, raised high on a dome, a Golden Dome, men may look and find the answer.”
The women of Notre Dame cannot be happy while they are taught that their worth lies in embracing something contrary to their nature. Look to Mary, Notre Dame, as the example of all that is womanly, virtuous, and good.
Lucy Spence is a sophomore studying piano performance and the Program of Liberal Studies. Contact her at lspence@nd.edu.
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
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