“If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand..” – Mark 3:25
When judging Notre Dame’s “Catholicity,” promoters often cite events, lectures, and programming that demonstrate authentic Catholic teaching, and detractors emphasize events that clearly contradict the doctrine of the Faith. But what these Notre Dame critics too often miss is the attendance at these events, which reveals a significant finding: ‘Woke’ progressive events at Notre Dame attract far lower student participation than solid Catholic programming.
Examples of this poor participation grade for ‘woke’ events abound. In March of 2024, Student Government hosted the third-annual “PrideFest,” a weeklong celebration of “LGBTQ+ students and their place on campus.” In one of the week’s three events—a panel discussion on “intersectionality”—the audience consisted of 15 students, including staff members.
In November 2024, several university organizations and departments hosted a panel on critical race theory topics titled, “What Does It Mean to Make Amends? A Talk on Reparations.” Only 10 students were in attendance.
Last semester, the Gender Studies Program screened a film that promotes transgenderism and abortion while demeaning family values—a message that was admittedly at odds with Catholic teaching, according to comments from the director. But despite the progressive themes of the movie, fewer than 15 undergraduate students were in attendance.
At a university of almost nine thousand undergraduates, a participation grade of 0.16 percent or lower is a failing grade. Compare that to several examples of regular high attendance at conservative, or authentically Catholic events on campus.
Most recently, over 430 students traveled on overnight buses to Washington, D.C. for the annual March for Life. (Even this large number represents a decrease after the Dobbs decision placed more emphasis on the states rather than the national level.) Like last year’s class on Augustine’s Confessions, the theology department’s current one-credit class on C. S. Lewis is also filled to capacity—465 students. Even smaller events like Old College’s Log Chapel Mass—every Tuesday at 9 p.m.—regularly draw over 75 undergraduates.
The Sorin Fellows Program with the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture (dCEC) is yet another example of authentically Catholic programming. Providing “integral student formation in the Catholic tradition,” the program boasts a membership of over 750 undergraduates.
These examples and many others demonstrate that events rooted in the truths of the Catholic Faith clearly attract more Notre Dame students than the events steeped in the ‘woke’ secular culture—a culture expressly opposed to Catholic teaching and traditional Christian values more broadly.
By contrasting the leftist culture to Catholicism, you may think I do an injustice. ‘Woke’ liberals can be Catholic too, right? On issues of Catholic moral doctrine, the answer is no. A strong correlation exists between faithful Catholics and those who hold conservative values—and this is not unique to Notre Dame. A study by Pew Research Center found that among Catholic adults who attend Mass once a week once or more, 50 percent identified as conservative while only 15 percent identified as liberal.
This is not to say that there are no left-leaning students at Notre Dame, or that a vast majority of Notre Dame students are conservative Catholics. As several recent presidential polls suggested, students on campus tend to fall evenly on both sides of the political divide.
But the attendance trend suggests a curious possibility: Left-leaning students are more moderate than they are ‘woke.’ If ‘woke’ events are as sparsely populated as I have demonstrated, the political identification of left-leaning students doesn’t actually indicate the strength of ‘woke’ culture on campus. When analyzed more closely, the seemingly even split between left and right is imbalanced: left-leaning students are moderate, right-leaning students are strong, active Catholics.
Events promoting critical race theory or LGBT ideology have no place at Notre Dame. They are obscene and scandalous on a campus dedicated to Mary, Mother of God. Certainly, it is a silver lining that so few students even attend them, but the university’s administration should recognize that most students don’t need—or want—the events.
So what do these poorly attended events accomplish anyways? Simple supply and demand principles would direct administrators to acknowledge them as a waste of time. The underlying reason is the emphasis on “inclusion” and “belonging,” cited by recent DEI and LGBT initiatives as supposedly “Catholic” values. Aside from these misunderstood principles of Catholicism, the aim of achieving “belonging” is inherently a futile one.
The 15 students on the entire campus who support radical anti-Catholic gender ideology, abortion-on-demand, and racial extremism shouldn’t expect to agree with the Catholic mission of the university. Nor can they expect to belong. The university would have to give up its Catholic mission for the sake of a tiny minority of students. For these fringe participants, “belonging” is only found if the university ceases to be Catholic—see Georgetown for reference. Meeting impossible, harmful, and anti-Catholic demands is not the answer. The university must respond with a charitable invitation to the Truth of Christ, where one finds real happiness, and where one truly belongs.
‘Woke’ ideology is crumbling, and Trump’s election—expressly opposed to DEI and transgenderism—was a vindication of that trend on a national scale. Regardless of broader political affiliation, normal Americans—and normal Notre Dame students—don’t fall for woke insanity. The university’s administration needs to get with the times and stop catering to the 0.16 percent.
Michael Canady is a junior from Falls Church, Virginia. He can be reached at mcanady2@nd.edu.
Photo Credit: Matthew Rice
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