Does Notre Dame retain its religious ties?
In 1842, Father Edward Sorin and fellow priests of the Congregation of Holy Cross (C.S.C.) arrived in Indiana with a vision: to found the University of Notre Dame as a force for good in the world. Now, 183 years later, Notre Dame has grown to be a premier Catholic research university, with over 13,000 graduate and undergraduate students from around the world.
Despite its growth, the university has faithfully maintained its relationship with Holy Cross. It is precisely this connection, many note, which has significantly contributed to Notre Dame’s comparative orthodoxy when placed beside other Catholic universities.
The Congregation of Holy Cross was founded in 1837 by Blessed Basil Moreau in Sainte-Croix, France. The community of priests and brothers has since expanded to include three independent congregations of Holy Cross sisters, as well as missions and schools throughout the globe, including the University of Notre Dame.
The Notre Dame Holy Cross website describes its mission, saying, “We want to pass along the traditions of faith and reason that we cherish as the Congregation of Holy Cross. We hope to do this by serving the Notre Dame family as fellow teachers and learners, as spiritual brothers to the young and old, as lifetime friends joining in the earthly journey, as stewards of a treasured heritage.”
The university’s website says of its relationship with Holy Cross, “From the Congregation’s founding, Holy Cross priests and brothers have always lived side by side with students, demonstrating the rewards of living a faith-filled life.”
The website continues, “Whether it’s lending a listening ear after an evening residence hall Mass, instructing a course, or serving in other roles for the University, the priests and brothers of Holy Cross are living out Fr. Moreau’s vision today, more than 175 years later, ‘making God known, loved, and served’ with apostolic zeal, bringing hope to the entire Notre Dame community and beyond!”
Notre Dame observes several official relationships between the university and Holy Cross priests and brothers. All 18 university presidents have been Holy Cross priests, and the brothers and priests of the Congregation continue to live, work, and teach on campus.
Members of the Congregation also help comprise the Fellows of the University, a “self-perpetuating body” of 12 members who act as “successors and associates” of the original founders. According to the university website, the tasks of the Fellows are to determine the power delegated to the Board of Trustees, to elect the Trustees, to adopt and amend university bylaws, to approve the sale of university property, and to ensure that the university maintains its Catholic character.
The Fellows of the University must always consist of six members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, United States Province of Priests and Brothers, and six laypeople. In addition, the Board of Trustees, which holds the “general governance of the University,” consists of members of the Congregation of Holy Cross as well as lay men and women. Though there is no specified number of members who must belong to the Congregation, seven out of the total 39 are currently Holy Cross priests or brothers.
Many have remarked how these guidelines, put in place by former university president Fr. Theodore Hesburgh, C.S.C., have enabled Notre Dame to maintain its Catholicity more than many of its academic contemporaries. Fr. Gregory Haake, C.S.C., the Religious Superior for the Holy Cross Community and Associate Professor of French and Francophone Studies, commented on the formal relationship: “These things matter, and they have mattered since 1967. This was mostly Fr. Hesburgh’s design, and I credit him with having the foresight to know what was necessary for Notre Dame to remain a Catholic and Holy Cross institution.”
The two-tiered board of lay and religious trustees and fellows was formed in 1967, when Fr. Hesburgh decided to change the university structure in order to allow for more lay governance. Until that point, the university had been solely owned by the Congregation since receiving its 1844 Charter from the state of Indiana. Fr. Hesburgh’s new arrangement transferred ownership and governance of the university to the shared administration of both Holy Cross members and laypeople.
This change came in the same year as the Land O’Lakes statement, which, led by Fr. Hesburgh and co-signed by many of America’s Catholic universities, attempted to give Catholic universities academic and institutional freedom from the authority of Rome.
According to some, however, the bylaws that maintain the continuous involvement of the Congregation have nevertheless enabled the university to keep its connection with Rome more strongly than many of its peers.
Fr. Wilson Miscamble, C.S.C., a professor emeritus of the history department, commented on the consistent role of the Congregation despite its governing changes, saying, “From the time of Sorin, through many decades, up through Hesburgh and beyond, while the manner of the involvement might have changed, the depth of the commitment has not. … Holy Cross is still integrally involved in the basic governing structure of the university.”
Fr. Haake remarked, “Our presence in the administration, in the faculty, in the residence halls, in campus ministry, and of course, our ongoing involvement in the governance of the university, have all been essential to maintaining Notre Dame’s Catholic identity and mission.”
Judith Bosco, a freshman in Pasquerilla West, expressed her appreciation for the community’s presence at Notre Dame, saying, “Coming here was my very first time encountering the Congregation. It’s really nice to see, because I haven’t been to Catholic schools until now. It’s really cool to see priests walking around, going to class, or chatting with students.”
Fr. Miscamble continued, “The shared governance arrangement … is a sign at the structural level of the commitment that Holy Cross continues to make to Notre Dame. But in addition to that sort of formal, almost legal area, what you see, if you look around, is a deep commitment to all aspects of Notre Dame. … I see it as a sort of a three-legged stool that Holy Cross is involved in: academic, administrative and residential life.”
This trifold involvement in the University, according to Fr. Miscamble, has been an essential component in maintaining the Catholic character of the University.
Fr. Miscamble pointed out that many Catholic universities have received criticism for abandoning their mission, saying, “The last half-century in Catholic higher education in the United States has seen, in the case of many of the major universities, a decrease in their Catholic identity; they’re less faithful in mission. And this has occurred to some degree at Notre Dame, the desire for academic ‘excellence’ as measured by the secular academy. We want the approval of big name schools, the Ivy League and so on.”
He continued, “This leads to a certain challenge to Catholic identity and mission. But I think for the most part, Holy Cross has been a barrier to that secularizing process and pressure. There are real pressures involved, but the question is before us, whether Holy Cross will continue to stand strong for the Catholic mission. … They have a special responsibility to secure and to enhance the Catholic identity and mission of Notre Dame.”
Looking to the future, Fr. Miscamble also expressed the need for vocations as part of the Congregation’s mission at the university, saying, “If Holy Cross is to continue to play its crucial role at Notre Dame in maintaining the Catholicity of the university, I hope there will be young men who will come to join us and see that they may play some role in one of these areas.”
Given the growth of the university in the past 60 years, the proportion of Holy Cross religious to other faculty and staff has decreased. Fr. Haake commented on the change, saying, “Our presence on campus, while still quite visible, is numerically less significant. This reality has changed both the university’s and the Congregation’s approach to how Holy Cross religious live and work here.”
He continued, “What hasn’t changed is our love for the university and our desire that the university fulfill its mission and be the best that it can be, both as an institution of higher education and as an instrument of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Congregation and the university are constantly working together to ensure that Holy Cross continues to be an essential part of that.”
Abby Strelow is a freshman studying theology and PLS. She has two goals for the remainder of her time at Notre Dame: convince the administration to build a 24/7 Adoration chapel and to get a chicken tractor on South quad. To learn more about her grand plans for the university, you can email her at astrelow@nd.edu.
Photo Credit: People Join People: Finding the Right Fit for Your Vocation | Congregation of Holy Cross
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