University president Father Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C. announced the appointment of Father Gregory Haake, C.S.C. as Vice President for the Office of Mission Engagement and Church Affairs (OMECA), beginning July 1. Fr. Haake is replacing Father Austin Collins, C.S.C., who has held the position since 2021 and will be stepping down to return to the Department of Art, Art History, and Design.
In the March 3 announcement, Fr. Dowd said that “Father Greg is widely admired for his scholarly achievements, his deep commitment to Notre Dame’s mission, and his pastoral gifts. He is uniquely situated to work closely with me and with colleagues across the University to steward and deepen Notre Dame’s Catholic mission and to forge strategic partnerships both at the University and beyond in service of the Church.”
Fr. Haake is an associate professor of French and Francophone Studies in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures. Along with his role as the priest-in-residence for Coyle Hall, he serves as the religious superior of the Holy Cross priests and brothers at Notre Dame in Corby Hall, a position he will step down from as he assumes his new role. As superior, he has served as an ex officio Fellow and Trustee of the University and as a member of the President’s Leadership Council, which oversees the general governance of the university.
When asked what the role of OMECA VP entails, Fr. Haake told the Rover, “Mission engagement means the integration of the university’s Catholic and Holy Cross mission throughout the university. Church Affairs encompasses the university’s relationship to the local, national, and global Church, including the Vatican. This latter category also includes ecumenical engagement, namely, the university’s encounters with other Christian or faith traditions.”
Fr. Haake expressed excitement for his new position and is currently preparing to officially assume the role as he gathers information about the already busy office. “There are many things I look forward to! I love Notre Dame, and the opportunity to help those who work and study here to engage more deeply with her mission is exciting to me,” he told the Rover.
According to its webpage, OMECA cultivates the university’s Catholic and Holy Cross mission and catalyzes Notre Dame’s service to the Church. They implement initiatives at Notre Dame and abroad, oriented towards enhancing the university’s contribution to the Church, increasing the ability of faculty and staff to share the Catholic mission of the Congregation of Holy Cross, and advancing ecumenical and interfaith understanding.
These initiatives include the Tantur Ecumenical Institute in Jerusalem, which provides facilities for people from various walks of life, along with lectures and seminars to deepen their fath and understanding in the Holy Land; the Notre Dame-Newman Centre for Faith and Reason in Dublin that fosters a community of informed believers and witnesses in the spirit of St. John Henry Newmann; and the Joyce Seminar for university administrators, an opportunity for administrators to think deeply about the Catholic mission of Notre Dame with their colleagues and approach the opportunity and challenge of mission application in daily work.
Despite the new commitment as a vice president with an increased focus on impacting the Church beyond Notre Dame’s physical bounds, Fr. Haake emphasized in a statement to the Rover the importance of ministering to students as priest-in-residence of Coyle Hall. “Our ministry to students in the residence halls is at the heart of our Holy Cross mission here at Notre Dame, and I have loved my 11 years as a priest-in-residence, which I will continue with the men of Coyle.”
He continued, “The experience of the joys and challenges of that ministry and of accompaniment with Notre Dame undergrads—I was one myself!—keep me close to one of the main reasons why we’re here, namely, the personal, moral, and spiritual formation of students, in addition to their intellectual formation.”
Matthew Mejia, a first year in Coyle Hall, has experienced Fr. Haake’s ministry first hand. He noted Fr. Haake’s “pastoral sensibilities,” saying that “he has a Christ-like heart and mind that meets every community he serves where they’re at.”
Henry Omanga is a freshman from Houston, Texas majoring in philosophy and psychology. You can reach him at homanga@nd.edu.