Catholic Faculty at Notre Dame

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Domer1997

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Attached is an interesting article regarding Notre Dame’s strive to maintain a high percentage of Catholic Faculty members. The university’s minimum requirement for faculty is that at least 50% must be Catholic, and I’ve heard that it is currently around 70%. I also heard that the university’s Trustees want this figure to be higher, and this new gift from the Keogh family may allow this increse to become reality in a rather quick fashion. Anyway, an interesting article that many may enjoy with relief. It’s nice to know that some Catholic universities are taking an active stance in securing Catholicism in its faculty members. I hope others follow their lead!

newsinfo.nd.edu/content.cfm?topicid=19383&seltopicid=3427
 
Domer1997 said:
Attached is an interesting article regarding Notre Dame’s strive to maintain a high percentage of Catholic Faculty members. The university’s minimum requirement for faculty is that at least 50% must be Catholic, and I’ve heard that it is currently around 70%. I also heard that the university’s Trustees want this figure to be higher, and this new gift from the Keogh family may allow this increse to become reality in a rather quick fashion. Anyway, an interesting article that many may enjoy with relief. It’s nice to know that some Catholic universities are taking an active stance in securing Catholicism in its faculty members. I hope others follow their lead!

newsinfo.nd.edu/content.cfm?topicid=19383&seltopicid=3427
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Thats funny.

So Notre Dame wants to keep at least 50% of its faculty Catholic. Now is this real Catholics or just faculty members who claim to be Catholic?

I know of at least one of their theology professors is a known dissenter on the Catholic faith and he claims to be a Catholic, actually he is a priest.
 
ByzCath,
I would assume that they are seeking “real” Catholics versus “cafeteria” Catholics. Please be positive versus negative (you sound a little disgruntled anyway:) ) And, please realize that Fr. Richard McBrien is 1 of 750 faculty members. I had tremendous Catholic mentors teaching me while at Notre Dame (late 90’s). I’m sure most are still around. It wasn’t that long ago. Trust me, the positive highly outweighs the negative at Notre Dame, and I see this endowment by the Keough Family as another major step in the right direction for securing an even stronger Catholic identity in the ranks of the faculty. I hope and pray that other Catholic universities understand the necessity of a strong Catholic faculty and follow ND’s lead.
 
Elzee,
Do you have an affiliation with Notre Dame? Were you a student at one time? Your sarcasm, along with ByzCath, tells me that you must know a lot of the 750 faculty members at Notre Dame in order to make such remarks. Please fill me in. Thanks!
 
Domer1997 said:
ByzCath,
I would assume that they are seeking “real” Catholics versus “cafeteria” Catholics. Please be positive versus negative (you sound a little disgruntled anyway:) ) And, please realize that Fr. Richard McBrien is 1 of 750 faculty members. I had tremendous Catholic mentors teaching me while at Notre Dame (late 90’s). I’m sure most are still around. It wasn’t that long ago. Trust me, the positive highly outweighs the negative at Notre Dame, and I see this endowment by the Keough Family as another major step in the right direction for securing an even stronger Catholic identity in the ranks of the faculty. I hope and pray that other Catholic universities understand the necessity of a strong Catholic faculty and follow ND’s lead.
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If this is true then why isn’t Notre Dame one of the “mandatum schools”?

I attend the University of St Thomas in Houston, TX. It is a very small school yet it is a “mandatum school”.

This would be a way to ensure that the Theological teachings at the University are 100% Catholic, something that can not be said about Notre Dame and it does not matter if it is only one professor that is doing so, he is a priest and has an weekly newpaper column that has a very wide distrubition.

Becuase of that I would never recomend that school to any faithful Catholic.

Anyone can (and many do) claim to be Catholic when they refuse to adhere to what the Church Teaches.
 
What is mandatum school? Is that where you agree in writing not to dissent from the Church’s teachings?
God Bless
H
 
ByzCath,
I believe we’ll have to agree to disagree. I’m sure your university is wonderful, but being a Notre Dame alumnus I have to stick by my alma mater. I was educated by wonderful teachers, most Catholic and some non-Catholic. I never had a teacher once compromise the church and her teachings, although I won’t say that it has never happened with others. However, the good definitely outweighs the bad:

The good:
-lengthened Eucharistic adoration hours
-over 30 daily Masses celebrated on campus
-confessions daily in Basilica
-Rosary daily at Grotto
-Latin Novus Ordo in dorm chapel (monthly)
-Alliance for Catholic Education (trains Catholic educators to serve in underprivileged areas of Southeastern US)
-Chapel in each dorm with daily Mass schedule
-Required theo and philo classes
-The Basilica of the Sacred Heart
-ND Encounter (Catholic retreats)
-Divine Mercy Sunday: Annual Eucharistic Procession
-Holy Cross Associates (Service work abroad)
-Moreau Seminary (graduate seminary)
-Old College (undergraduate seminary)
-Notre Dame and St. Marys Right to Life
-ND chapter of Knights of Columbus
-ND Knights of Immaculata
-Full Tuition paid for all in Masters of Divinity
-Vespers service each Sunday
-JFK and Fr. Hesburgh founded the Peace Corps
-Hesburgh Center for Peace Studies
-Sacred Music Major
-Traditional Church Architecture studies
-Campus wide Procession of the Cross (Lent)
-10% of graduates spend one year of Service post graduation
-TOUCHDOWN JESUS!!!
-ENTIRE football team celebrates Mass before each game
and most importantly - full dorm Masses each Sunday and packed Basilica each Sunday full of faithful students, faculty and staff.

This is just a touch of the Catholic Character at ND. Now let’s look at the negative:

-Small number of theology faculty not taking the Mandate (and those faculty members are those who have had tenure for decades now)
-Fr. Richard McBrien and his dissident beliefs (and remember, he is a diocesan priest NOT Holy Cross - and he has tenure - can’t legally get rid of him!)
-The Vagina Monologues (and remember they were read in a classroom followed by Catholic discussions of the Theology of the Body)

It looks like the good HIGHLY outweighs the bad. St. Thomas is a great school. Hats off to you. I only ask that you learn more about Notre Dame if you are going to comment. Good luck in college. It is without a doubt, the best four years of your life 🙂 . God Bless!
 
The question is why support an institution that promotes dissent?

Even if it is only one person out of 750. Why would I want my money to help support that dissent?

Especially when there are just as good, if not better, places out there?

While this school may say that it wants more Catholics on staff, that is all it is doing is saying it as there really is no way to prove that someone adheres to Catholic Teachings with out the mandatum (and that only goes for theology).

So if they hire someone who claims to be a Catholic yet that person later is shown to support non-Catholic Teachings, while they fire them?
 
ByzCath,
Nobody asked for “your money”. I’m not sure where you got that from. I initially sent out information regarding ND’s faculty and the fact that they are currently pushing for an even higher percentage of Catholics in all areas of the faculty. I believe this is great, positive news for the Catholic Church and I really didn’t expect backlash from different posters. Quite honestly, I was surprised by the negativity from you and others. Can you not see this as a good step in the right direction? Most would agree that Notre Dame has the most influence on the Catholic Church than any other American university, simply due to its high profile in the media. This endowment by the Keough family to search for Catholic scholars is a positive step for all Catholic universities around the country, for it may cause other administrations to analyze their current faculties and maybe follow ND’s lead. Sure, there are other great Catholic universities besides Notre Dame. I’m sure you attend one of these, and I would never try to downplay their vital importance. I am only saying that you obviously do not know enough about Notre Dame to judge the entire university. There is more to a school than 1 professor. They must be doing something right. Last spring, Pope Benedict himself called Notre Dame “a great Catholic university”, and they are ranked #20 in the nation academically.

I don’t expect you to support the school. I am only asking that you not be so quick to judge, and accept that they are making positive strides toward the preservation of their Catholic identity. I hope you and others realize that there’s a lot that you do not know about the university, since you do not attend the school. Best of luck and God Bless.
 
ByzCath said:
If this is true then why isn’t Notre Dame one of the “mandatum schools”?

I attend the University of St Thomas in Houston, TX. It is a very small school yet it is a “mandatum school”.
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Notre Dame is not a mandatum school mostly because Father McBrien, with his clout in the theology department, will not allow the theology faculty to sign the statement agreeing not to teach contrary to the faith. That is a big part of the mandatum but not the ONLY part. Another less discussed clause it the requirement that 50% of the faculty be Catholic (I don’t have my copy of Ex Corde so I don’t know if it is just ‘Catholic’ or ‘Catholic in good standing’).

McBrien will not be around forever but he does have tenure. I have heard good things about the theology and philosophy professors that would likely be “taking over” when his retirement blessedly arrives. It sounds to me like ND is doing everything it can to be in compliance except those statements which should be easy to obtain when McBrien is gone. They will then be poised to get the mandatum instead of starting from scratch.

I have also heard that McBrien is allowed little or no actual contact with students. If that is true and the deck is getting stacked with good Catholic faculty, it can only be a good thing.

ND didn’t go off-track all in one year or even in one decade. It will take a while to get back on course and this looks like a good step.
 
Domer1997 said:
Anyway, an interesting article that many may enjoy with relief.
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May is the right word. A Chair named after that Lion of Orthodoxy, Theodore Hesburgh? Given all that I’ve read about ND’s sometimes orthodoxy, sometimes heterodoxy, I won’t expect much. Good Luck anyway to a fine football school.

A graduate of Fordham University
 
Domer, why were the Vagina Mon. even read? 😦

It does sound like they are improving but I am still skeptical.

God Bless
H
 
I for one am choosing to see the good in this post. No Catholic school in this nation gets as much attention as ND. Anything they do to raise the bar in Catholic education is a good thing.

Additionally, I am a little ashamed to hear people say one bad apple is enough to tarnish the whole school.

There are bad apples everywhere, but that doesn’t diminish holy mother church. It shouldn’t be allowed to define a fine school like ND either.

I for one was very excited to hear that mass attendance at the school is good.
 
Brucealeg and Corki…Thanks! I’m glad you see what I was simply trying to do. I just posted an article of interest regarding Catholic faculty. I really didn’t expect this to take a sour turn. It seems like some people want ND to fail! …and I’m not sure why? I hope this isn’t true and I hope that American Catholics cherish all our Catholic Universities…Fairfield, Seton Hall, Dayton, DePaul, BC, G’Town, Fordham…and the list goes on and on. We need to support all of them because they are all influential in their own way. They need to all be beacons of light.

H Opey…to answer your question. The Vagina Monologues were performed at ND for a few straight years because the former administration thought that it was the “academic” thing to do and to allow. Don’t worry…our former president had a good side to him also, although I didn’t agree with his decision on this one. However, Fr. Jenkins (new President) contemplated about the issue. We cannot deny that this play is a published literary work (although it is quite vulger) - Chaucer was vulger too, but we dealt with that so long ago. Anyway, the play was simply read in a classroom with no funding associated with it. Following the reading, was a Catholic forum stacked with theology professors explaining the Catholic Church view on human sexuality and how this work is in conflict with our beliefs. One must remember, that a university is for developing one’s mind, and sometimes these “not so nice” works help us to remember WHY we are Catholic and WHY we believe in what we do. One must also remember that any university that bans books is not a university at all. I hope this clears up this issue. Notre Dame made it very clear that the university by no means supports those controversial issues associated with the V-Monologues. However, it does (and should) support the fact that the play condemns violence against women. God Bless.
 
Domer1997 said:
I had tremendous Catholic mentors teaching me while at Notre Dame (late 90’s). I’m sure most are still around.
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In the mid 1990s I saw Charles Rice of the Law School on C-Span. Very impressive speech on the need for reform in education (he mentioned some of his incoming students needed Cliff Notes to study the Federalist Papers). Is he still around?
 
Prof. Rice is a great guy. He is now Professor Emeritus. He retired a couple years ago, but is still very active in the university community. You can still read his column every week in the student newspaper, The Observer.
 
I only briefly scanned that article, but I thought I’d throw in some info of my own that I think it neglected.

The bi-weekly, independent Catholic newspaper on campus here, The Irish Rover, had a big article at the end of last year about the Catholic Hiring Program on campus here.

The major issue is that new hires, especially in the College of Arts & Letters, where it matters most, were only 43% Catholic last year. The dean of that college is trying to do something about it, and has has started a project to identify Catholics in departments at other leading universities, and created a database of Catholic target hires. They’re actually searching publications by different faculty members here–not just going on religious self-identification, which we all know can mean a variety of things as far as orthodoxy goes. And this also means trying to educate more Catholic students here to go on to careers in academia, through summer seminars and the like.

That’s what I know for now. I’m sure the Keough donation will help with that program… but just know it’s being put to good use here!

Also, to correct the stat being thrown around here… in the 1970s, the percentage of Catholic faculty here was 85%. In 2005 it was 52%.
 
Domer1997 said:
H Opey…to answer your question. The Vagina Monologues were performed at ND for a few straight years because the former administration thought that it was the “academic” thing to do and to allow. Don’t worry…our former president had a good side to him also, although I didn’t agree with his decision on this one. However, Fr. Jenkins (new President) contemplated about the issue. We cannot deny that this play is a published literary work (although it is quite vulger) - Chaucer was vulger too, but we dealt with that so long ago. Anyway, the play was simply read in a classroom with no funding associated with it. Following the reading, was a Catholic forum stacked with theology professors explaining the Catholic Church view on human sexuality and how this work is in conflict with our beliefs. One must remember, that a university is for developing one’s mind, and sometimes these “not so nice” works help us to remember WHY we are Catholic and WHY we believe in what we do. One must also remember that any university that bans books is not a university at all. I hope this clears up this issue. Notre Dame made it very clear that the university by no means supports those controversial issues associated with the V-Monologues. However, it does (and should) support the fact that the play condemns violence against women. God Bless.
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I’m a current student here and I’m not a fan of sugar-coating the V-Logs situation. Fr. Jenkins let us down on this one, plain and simple. Sorry if I seem to be hi-jacking the thread, I simply can’t let this paragraph stand unanswered!

The Monologues were not only read, they were performed once again this year. The main difference was that it was not done in our new performing arts facility (relegated to the largest classroom on campus) and they were not permitted to raise money from the sale of tickets to the event.

Also, saying that the presentation was followed by a forum “stacked” with quality theo profs is a bit misguided. Yes, there was a forum, but no really quality, orthodox profs, that I know of, were actually there. There was no fruitful discussion about the theology of the body or new feminism. (That discussion had actually taken place two weeks early at a widely-ignored student-organized forum, the Edith Stein Project.) The V Logs do no such thing as condemn violence against women, at least not in any way which shows that their presenters in the least bit understand the value of the human person, and therefore why violence against women is wrong.

There is a huge difference between Eve Ensler’s work and Chaucer’s. Chaucer’s actually has enduring literary value. Ensler’s has none. Whatsoever. It exists and keeps coming back to haunt us because of its shock value, and the fact that some misguided feminists cling to its destructive ideology.

Finally, the main thing which Fr Jenkins does not seem to understand here is that the sort of dialogue he intends between secular feminism and catholic thought has a definite prerequisite–the moral formation of the student body. In this area, that has decidedly not taken place. THe vast majority of ND students are in no place to discuss these issues simply because they lack the understanding of them. What we need to cultivate NOW are positive teachings on human sexuality, women’s rights, etc. Then we can perhaps bring in secular challenges… but not yet.

Sorry for the long post!
 
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