Introduction
In this bulletin we reproduce (with permission) an article by National Catholic Register senior editor Jonathan Liedl (ND ‘11) about the administration’s surprise announcement last year that Dr. John Cavadini, long-time director of the renowned McGrath Institute for Church Life, would be replaced at the end of this academic year.
No successor has yet been selected, and, as Mr. Liedl reports, “the way the decision to end [Cavadini’s] tenure was handled” has raised concerns about the selection.
However, that turns out – and we agree it is of surpassing importance — we want to spotlight “the way this [‘leadership shakeup’] was handled.”
In a July 2024 email to the Institute’s advisory council, Provost John McGreevy tersely told the MICL’s advisory council that Dr. Cavadini’s term “ends next summer.” The decision was plainly non-consensual.
According to the chair of the council, members knew that succession discussions were underway but were “taken aback by the suddenness of the decision” and “surprised at the announced timing of [Cavadini’s] departure.”
Given the gratitude the university and all in the Notre Dame family owe Dr. Cavadini, “the way this was handled” is deeply disappointing,
The Institute, Mr. Liedl writes, was “a marginal outpost” when Cavadini took it over in 2000. He vastly expanded its resources and its impact both inside and outside the university. It is a “vital contributor to the Catholic faith on campus,” and as Notre Dame Professor Daniel Philpott put it, the Institute “stands at the center of Notre Dame’s service to the Church beyond its walls.” That, he continued, “can be attributed to the heroic leadership and vision of John Cavadini.”
There is another important contribution by Dr. Cavadini to the University and its students that is beyond the scope of Mr. Leidl’s article but that we note because it is a significant part of Cavadini’s legacy. During his dozen years as Chair of the Theology Department, he led his associates in forging a robustly Catholic and highly credentialed department that is now ranked number one in the world!
To learn more about the Institute and Dr. Cavidini’s leadership, see our earlier bulletin here. And to gauge more fully the magnitude of Dr. Cavadini’s contribution to Notre Dame, the Church, and Catholic education, we refer you to the appreciation by his colleagues in the collection of essays in I Call You Friends: John Cavadini and the Vision of Catholic Leadership for Higher Education.
Now to Mr. Liedl’s detailed account, which, we note, refers to another disquieting episode — the establishment of an ethics institute parallelling to the vibrantly Catholic de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture – that we will consider in a future bulletin.
Future of Notre Dame’s Renowned ‘Catholic Think Tank’ in Question After Leadership Shakeup
Supporters of the McGrath Institute for Church Life are insisting that the next director continue an emphasis on ‘service to the Church’ after university administrators abruptly announced that longtime director John Cavadini’s tenure would end following this academic year.
Over the past two decades, the McGrath Institute for Church Life (MICL) has established itself as a vital “think tank” for the U.S. Catholic Church, helping dioceses across the country tackle pastoral challenges like young-adult disaffiliation and gender dysphoria with faith and creativity.
But now, benefactors, faculty and bishops who have been involved with the University of Notre Dame institute are expressing concerns about its future after administrators abruptly announced a coming change to its leadership.
On July 18, university Provost John McGreevy told the MICL’s advisory council that Director John Cavadini’s term “ends next summer” after 25 years, according to an email obtained by the Register.
“We will begin the process of searching for a new director this fall,” said McGreevy in the communication, which was also signed by Vice Provost Maura Ryan.
“Many advisory council members were aware that succession discussions were underway, but we were surprised at the announced timing of [Cavadini’s] departure,” Osborn said.
University administrators did not reply to a request for comment prior to publication, nor did Cavadini.
Now, supporters are insisting that the university appoint a successor who will carry forward Cavadini’s vision of harnessing Notre Dame’s intellectual firepower to serve the Catholic Church.
Bishop Cozzens stressed his hope that Notre Dame picks a successor who is equally committed to Cavadini’s “ecclesial” vision.
“Because if not, a great thing would be lost if the tone were to change,” the bishop told the Register.
Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, the home diocese of Notre Dame, said that when he thinks of Cavadini’s leadership of the MICL, he thinks of St. John Paul II’s teaching in Ex Corde Ecclesiae that the Catholic university should offer “service to the Church and the community.”
Bishop Rhoades, who also serves as the U.S. bishops’ chair for religious liberty, expressed his confidence that a worthy successor will be found, citing the involvement of the university’s new president in the search.
“I have great hope that what [Cavadini] has built up at McGrath will continue after him, because I know that Father Bob Dowd has much gratitude and esteem for John and the McGrath Institute for Church Life.”
Notre Dame administrators said in their communication that the advisory council would be consulted regarding “the current needs of the MICL” and desirable qualities “at this moment in the institute’s history.” The institute currently has more than 40 regular faculty and staff and significant financial resources at its disposal.
Osborn, who has chaired the advisory council since 2015, said that finding a director who “will carry on with what John has established, as opposed to taking the McGrath Institute in a different direction,” is a chief consideration of his group, which includes major financial backers of the institute.
“Advisory council members believe that it is imperative that the Catholic character of the MICL and the University of Notre Dame should guide the selection of the new director,” he told the Register, adding that council members “will monitor the succession process” to ensure that the new director “will carry on the mission of the MICL as it has been established and grown over these many years.”
Cavadini’s Legacy
In his email to the institute’s advisory board, McGreevy described Cavadini as “effectively MICL’s second founder,” who leaves behind “a thriving organization working on contemporary challenges.”
Established in 1976, MICL was a marginal academic outpost at Notre Dame before Cavadini assumed leadership in 2000. Key initiatives established during his tenure include ECHO, a lay leader training program that emphasizes theological rigor. Another program, Notre Dame Vision, brings high schoolers to campus for a summer week devoted to deepening their faith. And the Church Life Journal, started in 2012, has established a reputation as a place where Catholic leaders can think through theological and pastoral problems with intelligence and orthodoxy.
Bishop Rhoades shared that when he’s had a special need in the local diocese, such as bringing a Catholic worldview into English and science classes at Catholic schools, he’s been able to reach out to Cavadini and the MICL for help.
“At that has been a tremendous benefit to our diocese,” he said.
Cavadini, a former member of the International Theological Commission and a consultor to the USCCB’s doctrine committee, has also brought top scholars working on pastorally sensitive issues to the MICL, like Abigail Favale, an expert on Catholic teaching on gender and sexuality. MICL sponsored important in-depth studies of issues like young-adult disaffiliation and hosts an annual study day for the U.S. bishops on topics ranging from family evangelization to synodality.
“I found the topics were not ideological, but actually deeply theological, and really helped bishops think about these issues in helpful ways,” said Bishop Cozzens. He added that, at MICL, Cavadini has brought together a “diverse team of deep thinkers” who are serious about their faith and who have helped the bishops broaden their perspectives.
Cavadini’s tenure has also included financial successes, like securing a $15-million endowment for the institute from Robert and Joan McGrath in 2016.
And under Cavadini, the institute has been a vital contributor to the Catholic faith on Notre Dame’s campus. This past January, for instance, an MICL-sponsored program that encourages students to reconsider Catholicism, called “Take a Second Look,” drew nearly 500 students to a course on St. Augustine’s Confessions taught by Holy Cross Father Kevin Grove.
Daniel Philpott, a Notre Dame political scientist, said Cavadini’s leadership of MICL has been marked by “creative, capacious, tenacious and dynamic fidelity” to the Catholic Church and Jesus Christ.
“The McGrath Institute stands at the center of Notre Dame’s service to the Church beyond its walls, and that can be credited to the heroic leadership and vision of John Cavadini,” Philpott said. “It is critical that a successor be appointed who will remain faithful to this vision.”
An ‘Alarming’ Decision
Concerns about Cavadini’s successor likely stem from the way the decision to end his tenure was handled.
Gary Anderson, a Notre Dame theologian, said the abruptness of the decision was “surprising and alarming” and raises concerns about the willingness of university administrators to work with Cavadini and MICL’s advisory council to find a successor.
In the July 18 email to the advisory board, university administrators provided no explanation for why Cavadini’s term was ending. Additionally, a July 17 email from Cavadini to the advisory board, also obtained by the Register, described the development differently, with Cavadini writing that “the provost has informed me that he is not going to re-appoint me” to direct MICL.
Gerard Bradley, a Notre Dame law professor retiring this fall, said that it is not out of the ordinary for the university to limit the tenure of institute heads and that the 70-year-old Cavadini’s directorship was in its “twilight.” Nonetheless, he said that the university had compelling reasons to keep him on while ensuring that a suitable successor was found.
“His work there has been such a success that the university could rightly in this case have extended his time in charge of McGrath until the time of his retirement from the faculty, and I wish it were so,” said Bradley, who added it would be “almost impossible to overstate” Cavadini’s contributions to Notre Dame.
When asked if the advisory council had any concerns about Cavadini’s performance, Osborn indicated that there were none.
“John continues to be an exceptional leader, and the advisory council enjoys working with him,” he told the Register.
Part of a Pattern?
The MICL shakeup isn’t the first time university administrators have recently put the future of a Notre Dame institute renowned for its dynamic orthodoxy into question.
In April, administrators established the new Father John Jenkins Center for Virtue Ethics, named for the outgoing university president. Several faculty members criticized the move for undercutting the already established de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture by claiming to be the primary place where serious ethical research will be conducted at Notre Dame.
“I think of the [new center] as subsuming the institutional space that has been occupied by the de Nicola Center,” Notre Dame philosopher David O’Connor told The Irish Rover, a student-run Catholic newspaper, at the time.
The changes affecting both the de Nicola Center and the McGrath Institute come amid the university’s implementation of “Notre Dame 2033,” a strategic framework to make the Congregation of Holy Cross institute the “leading global Catholic research university” over the next decade.
Some Notre Dame faculty have criticized the plan for inadequately articulating the university’s Catholic mission, including one priest-professor who said the document “has the tone of a Catholic NGO.”
These changes have all come under the tenure of McGreevy, who assumed duties as Notre Dame’s chief academic officer in June 2022. Prior to that, the history scholar was the dean of the College of Arts and Letters.
Bradley told the Register that, given McGreevy’s familiarity with Notre Dame’s faculty and Catholic academia more broadly, he is in good position to find a new director who is committed to Catholic fidelity and ecclesial service — and that who he picks will be an indication of the broader direction in which the provost intends to take Notre Dame.
“Filling this position with a worthy successor to John Cavadini will be a sure test of the provost’s vision for the university.”
Jonathan Liedl
Jonathan Liedl is senior editor for the National Catholic Register. His background includes state Catholic conference work, three years of seminary formation, and tutoring at a university Christian study center. Liedl holds a B.A. in Political Science and Arabic Studies (Univ. of Notre Dame), an M.A. in Catholic Studies (Univ. of St. Thomas), and is currently completing an M.A. in Theology at the Saint Paul Seminary. He lives in South Bend, Indiana. Follow him on Twitter at @JLLiedl.
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6 Responses
There is a plenary indulgence offered this weekend, Divine Mercy Sunday (the Sunday after Easter) ,for those who attend confession and attend Mass this weekend. A plenary indulgence is the remission of all the temporal punishment due for our sins. (Baltimore Catechism, para. 437). See the Grace Force Podcast #294 Death of Pope Francis and Divine Mercy Sunday, in which Fr. Chris Alar is interviewed and discusses Divine Mercy Sunday in the second half of the video. Share with your students.
I am glad that Mr. Doyle, from, and on behalf of, the McGrath Institute for Church Life has responded.
I would note that in my previous comment I never discussed Professor Cavadini by name and did not criticize any action he has taken in my first comment. I don’t know Professor Cavadini personally or professionally. I would note that the Sycamore Trust article above, incorporating a National Catholic Register article, has two sections titled “An Alarming decision” and “Part of A Pattern” raise concerns about why Notre Dame would be “shaking up” what is reportedly a successful program, with at least two bishops wondering what plans John Jenkins, and his understudy, Bob Dowd, have going forward. I take it as a positive reflection on Professor Cavadini that John Jenkins and John McGreevy want him out quickly, to set up a Catholic “NGO” (non-governmental organization that receives governmental funds to do governmental work), while Bishop Rhodes supports Professor Cavadini. I think most of us readers would have concerns if a successful theological program at Notre Dame was being shaken up to create a Catholic NGO to receive federal government funds and federal mandates to provide abortion services to the NGO’s employees as part of their insurance and redirect money sent by the feds to organizations that advocate for homosexuality, transgender surgeries on minors, and population control/abortion, very similar to what Catholic Relief Services does now. I think it reflects well on Professor Cavadini that Jenkins and Dowd and McGreevy don’t think he is the right guy going forward for such plans.
Now, of course I have a few questions for Mr. Doyle after reading his comments:
1. Describe specifically what you mean, by definition, as the richness and fullness of the whole Catholic faith and tradition”?
2. You proudly admit that you have never read the Baltimore Catechism and that you were able to get a Masters Degree in Divinity without such reading and then dismiss knowledge obtained by reading the Baltimore Catechism as a “skewed and narrow perception of the richness and wonder of the whole of the Catholic faith and tradition”, How in the world are you able to conclude that the Baltimore Catechism is “skewed and narrow” without reading it? Divine inspiration or an apparition of John Jenkins near the Grotto? (smile).
3. There are roughly 8,000 undergraduate students at Notre Dame. Assuming that good Catholics go to confession once a month, when was the last weekend at Notre Dame when 1,000 confessions were heard?
For the parents reading this comment, I have some polite and respectful questions to ask you to grade your students with respect to their knowledge and practice of the Catholic faith. The answers are all found in the Baltimore Catechism, except for questions 5, 6 and 11.
1. What four reasons did God have to make each of us?
2. What does the word “Amen” mean?
3. What is a supernatural mystery?
4. How many “luminous mysteries” are there, what are they and when do we contemplate them during the week?
5. When is the last time you saw your roommate say a complete Rosary?
6. What are the hours for confession in your dorm and/or- in Sacred Heart Basilica?
7. What sins does Baptism take away?
8. Is is a sin to put off for a long time or never have your child baptized? If so, what kind of sin?
9.What is temporal punishment and what is a plenary indulgence?
10. What is the purpose of Confirmation?
11. What is a Scapular and what does it do?
Before anyone gets angry at me for having asked these questions, I DO UNDERSTAND if you never received any of this information, or your spouse is sometimes a hindrance to a student participating in and learning about the Church. All you can do is do your best to make sure your students are learning their faith, even if you aren’t completely successful. At the same time, if a Notre Dame student is required to take two theology courses at Notre Dame, aren’t these fairly basic things the students should be learning? Sacraments, Confession and Rosary? Are Notre Dame students functionally illiterate in Catholicism? Just asking.
God, The Ordered Communion Of Perfect Complementary Eternal Divine Love, The Most Holy And Undivided Blessed Trinity, In The Unity Of The Holy Ghost (Filioque), Is The Author Of Love, Of Life, And Of Marriage.
And thus we can know through both Faith and reason that every element of Sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture, And The Teaching of The Magisterium, grounded in Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, including The Baltimore Catechism, is part of The Deposit of Faith that Christ Has Entrusted to His One, Holy, Catholic, And Apostolic Church for The Salvation of Souls. Thus, we can know through both Faith and reason, that those who deny TheBlessed Trinity, In The Unity Of The Holy Ghost (Filioque), Is The Author Of Love, Of Life, And Of Marriage, in denying The Divinity Of The Most Holy Trinity, cannot be part of The One Body Of Christ, but are, in essence, part of The Great Apostasy.
https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/benedict-defends-traditional-family-in-christmas-address-to-roman-curia
At the heart of Liberty Is Christ, “4For it is impossible for those who were once illuminated, have tasted also the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5Have moreover tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come…”, to not believe that Christ’s Sacrifice On The Cross will lead us to Salvation, but we must desire forgiveness for our sins, and accept Salvational Love, God’s Gift Of Grace And Mercy; believe in The Power And The Glory Of Salvation Love, and rejoice in the fact that No Greater Love Is There Than This, To Desire Salvation For One’s Beloved.
“Hail The Cross, Our Only Hope.”
“Blessed are they who are Called to The Marriage Supper Of The Lamb.”
“For where your treasure is there will your heart be also.” ✝️
Sorry, another comment, but again, just congratulations to Dr. Cavadini. How many other Directors of Institutes have served at ND for 25 years? Yes, when the Institute for Church Life (now the McGrath Institute for Church Life, thanks to Dr. Cavadini), started out, it was perhaps “marginal” as it occupied a few spaces on the 12th floor of the Hesburgh Library and employed a handful of people. Since Dr. Cavadini’s leadership, as the commentator noted, over 40 people are employed at the MICL. The MICL now occupies Geddes Hall, in between Breen-Phillips dorm and the library (the former site of WNDU and later the CSC, now the ISC). Geddes Hall would not exist but for Dr. Cavadini’s efforts. Again congratulations and gratitude for his service,
Dr. Cavadini is a wonderful theologian who has faithfully served the Church and the Academy throughout his career. I say this as a former staff member of the MICL and theology student while Dr. Cavadini was chair of the theology department. To suggest this news is another instance of the death of or subversion of Catholicism at Notre Dame is, simply, uninformed nonsense. Reading the Baltimore Catechism will not necessarily bring your son or daughter to the true Catholic faith, and I can almost guarantee that there is no course offered at Notre Dame that requires students to read the Baltimore Catechism. I graduated with a Master of Divinity of degree from Notre Dame, long after my undergraduate degrees at ND, and was never required to read the Baltimore Catechism. I highly doubt Dr. Cavadini, whom I learned from and worked under at the MICL, would agree with this skewed and narrow perception of the richness and wonder of the whole of the Catholic faith and tradition. Why the change? I don’t know, and don’t pretend to know. I saw many changes at the MICL in the 20 years I worked there. I did not understand them all, but trusted they were all good. Similarly I trust in the ND leadership. I don’t see this as a negative reflection on Dr. Cavadini’s service and wealth of experience. The Chairmanship of academic programs routinely change (Dr. Cavadini was chair of the theology department, then he wasn’t). So why not the directors that are similarly under the University’s control? Dr. Cavadini did remarkable things at the MICL. Does that mean it was his Institute? No, God bless Dr. Cavadini, and his family. His service to the Church and the University is remarkable and is not diminished with this change of job position. I just hope and pray he can continue his remarkable service in whatever capacities he chooses. He is an amazing theologian and a faithful servant of the Church. He definitely had a positive impact on my Catholic faith, as I am sure he had and will continue to have on anyone he encounters. Thank you Dr. Cavadini, for your service, and best wishes for this next stage of your journey,
Yet another article from Sycamore Trust documenting either the subversion of, or the death of, Roman Catholicism at the University of Notre Dame. Many of the readers will call for other readers to pray for the University and the Catholic Church to return to the Catholicism of the Bible and the Catechism, which is a worthy request, but not a request or an action that will bring visible relief arriving in the near future. That will require one or a group of alumni with enough money to buy out the heretical Catholic administrators and officers of the University and replace them with tested devout Catholics. No sign of that happening anytime soon, though the prayers requested will be worthwhile.
The reference in the article above to a course that was offered at Notre Dame asking students to take a “second look” at Catholicism seems to reveal a hunger for knowledge about the Catholic religion that has been starved by the religious education offered at most parishes in America since the late 1960’s as a result of bishops and cardinals that have deemphasized original Catholicism in favor of the Church of “What’s Hapenin Now?” When is the last time most of you heard a bishop, cardinal or priest talk more about the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, instead of denying sexual scandals, ordaining women or needing more money to take care of immigrants or counsel certain groups of people identified by their sexuality? I had to laugh out loud when I read about the newly established “John Jenkins Institute for Ethics” and how, ironically, it was undermining an already existing institute for ethics, which is a microcosm of the American Catholic Church- take religious compromisers and have them undermine traditional Catholic teaching, while stating that their new ethics and teaching are 100% Catholic, when they aren’t. John Jenkins was one of the founders of recently requiring freshmen at Notre Dame to undergo training on how to live with roommates and classmates of a variety of sexual persuasions..
If the parents reading this comment want to help their students become more Catholic, it won’t be by funding compromised institutes at Notre Dame or even attending Notre Dame, sad to say. My respectful recommendation would be to ask your student to read a copy of the Baltimore Catechism published prior to 1972 which you can find online. I would also recommend that they subscribe to online Catholic news sources such as 1) Lifesite News with John Henry Westen; 2) Stella Maris Media and Catholic News updates by Notre Dame alum Christine Niles; 3) U.S. Grace Force with Fr. Rick Heilman; 4) Videos from Fr. Chris Alar of The Marian fathers at a Shrine in Western Massachusetts; 5) videos from Fr. Mike Schmitz of Minnesota and Fr. Mark Goring of Canada; and any video lectures you see online from Fr. Chad Ripperger, an exorcist in the Denver Archdiocese. By reading the Baltimore Catechism and watching these videos in a variety of styles of presentation, your student will learn much more about Catholicism than they will ever learn in four years at Notre Dame, and, unfortunately, most other Catholic colleges and universities across the entire U.S.