Cheer, Cheer for Old Notre Dame

Introduction

The following article by Notre Dame Political Science Professor Patrick J. Deneen, reproduced here with his permission, was first published on the Postliberal Order Substack. Professor Deneen is one of the University’s most accomplished scholars and popular teaches and a political theorist whose many books and articles have established him as a public intellectual whose views carry weight. 

Professor Deneen is a prominent supporter of Notre Dame’s Catholic mission and what is being done to support it. Indeed, he once explained to a Sycamore Trust that Notre Dame’s Catholic identity was the principal reason he left Georgetown University for Notre Dame.

But he also laments the weakening of Nore Dame’s Catholic identity that has characterized recent decades. He warns that, if this trajectory is not reversed, the University will lose its distinctive character — as he explained to another more recent Sycamore Trust audience.

You will see both these elements of praise and warning in the illuminating article that we bring you now.

You can follow Professor Deneen’s writings on Substack and subscribe to Postliberal Order where he is a frequent contributor

Cheer, Cheer For Old Notre Dame

On the real reason to root for Notre Dame Football

By Patrick J. Deneen

My “X” feed over the past week has been filled with posts about Notre Dame football. The algorithms are working well – doubtless based on my past interest, I’m seeing a lot of commentary about Notre Dame from people whom I don’t know, but who have strong opinions about the team, the players, the coach, and tonight’s matchup with Penn State. While much of my feed is typically more political or theological, these newly-boosted sports posts seem to designed to appeal to outrage (and hence, continued scrolling) in the same way as political posts. No matter the sentiment, the comments are usually a mix of boosterism and denunciation, with rancor breeding rancor. Few teams in American sports seem to generate as much national opining as Notre Dame.

The mission we received from Fr. Hesburgh remains with us, and that is to reach out from the University to serve the Church, in particular by building up and forming leaders in the Church. We say that the MICL “forms faithful Catholic leaders.” By “leaders,” we mean the whole gamut of leaders in the Church: bishops, priests, deacons, and the manifold of lay leaders who work in diocesan, parish or school roles, namely catechists, directors of religious education or of liturgy, Catholics in the professions who want to be agents of evangelization, and, increasingly, parents, whom we often tend to forget are Catholic leaders and maybe the most important ones. We also count our own students as leaders, and the many high school students we work with either directly or indirectly. Overall we say that our goal is not only to form leaders, but to form them for effective evangelization, especially in a time when many young people are leaving the Church.

Our programs include:

Notre Dame Vision: a summer cohort experience for high hchool students, steeping them in Catholic devotion and in reflection on their lives as a calling from God. A cadre of some 60 Notre Dame undergrads serve as “Mentors in Faith,” working with the high hchool students. This program is now in its 21st year.

The experience is surreal, because for most people who express any view about Notre Dame, it concerns their football team. For most Americans with an interest in sports, particularly football – which might, in fact, be most Americans – Notre Dame, like Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan, Oregon, etc., is a team. Commentary on sports networks discusses college football teams no differently than teams such as the Chiefs, the Bulls, and the Red Sox: who’s up, who’s down; who’s in, whose out; who’s good, who’s bad; who will win, who will lose.

For me, however, as a college professor, Notre Dame (as well as Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan, Oregon, etc.) is a university which, as part of its operations, has a football team. The football program at Notre Dame, as well as these others – certainly at all the schools in the playoffs, and not only those – is a very significant feature of the university, but far from the entirety of its identity, purpose, and activity. Unlike a professional sports team – which exists solely to play competitively against other sports teams – university teams are merely one feature of the larger entity of which it is a part. A significant part, yes. But a part.

By treating the “teams” as if they are indistinguishable from professional teams (in the wider commentariat), important distinctions are missed. And I’ve seen little notice or attention to one very salient and important point:

Notre Dame is the only university in the playoffs that’s unique. The rest (with one minor exception) are almost indistinguishable. Commentary that treats all “teams” as essentially the same phenomenon leads to a widespread ignorance of laudable uniqueness amid bland homogeneity.


Notre Dame is the only private and religious school regularly in the elite tiers of college football. It is the only Catholic school in the elite tier of college football. It is the only school with an academic ranking in the top-20 that has made the college playoffs in the last many years. These strike me as noteworthy facts that are ignored when we treat the teams as if they were merely teams.

College football is dominated by large public universities, ones that (with few exceptions, such as Michigan) are not particularly lauded for their academic excellence. There is a strong correlation between elite football and mediocre academics, a correlation that I much doubt anyone thinks is coincidental. When Brian Kelly left Notre Dame for LSU and the SEC, saying that it was impossible to win a national championship at Notre Dame, everyone knew what he was talking about.

Notre Dame is the only elite program that is an Independent – a fact that was denounced by Penn State’s coach, James Franklin. He demanded more “uniformity” – indeed, in his recognition of Notre Dame’s uniqueness, explicitly underscoring the trajectory of college football toward complete institutional uniformity. He is joined by legions of critics of Notre Dame’s Independence, who take it as a something of a personal offense that Notre Dame does not belong to a conference.

Such critics evince a woeful ignorance of college football – and American – history. It’s striking that as the nation celebrates the first collegiate football playoff game coached by two African-American coaches, that one of those coaches is seemingly entirely unaware of the anti-Catholic bias that led to Notre Dame’s status as an independent. In the early 1900s, regional powerhouses such as Michigan blocked Notre Dame’s efforts to join the “Western Conference” – the predecessor to the Big 10 – out of anti-Catholic bias. Other nearby teams regularly refused to play Notre Dame for the same reason, leading coach Knute Rockne to develop a national football schedule, traveling as far east as New York and as far south as Georgia and as far West as California to play any university that was willing, at a time when travel was mainly by bus or train. “Independence” was a survival tactic that today not only serves Notre Dame well, but allows it to maintain traditional rivalries – e.g., with Navy, USC, and Stanford – at a time when alignments are occurring that blithely ignore history and tradition.

Notre Dame’s early national profile led to rise of “subway alumni,” so-called because so many were initially in the New York area. Catholics around the country began rooting for Notre Dame because it was the one visible Catholic institution in America that showed Catholics that they could do anything their Protestant superiors could do – and better. Like my father before me, I was required to watch Notre Dame football every Saturday on NBC with as much fidelity as attending Mass the next day (and sometimes even more!). When I left Georgetown for Notre Dame (having previously taught at Princeton), my father put his hand on my shoulder and said (in all seriousness), “You’ve finally made something of yourself.”

That national profile, of course, has led to an equally large legion of Notre Dame haters – those who hate any “national team,” not unlike the widespread sentiment toward the New York Yankees or the Dallas Cowboys. Yet, if the betting markets are any indication, Notre Dame is indeed as close as any to being “America’s Team.”

There was a time when private schools were more regularly in the mix, but programs such as Stanford and USC have faded in recent years (not to mention the long-faded stature of the Ivy football programs). Notre Dame is now among the only of the nation’s many private schools that is regularly ranked in the top-twenty.

There was a time when religiously-affiliated schools were more regularly in the mix, and this year saw the brief rise of SMU as a contender, seeded 11th in the new 12-team format, but routed (like a few other lower seeds) in the first round 38-10 by Penn State. In the view of football cognoscenti, they should not have been included at all in the playoffs on merit, but were included only on the basis of an automatic bid for conference champions.

And long gone are the days when other Catholic universities (such as Fordham) had top-tier football programs, with only Notre Dame and Boston College remaining in Division 1 Bowl tier, and Boston College but an afterthought these days.

What’s worth noticing, then, is that Notre Dame is peculiarly, even miraculously distinct. It is not exaggeration to state that if one of the big public universities in (say) the previous round of eight universities were to disappear, very little of unique distinction would be lost. Its faculty are largely fungible. Its curricula, departments, research foci, and even mission statements, are largely identical to any other large state university. Its student base is regionally similar. There is almost nothing that large, flagship state universities today do that would represent an irreplaceable loss to the world were one to disappear.

I don’t believe the same can be said of Notre Dame. Beyond its top-tier football programs (which already makes it unique among private universities), it is the uncontested top Catholic research university in the world. There are other great Catholic research universities – Boston College and Georgetown come to mind – but none of its Catholic peers have anything approaching the comparable financial resources of Notre Dame (thanks, in no small part, to the success of its football programs, directly and indirectly).

Of the great Catholic research universities, none aside from Notre Dame is actively seeking consistently to hire faculty and admit students aligned with its Catholic mission. Catholic University does a better job on this front, but it is a financially impoverished school, and few would count it among the nation’s elite research universities. Boston College has done a better job in recent years, but Notre Dame has a far more robust Catholic presence among the faculty and students. Georgetown – where I once taught – pays no attention whatsoever to hiring Catholic faculty, and rather has seemed for decades intent on hiring faculty (and admitting students) who actively disdain Catholicism.

Smaller Catholic liberal arts colleges justifiably crow about their greater fidelity to the Catholic intellectual tradition – Thomas Aquinas College, Benedictine College, University of Dallas come to mind – but it is far easier (though not easy) to integrate Catholicism in hiring, admissions, and curriculum at a small liberal arts college than a research university.

Beyond the Catholic dimension, few universities with a consistently top-tier football program are also regularly ranked academically in the top-20. According to the (very flawed) U.S. News and World Report rankings for top national universities, Notre Dame now stands at #18. Stanford (#5) is the highest ranked school with a legitimately excellent football team, and Vanderbilt and Michigan come in slightly below Notre Dame and outside the top-20, so it’s not impossible to combine academic excellence with a great football program – but it’s very difficult, and all the more difficult for smaller, private universities. Football programs are expensive, large, and academically compromising. It’s a rare university that can combine those features.

With all this said, I’m among a number of Catholic faculty at Notre Dame (and many Catholics beyond) who lament its declining uniqueness. In the effort to attain ever more academic “respectability” and rise in the rankings, its hiring practices are intentionally undertaken to ape those of our “aspirational peers” – the Ivies and public Ivies. Hiring and tenure decisions are made on the basis of the same criteria as those other top schools, tending inevitably toward mainstream uniformity. Departments increasingly mimic and become indistinguishable from those at secular institutions. In recent years there has been an effort to reduce the number of admitted Catholic students, to increase the “diversity” of our student body (as if Catholicism were not a religion of diversity). Broader efforts to pursue “DEI” initiatives have parroted those of other “elite” institutions. During the thirteen years I have been at Notre Dame, the university has become more like the Georgetown that I left than the Notre Dame I joined, minus the proximity to great restaurants and the power elite. If the university continues on its current trajectory, it will be increasingly indistinguishable from the likes of Georgetown, Duke, and Vanderbilt (albeit with far worse weather and better football). Catholic mission will be folded into “campus ministry” and be essentially sequestered in a separate wing of the university, no longer seen as the core from which all else emanates.

And at that point, the commentary on collegiate football “teams” will align with the truth: there will be as little difference between Ohio State and Michigan and Penn State – and Notre Dame – as between the Red Sox and the Yankees and the Cardinals. They will all be merely “teams” at fairly identical institutions.

To the many fans of Notre Dame – those who “cheer, cheer for old Notre Dame” – please say a prayer amid your cheers that Notre Dame remain true, and even become truer, to its uniqueness. As you listen to the commentariat, refuse to accept the homogenizing narrative. Whether old Notre Dame prevails tonight or not, “what though the odds be great or small,” recognize that you are witnessing the miraculous: the presence of a university whose football program reflects the uniqueness of its university, a uniqueness that prevails only to the extent it remains true to its faith and tradition, and an institution that remains an improbable presence in the modern world that reduces all that it touches to utility, materialism, homogeneity, and ultimately, worldly mediocrity.

Picture of Patrick J. Deneen

Patrick J. Deneen

Patrick J. Deneen is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame. He is the author of “Why Liberalism Failed” (Yale, 2018), which has been translated into over a dozen languages.

Conclusion

We repeat:

“With all this said, I’m among a number of Catholic faculty at Notre Dame (and many Catholics beyond) who lament its declining uniqueness….  If the university continues on its current trajectory, it will be increasingly indistinguishable from the likes of Georgetown, Duke, and Vanderbilt…. Catholic mission will be folded into “campus ministry” and be essentially sequestered in a separate wing of the university, no longer seen as the core from which all else emanates.”

Support Our Common Purpose

The vibrant Catholic culture nurtured by John Cavadini at Notre Dame’s McGrath Institute for Church Life exemplifies how faith-centered leadership can sustain and strengthen the University’s Catholic identity. It stands as a testament to what can be achieved with the right people in charge and inspires hope that, in due time, an authentic Catholic renewal under the Dome is possible.

If you share our love for Notre Dame and want to see an authentic Catholic renewal under the Dome, please consider supporting our mission during this season of giving. Your generosity helps protect and sustain our work to defend Notre Dame’s Catholic identity.

Oremus

Let no one deceive himself. If any one among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. (1 Cor 3:18-19)

O God our Father, Eternal Wisdom and Love, You have created us in Your own image and likeness, and called us to live in humble obedience to You and according to the order which You have established to govern the universe. You sent Your Son, Wisdom Incarnate, to save us from sin and to reconcile us to You and to one another. He established the Church to be a saving witness of Wisdom and Love, Goodness and Truth to a rebellious world. We implore You to dispel the darkness that surrounds us. May all who have rejected the truths of creation, seeking to replace Your design for the human race with one of their own, be awakened to the destructive folly which passes for wisdom in this age. Enlighten us all by the Truth which sets us free and grant that we may courageously embrace the scorn and contempt of the wise of the world so that we may joyfully share in the Wisdom of God. Through the intercession of Notre Dame, our Mother, we make our prayer in the Name of Jesus, Your Son, Who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever. Amen.

The above prayer is by Sycamore Trustee Father John Raphael (’89). To join us in regular prayer projects such as our Novena for Catholic Education and our Meditation on the 12-Days of Christmas, please join our Apostolate.

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Father John J. Raphael (’89) offers a monthly Mass for the intentions of our Sycamore Trust community. If you have an intention that you would like him to include at his next Mass, you may submit it by clicking on the following button.

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Comments & Questions

9 Responses

  1. Thank you, Professor Deneen, for reminding us, in regards to all Catholic Institutions, of

    “… the uniqueness that prevails only to the extent it remains true to its faith and tradition.”

    For, we can know through both Faith and reason, that in order to remain in communion with Christ and His One, Holy, Catholic, And Apostolic Church, one must remain true to Sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture, And The Teaching Of The Magisterium, Grounded In Sacred Tradition And Sacred Scripture, The Deposit Of Faith Christ Has Entrusted To His One, Holy, Catholic, And Apostolic Church, In The Unity Of The Holy Ghost (Filioque).

    “It is not possible to have Sacramental Communion without Ecclesiastical Communion”, due to The Unity Of The Holy Ghost; for it Is “Through Christ, With Christ, And In Christ, O God, Almighty Father, In The Unity Of The Holy Ghost (Filioque), that Holy Mother Church exists.

    The Catholic Church Is “The Universal Sacrament Of Salvation”, and thus, we, as members are Called to be “ Temples For The Holy Ghost”, while proclaiming Christ as “The Mystery Of Salvation”, Through His Life, His Passion, His Death On The Cross, And His Resurrection.

    This Unity In Christ is like a team, “a sign and instrument”, not only on Earth, but “a sign and instrument”, of the “completed Unity of The One People Of God”, yet to come in Heaven.

    “You Will Be My People, And I Will Be Your God.”

    “To Whom Much Has Been Given, Much Will Be Expected.”

    Proclaiming The Truth Of Our Catholic Faith, will always be a “team’ effort, because Love exists in relationship.

    We, who have been given The Gift Of Faith proclaim, and never cease proclaiming that The Sacrifice Of The Cross, The Sacrament Most Holy, Is The Sacrifice Of The Most Holy And Undivided Blessed Trinity; “For God so Loved us that He Sent His Only Son…

    And thus we can know through both Faith and Reason:

    ”
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.”
    ”

It Has Always Been About The Marriage In Heaven And On Earth.
“
    “Blessed are they who are Called to The Marriage Supper Of The Lamb.”
    For where your treasure is there will your heart be also.”

    Dear Blessed Mother Mary, Mirror Of Justice And Destroyer Of All Heresy, Who Through Your Fiat, Affirmed The Filioque, and thus the fact that There Is Only One Son Of God, One Word Of God Made Flesh, One Lamb Of God Who Can Taketh Away The Sins Of The World, Our Only Savior, Jesus The Christ, thus there can only be, One Spirit Of Perfect Complementary Love Between The Father And The Son, Who Must Proceed From Both The Father And The Son, In The Ordered Communion Of Perfect Complementary Love, The Most Holy And Undivided Blessed Trinity (Filioque), hear our Prayer✝️

    “come Holy Ghost”, and “Renew The Face Of The Earth”.

    “Here Come The Irish, Of Notre Dame.”

  2. Dear Professor Deneen,

    Thank you for this wonderful article. I am hopeful that the student body is becoming more Catholic, leading the administration to abandon its DEI. The greatest DEI in the world is found in Matthew 22, the Two Greatest Commandments. I lament that priests do not know that. I pray for all priests every day, especially the Holy Cross. There are many faithful priests and students at Notre Dame. When my wife and I visited our freshman grandson in February 2023, it was pouring down rain on Ash Wednesday. As I walked to the Basilica, I anticipated a rather thin crowd. Yet, Sacred Heart was packed with students, faculty and staff. I was ecstatic and remain hopeful.

    As far as faculty are concerned, I find it insulting to Catholic educators that there is an apparent bias by the University that there are not Catholic professors whose credentials are prestigious. Look at the Law School. It is exactly the opposite.

    With regard to the history of independence, I have found that many Notre Dame grads and fans are not aware of the anti-Catholicism in the Big 10 that led to independence. Knute Rockne was unstoppable and brilliant in his vision and courage. It is time now to double-down on independence.

    Finally, I was a Government major, and then to ND Law, a Double-Domer, who lived in the Center of the Universe since 1931, Alumni Hall, for four years. I would be very pleased if you could convince your colleagues to abandon the term “political science.” Government is far from the scientific world and is based on philosophy, theology, and cultural anthropology. I learned that from many wonderful professors, especially my mentor for senior thesis, Dr. Ed Goerner.

    In any event, I loved your article and look forward to more of your incisive comments that are exactly what the administration needs to hear. “Keep the Faith” and “Cheer, Cheer for Old Notre Dame!” God bless you.
    Edward (Ed) Smith, A.B. 1970 (Government), J.D. 1973

  3. There is no turning back from the money and its requirements for a successful football team. But that is 100 of the 8500 or so student body, and many of those 100 are very faithful Catholics with strong Faith identities. The article is accurate regarding the University losing its identify amongst the student body/faculty, etc. Paying a QB, WR or any position doesn’t mean you have to include DEI or liberal Catholicism into the ethos of the University. We can have both! Competitive football and conservative Catholicism! They do not preclude one another!

  4. Putting aside Professor Deneen’s academic Catholic identity issues, i must draw an exception to his characterization of the football team as being one and the same with the University, an ideal that, unfortunately, no longer exists. I am thoroughly excited by the success of the football team and i even drove to New Orleans to experience a terror attack. The reality is that Notre Dame is running a business separate and apart from the academic side of the institution. That business is a professional football team. The players are being paid. The assistant coaches are being paid in excess of $1 million. The players take their meals and get tutored at the football facility. High school seniors are enrolled early so that they can participate in spring drills. Pay for play players are brought in for 1 year of football utility. All to enhance the “unique” brand of Notre Dame. Football at Notre Dame is about money, not Catholic identity. Football independence makes economic sense, it’s not about clinging to some pie-in-the-sky ideal. ND gets to keep 100% of its $20 miilion playoff payout. We are engaging in behavior that our University leadership said we would never do. I’ve made peace with all of ND’s hypocrisy on this issue and it has freed me up to root for ND football as vociferously as i root for any of my other professional sports teams.

    1. I’m reading a lot of articles about Marcus Freeman converting to Catholicism. And bringing back the tradition that the team attends Mass before each game. These things are felt in the heart of the players, the fans, and the general public. Notre Dame is unique and always will be envied as long as it keeps these traditions. After Sunday Mass at our parish in Ohio, the priest said he had a “God Moment” as he was putting on his vestments with Our Lady of Guadalupe on the vestment. He said Mary spoke to him and told him to please tell the congregation that they had to cheer for Notre Dame. Of course, everyone laughed, but knew he was quite serious! Be not afraid to evangelize! That is what football, and every other sport and activity stands for, especially when we ask the public –“What would you fight for?!” These are “God Moments.”

  5. “Let us know what you think.” History suggests it is of little importance what we as alumni think. Rather, it is what Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., the Board of Trustees, and the big donors think about Professor Deneen’s commentary that will determine the future direction of Notre Dame.

  6. There has never been such a unique Catholic University. I visited it in the 1940’s when a friend made his final profession as a Holy Cross brother. We lived on campus for a week that summer. My younger brother ran around the entire stadium. I played the organ there. We prayed at the shrine. I have a picture of Knute Rockne over my desk as well as an autographed picture of Quarterback, Johnny Lujack. In spite of having had Vince Lombardi as my High School Coach and being a lifetime rooter for Green Bay, there will always be a special place in my heart for Notre Dame. A Dominican Sister friend used to sit with the needy boys in their “cottage”, feed them apples and pray the Rosary for Our Lady’s School to win. How could they lose?

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