Resources

Resources

Surveys of graduating seniors show that they are predominantly pro-abortion, approve of homosexual “marriage,” and only occasionally pray or attend religious services.


Our bulletins are replete with links to resources related to the secularization of formerly religious institutions and more particularly to the effects of secularization at Notre Dame. Some frequently cited materials are listed below with links to either read or purchase the resource.

Books

With the exception of “The Dying of the Light,” which considers the forces, process, and rhetoric of secularization through case studies at seven different schools, the following books cover a range of topics related to Notre Dame’s Catholic identity and its ongoing struggle to determine its mission and future course.  Click on the images below for more information and to purchase.

For-Notre-Dam       What-Happened-To-Notre-Dame       Building-Catholic-Higher-Education      Dying-Light


Articles & Selections

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Are Catholics Leading Students Astray?

By Patrick J. Reilly
A Nationwide survey raises concerns about the impact that American colleges have on the faith and morals of Catholic Students. The Catholic World Report, March 2003. 

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The Dying of the Light, Chapter 8

By James Tunstead Burtchaell
The Disengagement of Colleges and Universities from Their Christian Churches.
Wm B Eerdman’s Publishing Publishing Co. 1998.

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The Faith Factor

By Nick Kolman-Mandle
An Exploration of the Formation of Religious Identity 
Among Notre Dame Students.
Scholastic Magazine, February 24, 2005.

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Changing Minds

By Mike Laskey
A look at the factors that make Notre Dame students more liberal as they move toward graduation. Scholastic Magazine, December 6, 2007.

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The Professionalization of Faculty at Religious Colleges and Universities

By Larry Lyon
Integrating faith and learning, allowing religious traditions to constrain academic freedom and employing religious criteria in faculty searches. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion (2007) 46(1):87–100.

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Why I Was Not Scandalized

By Alfred J. Freddoso
Illuminating introduction to Charles Rice’s “What Happened to Notre Dame?” from the perspective of a prominent long-time member of the Notre Dame faculty. St. Augustine’s Press, 2009. 


Catholicism of Catholic Universities

In 1967 a group of Catholic educators led by Notre Dame’s president Fr. Theodore Hesburgh, CSC, drew up and singed what has become known as “The Land O’Lakes Statement.”  Its purpose was to define the role of Catholic universities in America. Instead, it set in motion a decline in their Catholic identity. A response to Land O’Lakes came in the form of an apostolic constitution 13 years later from Pope John Paul II, Ex Corde Ecclesiae (From the Heart of the Church). You can read these documents along with the USCCB’s application of Ex Corde below.

Land O’Lakes Statement

Ex Corde Ecclesiae 

The Application For Ex Corde Ecclesiae For The United States

Applicable Cannon Law


Other Books & Videos

Contending With Modernity: Catholic Higher Education in the Twentieth Century

By Philip Gleason
Oxford University Press 1995

Catholic Higher Education: A Culture in Crisis

By Melanie M. Morey & Johbn J. Piderit, S.J.
Oxford University Press 2006

The Soul of the American University: From Protestant Establishment to Established Nonbelief

By George M. Marsden
Oxford University Press 1994

Quality With Soul: How Six Premier Colleges and Universities Keep Faith with Their Religious Traditions

By Robert Benne
Wm B Eerdman’s Publishing Publishing Co. 2001

O’Malley of Notre Dame

By John William Meaney
University of Notre Dame Press 1991

God on the Quad: How Religious Colleges and the Missionary Generation are Changing America

by Naomi Schaefer Riley
Ivan R. Dee, Publisher, 2006

I Alone Have Escaped to Tell You: My Life and Pastimes

By Ralph McInerny
University of Notre Dame Press, 2006

The Vagina Monologues

By Eve Ensler
Villard; Revised edition 2000


Notre Dame Documents

Mission Statement

The Catholic identity of the University depends upon, and is nurtured by, the continuing presence of a predominant number of Catholic intellectuals.

Charter

Operating under its founding charter from the State of Indiana adopted on January 15, 1844, the University of Notre Dame for many decades had been governed by a self-perpetuating Board of Trustees comprised of six Holy Cross Priests.

Statutes

On March 28, 1967, the Board of Trustees approved the Statutes of the University, providing for six laymen to join with the six aforementioned priests in a body which replaced the then existing Board of Trustees and is known as “The Fellows of the University of Notre Dame du Lac.” The prior Bylaws were abrogated and the required number of new Fellows elected.

Bylaws

On April 8, 1967, at a meeting of the Fellows, the Statutes were ratified and new Bylaws were approved which delegate the general power of governance of the University to a Board of Trustees. These Bylaws are likewise set forth as amended in this document.

Academic Articles

Congregation of the Holy Cross Constitutions

Faculty Handbook