Students Rally for Catholic Identity
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Support SycamoreThis Friday’s “March on the Dome” at Notre Dame signals a rising student movement to defend the University’s Catholic identity and support Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades’s call to rescind the appointment of Professor Susan Ostermann as director of the Liu Institute.
Students associated with various organizations on campus have organized a public demonstration this Friday in response to the University’s decision to appoint Professor Susan Ostermann—an outspoken advocate of legal abortion—to direct the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies effective July 1, 2026.
The students’ action follows mounting concern from faculty, alumni, pro-life leaders, and most significantly, from Notre Dame’s bishop, the Most Reverend Kevin C. Rhoades. Their peaceful public witness is intended to affirm Notre Dame’s Catholic mission and longstanding pro-life commitments.
March on the Dome
Friday, February 27, 2026
6:00 – 7:30 PM
Main Circle → South Quad → Grotto
All members of the Notre Dame community and friends of the University are invited to attend.
At stake, students insist, is not merely a personnel decision—but the integrity of Notre Dame’s Catholic identity.
Appointment Backlash
The appointment of Professor Ostermann immediately generated serious concern within the Notre Dame community and well beyond it. Two faculty members holding fellowships at the Liu Institute resigned in response to the decision. Notre Dame Right to Life publicly called for the appointment to be rescinded. Recipients of the University’s Evangelium Vitae Medal described the decision as a “betrayal.”
Bishop Rhoades issued a formal statement objecting to the appointment and urging University leadership to reconsider. His concerns were grounded in Professor Ostermann’s “extensive public advocacy of abortion rights and her disparaging and inflammatory remarks about those who uphold the dignity of human life from conception to natural death,” which he said conflict with a core principle central to Notre Dame’s Catholic identity and mission.
At least nineteen cardinals, archbishops, and bishops have since publicly supported Bishop Rhoades’s appeal, underscoring the national—and even international—significance of this controversy. The only comparable moment in recent history when such a cross-section of the episcopate spoke out against a Catholic institution was in 2009, when Father John Jenkins invited then-President Barack Obama to deliver the Notre Dame’s commencement address.
The issue has also drawn sustained media inquiry and significant attention across Catholic and secular outlets alike. A simple search of the controversy yields page after page of coverage—virtually all sharply critical of the appointment.
"March on the Dome"
The “March on the Dome” was conceived of as a peaceful, prayerful public demonstration of solidarity with Bishop Rhoades and with the Church’s pro-life teaching. Organizers expect significant student participation and have issued a media release outlining their concerns and calling upon University leadership to reconsider the decision in light of Notre Dame’s Catholic identity.
For student organizer Luke Woodyard, the effort has already borne fruit in unexpected ways.
“Organizing this event has been such a blessing. At every turn, there are people cheering us on and helping us whether with logistics, funding, or general advice.”
Woodyard explained that from the outset, he and his co-organizer, Gabriel Ortner, set out to demonstrate that concern about the appointment was not confined to a handful of individuals, but instead reflected a broad and unified coalition of faithful students.
“When Gabe and I committed to making this protest a reality, we set out to make the Notre Dame administration realize its Catholic student voice is not just a couple of loud voices but a huge coalition of different student groups that all love the Catholic mission of Notre Dame.”
The March on the Dome, he emphasized, is not merely about one administrative decision but about institutional coherence.
“Whether or not the university rescinds the appointment, this protest will make clear the demands Notre Dame students have of their University. They cannot wear the title of Catholic identity and Founder’s Catholic Mission if their actions, staff, and professors do not echo that same sentiment.”
Woodyard described the appointment as “unacceptable,” but also as “just one example of Notre Dame’s action that is overtly against the University’s calling.”
At the same time, organizers are careful to frame the March not only as a moment of grievance, but as an expression of “hope and a positive vision of Notre Dame’s future.”
“We love this university,” Woodyard stressed, “and want it to be a force for good in the world.”
In that spirit, the March on the Dome seeks to unite students in a visible affirmation that fidelity to Catholic teaching is not an obstacle to Notre Dame’s greatness—but rather the very foundation of it.
Bishop Rhoades Leads Students in Prayer
Just days before the March on the Dome, Bishop Kevin Rhoades joined students on campus for Vigil Mass at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart and afterward led a Rosary at the Grotto praying for Notre Dame’s fidelity to its Catholic mission. His presence on campus and his words of encouragement to students underscored the gravity of the moment. In standing with them in prayer, the bishop offered both pastoral support and a clear sign of the Church’s concern for Notre Dame’s Catholic identity as students prepared to make their witness known.
An Open Letter to Father Dowd
In response to this controversy, Sycamore Trust has published an open letter inviting members of the Notre Dame community, concerned Catholics, and others to stand with Bishop Rhoades in his call for rescission of the appointment.
The open letter, titled “Supporting Bishop Rhoades: Rescission of Susan Ostermann’s Appointment to Direct the Liu Institute,” calls upon University leadership to reconsider the decision in fidelity to Notre Dame’s Catholic identity.
We encourage readers to review the letter and add their names in support. The restoration and preservation of Catholic identity at Notre Dame is not the responsibility of students alone; it belongs to alumni, parents, faculty, clergy, and all who cherish the University’s mission.
Why This Moment Matters
Notre Dame’s own Mission Statement calls for “the continuing presence of a predominant number of Catholic intellectuals” on its faculty and affirms that the University is dedicated to the “pursuit and sharing of truth for its own sake.” When a leader of a major academic institute publicly champions abortion rights—a position the Church consistently identifies as gravely contrary to moral law—the tension with that mission becomes unmistakable.
As we have emphasized in previous Bulletins, Notre Dame’s Catholic identity is not self-sustaining. It requires vigilance, courage, and at times public witness.
The March on the Dome represents precisely such witness.
Students today are demonstrating that they understand the stakes. They recognize that fidelity to the Gospel of Life is not optional for a Catholic university. It is constitutive of its identity.
We are grateful to the Notre Dame student leaders who have organized this public demonstration and the March on the Dome. Their courage and clarity recall the tradition of faithful students who, in past generations, helped preserve Notre Dame’s distinctive mission.
Join the March. Add Your Name.
The controversy surrounding the Liu Institute appointment is about more than one individual. It concerns Notre Dame’s public witness as the nation’s most prominent Catholic university.
If you are able, please attend and support the March on the Dome. If you cannot be present physically, stand in prayer with those who can. And either way, please spread the word and add your name to our open letter supporting Bishop Rhoades’s call for Father Dowd to rescind the Ostermann appointment.
In moments such as this, silence sends its own message. Let ours be a message of fidelity.
Go Irish. Go Catholic.
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If you share our love for Notre Dame and want to see an authentic Catholic renewal under the Dome, please consider lending a hand in whatever way you are able — by giving of your time (especially in prayer), talent, or treasure. The funds we receive are used to continue our work to keep you informed of Notre Dame’s imperiled Catholic identity, organize events and activities to strengthen our collective voice, and financially support the efforts on campus by students and their organizations to stand tall for the Truth of Catholicism.
Oremus
O God of Truth and Love, You have called us into a loving and faithful relationship with You. Your Son identified Himself as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and called us to follow Him wherever He goes.
In their care for and guardianship of the University and the students it serves, may the administrators of the University of Notre Dame always commit themselves to the pursuit and embrace of the Truth, which alone can set us free.
May the Holy Spirit lead them into all truth and recall them to it in times of peril. May they embrace the sorrow that comes from being different from, and rejected by, the world, so that they may rejoice always in the goodness of the Lord.
In the day of battle, may they joyfully take courage in Him who has already overcome the world.
We make our prayer through the intercession of Notre Dame, Our Mother, and 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.
Submit Your Mass Intention
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.
