Wealth, Wokism, and a "Neighborhood" in Decline: Notre Dame's Challenging Future.
In an August 3, 2020, First Things article, Father Miscamble notes with his usual lucidity the implication of Notre Dame’s naming Pete Buttigieg, South Bend’s former mayor and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, a 2020-21 faculty fellow at its Institute for Advanced Study. Given the former mayor’s radical opposition to Catholic moral teaching and his active involvement with the Biden campaign, the Buttigieg episode is an example of the willingness of Notre Dame’s leadership to “appease the dominant cultural forces of the day.” It illustrates that those in charge have “embraced a defective understanding of Notre Dame’s Catholic mission…[and] undercuts efforts to provide an integrated intellectual, spiritual, and moral formation for Notre Dame students.” Moreover, it “does nothing to convey where students and scholars at a Catholic university should ultimately put their trust.” With episodes like this occurring routinely on campus, it is no wonder that, as Father Miscamble observes, “There are ‘troubled hearts’ at Notre Dame these days.”
Father Miscamble is an award-winning historian and former chair of Notre Dame's History Department and Rector of Moreau Seminary who has been engaged for decades in discussions about Notre Dame’s Catholic identity. In his recent book, American Priest, he gives us a clear-eyed and capacious portrait of Father Ted Hesburgh with his many praiseworthy qualities and contributions but also his tireless quest for the acclaim of secular academe that has led to a major weakening of Notre Dame’s Catholic identity. In his presentation for our Annual Breakfast, “Wealth, Wokism, and a 'Neighborhood' in Decline: Notre Dame's Challenging Future,” Father Miscamble, will review recent developments at Notre Dame and comment on some of the major challenges the university confronts in maintaining its Catholic identity in the immediate future.
Complimentary breakfast begins at 7:15 am
Program begins at 8:00 am