News Reporter: Quo vadis Notre Dame?

Thursday, 12 February 2026

Quo vadis Notre Dame?

Friend,

My alma mater, the University of Notre Dame, is perhaps best described as a living representation of the Catholic Church in the United States—not in her ideal form, but because she represents the crossroads of the Church where saints, sinners, heretics, and heroes meet.

During my tenure, I had a professor whose holiness and reflections on Augustine and miracles changed my life not once but three separate times. I also had a professor who invoked Catholic Social Teaching to argue for abortion.

For years this oscillation defined Notre Dame's public witness. Perhaps the most striking example came in 2015. In response to an attack on its religious liberty, the university nobly fought and won in federal court against the pernicious contraception mandate—only to turn around and pay for this coverage for their faculty and staff.

This kind of seesaw-like behavior has been experienced by faculty, students, alumni and all those who cherish this school's legacy time and again. A new controversy is roiling the campus today, leaving many to wonder where Notre Dame's heart is.

The decision to name Susan Ostermann director of its Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies notwithstanding her public support of abortion, follows a familiar line in Notre Dame's recent scandals.

Ostermann, affiliated with the Population Council, has characterized opposition to abortion as having roots in racism and white supremacy while calling crisis pregnancy centers, "anti-abortion rights propaganda sites, to operate and provide false information to women who are lured to them believing they will receive legitimate medical care."

More troubling still is that she has used the Catholic teaching on integral human development to support abortion on demand, a point of serious concern made by Bishop Kevin Rhoades, shepherd of Notre Dame's home diocese.

Ostermann has also made many of her alarming statements about abortion in co-authorship with the notorious Tamara Kay, who sued a student-run Notre Dame newspaper over its coverage of her promotion of abortion on campus. Kay lost that suit and has since left Notre Dame.

Faculty members past and present have sounded the alarm. Two have resigned in protest. Others have brilliantly elucidated why Notre Dame finds herself on this path.

Now, a growing number of bishops have joined Bishop Rhoades in urging the University to rescind the appointment, warning that this action is "causing scandal to the faithful of our diocese and beyond." Bishop Rhoades also noted that the Holy See continues to defend the 'right to life' as a core pillar of integral human development.

At this crossroad, the question before the University is stark:

Will she remain in ecclesial communion or go the way of the world?

It is a question Notre Dame has faced before. But the answer is becoming harder to ignore.

May the love of all Our Lady represents help Notre Dame to prevail against the enemies of goodness, truth, and beauty.

I ask you to join me in praying for Notre Dame to receive the courage of both the apostles and the fighting Irish to recover her sense of mission and fidelity to truth.

Go forward bravely,

Kelsey Reinhardt
President & CEO

CatholicVote

News Reporter

Thursday, 12 February 2026

Quo vadis Notre Dame?

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