Is Notre Dame in Danger of Losing Its "Catholic Identity"

Some think it's already a foregone conclusion. Others of us, however, do not. But Fr. Wilson Miscamble, CSC, associate professor of history at the University of Notre Dame, apparently believes that Our Lady's University is certainly in danger of losing "its claim to be a meaningfully 'Catholic' university". Mirror of Justice has the details:

The Sept. 10 issue of America magazine includes a courageous cover story by Wilson Miscamble, CSC, titled "The Faculty 'Problem': How Can Catholic Identity Be Preserved?" Miscamble is professor of history at Notre Dame, and what he has published in "The National Catholic Weekly" is a lawyer's brief arguing that Notre Dame has lost -- or is about to lose -- its claim to be a meaningfully "Catholic" university and calling for the action that is necessary to stop what is in fact not an inevitable loss of identity. Miscamble also draws the lessons for places that haven't been as blessed with fidelity as Notre Dame has been: Notre Dame, and other historically Catholic universities, can choose to remain, or to become again, Catholic, but it's a choice, a choice that would involve a lot of hard and frequently unpopular work. When a member of the sponsoring religious order publicly questions whether Notre Dame, of all places, is going to end up Catholic and does so, as Miscamble has, in measured but strong terms, it's at last time to pay attention. As one friend put it to me: "Miscamble shows exactly how the store gets sold."

[More]