Chicago Daily Observer

On first glance, the accusation that Notre Dame is not Catholic enough strikes most people as odd. I graduated from Notre Dame in 1986 and returned as a faculty member a decade ago out of sympathy with the university’s effort to at once work toward academic excellence and sustain a serious commitment to Catholic intellectual life. I’ve found the place even better than advertised. But apparently not everyone agrees, and beneath Miscamble’s manifesto lie two important issues.

Only 12 of 32 teachers in the U. of Notre Dame history department are Catholics, and last year of three new hires only one was Catholic. In English, when Kevin Hart, editor of ND-based Religion and Literature, objected to a candidate as “incompatible” with Notre Dame’s “Catholic mission,” he was “roundly criticized” and later decamped for U. of Virginia.

Except for theology and the law school, things are so bad under the golden dome that history prof Fr, Wilson D. Miscamble, a member of the Holy Cross Fathers, who founded and run the place, wants a quota — two-thirds of all future appointments to be Catholics. It would be preferential hiring for fish-eaters. As things stand, you can be too Catholic for Notre Dame, says Miscamble in the latest America Magazine.

Miscamble has a history of emphasizing the C-word, having nailed the ND president, a Holy Cross priest like himself, ... Read More...