Notre Dame returns ‘Catholic Mission’ to its core values after ‘confusion’

Madalaine Elhabbal, Catholic News Agency

Monday, November 24, 2025

The University of Notre Dame has reinstated “Catholic Mission” among its staff values after it opted to drop the language in an effort to reprogram the school’s Catholic identity as overarching. In a November 21st staff announcement, Notre Dame President Robert A. Dowd, CSC, said commitment to the school’s Catholic mission was ‘referenced’ in the preamble to the new four staff values announced at a town hall meeting last week. But thanks to “some constructive feedback we received, we now realize that placement is causing confusion and that some could interpret that not as elevating our mission as we intended but as a sign of diminishing commitment.”