The most famous woman to ever bear a child — Mary, the Mother of Jesus — is remembered daily at the school that bears her name, the University of Notre Dame. That tribute made the school’s betrayal of Christian values and of women all that much more atrocious when school officials offered Professor Susan Ostermann leadership of its Liu Institute of Asia and Asian Studies.
It’s not enough that she has since stepped back from a promotion. Ostermann needs to be fired.
Notre Dame proclaims itself the “leading global Catholic research university,” listing that mission first in its staff values. Ostermann’s continued employment at the University gives her influence over students and the institution, allowing an avid abortion activist and former member of the Population Council (ironically a leading force behind the One-Child Policy resulting in the killing of tens of millions of Chinese babies) to have a voice on school values and policy.
There is precedent for removing her completely. Indiana Catholic schools have taken measures in the past against staff utilizing in vitro fertilization and living in states of divorce without annulment, same sex “marriage” and cohabitation, all practices in contradiction with the Catholic Church’s teachings.
These efforts to defend schools’ religious integrity made national headlines in 2018 with the employment terminations of Shelly Fitzgerald and Lynn Starkey at Roncalli Catholic High School. Both counselors were engaged in separate same sex “marriages,” in contradiction with Catholic teaching.
Both counselors went to court against the Archdiocese. The 7th Circuit upheld rulings in the Archdiocese’s favor in both Fitzgerald’s and Starkey’s cases, citing the “ministerial exception,” which allows religious institutions to make staffing decisions according to the upholding of religious beliefs.
With its clear Catholic mission statement and religious foundation, Notre Dame could absolutely follow suit in terminating Ostermann’s employment — and win any court case she might bring as a result. Yes, going to court is expensive; so is losing faithfully Catholic students and donors.
Outside of money, Notre Dame retains a nationwide influence in religious academia, an influence that, in light of this scandal, begs further scrutiny.
The Notre Dame Diocesan Scholars Program, which provides diocesan students nationwide with full-tuition scholarships to the University, advertises the creation of “a lasting bridge between your diocese and Notre Dame, opening doors for future generations of faithful scholars to study, grow, and lead for the good of the Church and the world.”
Yet the University’s refusal to defend the Church’s teachings in its hiring practices — and beyond — betrays the possible wolf in sheep’s clothing conflict in this program, bringing bright young minds from Catholic schools into a morally corrupted institution parading as preeminent Catholic higher education.
Further evidence of this corruption moral code is found in the response to remarks made by Catholic former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz. “People have taught me that to murder an unborn child at nine months is illegal,” Holtz had said regarding former President Joe Biden. “That’s not part of the Catholic faith.” University President Fr. John Jenkins renounced the remarks as not an indication of University agreement with Holtz’s views.
This reaches beyond Notre Dame’s own South Bend campus, and even beyond higher education. Through its Alliance for Catholic Education, the University influences Catholic schools and their teachers nationwide. Notre Dame can’t be trusted to “integrate academic excellence and spiritual growth” at its own institution. How can it be trusted to do so for our youngest minds?
Archbishop Charles Thompson of Indianapolis set the example in 2019 when two more Archdiocese of Indianapolis high school teachers were found to be in a gay “marriage,” one at Cathedral High School and one at Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School. Thompson demanded the schools uphold Catholic values at the risk of severing ties with the Archdiocese. Cathedral ultimately consented, cutting ties with the teacher to retain its Catholic identity and ongoing relationship with the Archdiocese. When Brebeuf refused, Thompson followed through and cut ties with the school.
Bishops around the country condemned Notre Dame’s promotion of Ostermann and her blatant pro-abortion advocacy. It is time for them to also step up in the same spirit of Archbishop Thompson, ending their diocesan partnerships with the University if serious changes are not made.
Any bridge built on the deaths of preborn children ought to be burned. Notre Dame must face the music: Uphold Catholic values or lose all ties with America’s dioceses.
Our Lady, the Virgin Mary, the namesake of Notre Dame, carried the preborn Christ child in her womb. Notre Dame must not continue to betray its namesake and the beautiful motherhood she so perfectly exemplifies. If it does, it is time to officially strip the University of its claim to Catholicism.
Kristan Hawkins
Founder and President, Students for Life of America
March 20
