Catholic University Walks Back Attempt To Water Down Religious Values After Backlash

The University of Notre Dame is fully walking back changes to its staff values after major backlash over the school watering down its historic Catholic mission.

The Catholic university on Nov. 10 replaced staff values that required employees to understand and accept “the Catholic mission of the university” with generic concepts such as “treat every person with dignity and respect” and “work together.” Notre Dame is now reaffirming its “commitment to our Catholic mission” by adding an entirely new value centered around faith, saying that they received “constructive feedback” indicating the decision was “confusing.”

Following the Daily Caller News Foundation’s story exposing Notre Dame for seemingly abandoning its Catholic identity, some people posted the article online asking the school “what’s your problem?” and criticizing the decision saying, “People all over the world love Notre Dame BECAUSE of our unapologetically Catholic identity, not in spite of it.”

In the latest announcement, Notre Dame’s public affairs office denied the idea that it was downplaying the school’s Catholic identity.

“In that version of our Values, our commitment to our Catholic mission—which is the primary value that grounds all that we do—was referenced in the preamble to the four values as a way to show its overarching importance,” the university insisted. “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. To avoid any further confusion, we have now included the language on Catholic mission as the first of our five core Values.”

Along with its previous values of community, collaboration, excellence and innovation, the university adopted an additional requirement, titled “Catholic Mission.” It reads: “Be a force for good and help to advance Notre Dame’s mission to be the leading global Catholic research university.”

Notre Dame updates its updated ‘Values’ statement (via University of Notre Dame)

“Our Catholic mission guides and informs all that we do and how we work together,” Notre Dame continued in its update. “I invite each of us to reflect more deeply on how we can be a force for good in the context of ND’s mission to be the leading global Catholic research university. Our Catholic mission has animated our common work from the University’s founding, and it will always be our guiding force.”

Notre Dame’s previous values included points like ensuring staff maintained a “high moral standard,” a commitment to “the overall team objectives rather than own interests,” and consideration of “the common good.” The new values simply suggest staff “embrace opportunities with creativity and dedication” and have “a commitment to truth and service.”

The changes were made in “response to the changing higher education environment,” the university said in the original announcement.

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