Notre Dame’s capitulation on same-sex marriage was predictable.

Between Magisterium and Magistrate: 

Notre Dame’s Choice on Marriage’s Meaning

by Michael Bradley

Notre Dame’s acceptance of the same-sex marriage movement’s rhetorical paradigm has made our nation’s flagship Catholic institution impotent. Yet there is an opportunity for the Notre Dame community to model ways to promote the good amid the crumbling ruins of institutional integrity.

When I entered the University of Notre Dame in August of 2010, same-sex marriage was an invisible issue. Three weeks ago, the University announcedthat it had decided to extend employment benefits to legally married same-sex couples. The university did so willingly and without coercion of civil law. Notre Dame’s president has even hailed the decision as one that creates “a less imperfect community of love [at Notre Dame],” since “we recognize an urgent call to welcome, support and cherish gay and lesbian brothers and sisters.”

What accounts for such a rapid change in the university’s operative definition of marriage, especially when a change in the state’s legal definition did not compel Notre Dame to change its definition?

Two winters ago, the university released its Pastoral Plan for the Support and Holistic Development of GLBTQ and Heterosexual Students at the University of Notre Dame, “Beloved Friends and Allies.” Released after a five-month review process, this pastoral plan states that “consideration of structures present at peer Catholic institutions” was a key criterion of that process. As the Irish Rover reported, such a peer review could not have found many encouraging trends at Catholic institutions that had undertaken similar commitments to recognize official gay-straight alliances. Georgetown University, for example, sponsors annual “kiss-ins” for same-sex couples who wish to celebrate their relationships through public displays of romantic affection.

Religious institutions can now look to Notre Dame as a tragic case study in just how quickly institutions can run off the rails once they uncritically imbibe and propagate the ideological presuppositions of the same-sex marriage movement.

• Why This Was The Wrong Decision ...
• Where Notre Dame Went Wrong ...
• Institutional Witness and the Failure to Lead ...
• Where to Go From Here? ...

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