The head of the U.S. bishops voiced his full support Feb. 13 for Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, after Bishop Rhoades confronted the University of Notre Dame for appointing a radically pro-abortion professor to head one of its institutes.
“I fully support Bishop Kevin Rhoades in his challenge to Notre Dame to rectify its poor judgement in hiring a professor who openly stands against Catholic teaching when it comes to the sanctity of life, in this case protection of the unborn,” stated Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in a Feb. 13 X post.
The post linked to Bishop Rhoades’ full statement, which was published on the local diocese’s website Feb. 11.
As Zeale News reported, the Indiana bishop’s statement outlined numerous reasons why pro-abortion advocate Associate Professor Susan Ostermann is unqualified for the position of director of Notre Dame’s Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies. Her appointment by the university is not slated to go into effect until July, and Bishop Rhoades urged that there is still time for the school “to make things right.”
“The Liu Institute at Notre Dame is housed in the Keough School of Global Affairs, which endorses ‘integral human development’ as the most important Catholic social teaching principle for its work,” Bishop Rhoades stated. “Professor Ostermann has written – ludicrously – that this Catholic principle actually supports abortion on demand.”
“To the contrary, the Holy See, in statements to the United Nations, continues to defend the ‘right to life’ as one of the core ‘pillars of integral human development’,” he continued. “Professor Ostermann’s opposite view thus clearly should disqualify her from holding a position of leadership within the Keough School.”
Archbishop Coakley now joins a number of Catholic bishops across the U.S. who have spoken out in support of Bishop Rhoades’ statement, including Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver, Colorado, Bishop Donald Hying of Madison, Wisconsin, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, and Bishop James Wall of Gallup, New Mexico, among others, as Zeale News reported.
Many Catholic students, alumni, and faculty of Notre Dame have also publicly expressed concern over the appointment.
Kelsey Reinhardt, president and CEO of CatholicVote and a graduate of Notre Dame, noted in a Feb. 12 statement that Ostermann has accused crisis pregnancy centers of spreading false information and has described the centers as “anti-abortion propaganda sites.” Ostermann has also “characterized opposition to abortion as having roots in racism and white supremacy,” Reinhardt remarked.
“More troubling still is that [Ostermann] has used the Catholic teaching on integral human development to support abortion on demand, a point of serious concern made by Bishop Kevin Rhoades, shepherd of Notre Dame’s home diocese,” Reinhardt later added.
Reinhardt called on the faithful to pray for her alma mater, that it may “receive the courage of both the apostles and the fighting Irish to recover her sense of mission and fidelity to truth.”