{"id":29939,"date":"2025-11-22T07:46:29","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T12:46:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=29939"},"modified":"2025-11-22T07:46:29","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T12:46:29","slug":"notre-dame-removes-commitment-to-catholic-mission-in-updated-nd-values","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2025\/11\/notre-dame-removes-commitment-to-catholic-mission-in-updated-nd-values","title":{"rendered":"Notre Dame Removes Commitment to Catholic Mission in Updated &#8216;ND Values&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_29942\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-29942\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2025\/11\/Notre-Dame-02_credit-Jonathan-Weiss-Shutterstock.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-29942\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2025\/11\/Notre-Dame-02_credit-Jonathan-Weiss-Shutterstock.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-29942\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jonathan Weiss \/ Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Notre Dame University raised some eyebrows after it released an \u201cupdated\u201d version of its so-called \u201cND Values\u201d that removed a commitment to the school\u2019s Catholic mission. The school\u2019s Vice President for Human Resources, Heather Christophersen, announced the creation of new values for university staff at town halls on October 29 and 30<sup>th<\/sup>, with the new values omitting a commitment to the school\u2019s Catholic mission according to the Notre Dame student-run newspaper, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ndsmcobserver.com\/article\/2025\/11\/nd-omits-support-for-catholic-mission-from-new-list-of-staff-values\"><em>The Observer<\/em><\/a>. The principles are meant to apply to staff at the university, which excludes faculty members.<\/p>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/ndworks.nd.edu\/news\/refreshed-nd-values-university-updates-shared-during-fall-staff-town-hall\/\">news release<\/a> from Notre Dame referred to the new values as \u201crefreshed.\u201d\u00a0 In an email to staff announcing the new values, Christopherson wrote, \u201cAt Notre Dame, our values are more than words\u2014they are the foundation of our community and the guiding principles that shape how we work, interact, and contribute to a purpose greater than ourselves. These values reflect who we are and who we aspire to be.\u201d She continued stating that, \u201cBy embracing these values, we reaffirm our commitment to one another and to the University\u2019s mission.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The former values were accountability, teamwork, integrity, leadership in excellence, and leadership in mission. They had been the core principles since the university\u2019s founding. Leadership in mission included the phrase \u201cUnderstands, accepts and supports the Catholic mission of the university and fosters values consistent with that mission.\u201d Speaking to <em>The Observer<\/em>, Christopherson stated she\u2019d received feedback that the old values were \u201cstale,\u201d and confusing. \u201cThey could be values anywhere. They could be a value at Northwestern or Duke or Stanford, or they could be in the corporate world. You know, the words like integrity and teamwork and accountability, they\u2019re great words, but they didn&#8217;t feel Notre Dame,\u201d she said. \u201cWe thought it was an opportunity to refresh them and to make these [values] feel more connected to Notre Dame.\u201d Christopherson said the change was meant to make the values fall under a more Catholic umbrella.<\/p>\n<p>Writing for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.catholicworldreport.com\/2025\/11\/20\/some-reflections-and-questions-about-notre-dames-new-staff-values\/\"><em>The Catholic World Report<\/em><\/a>, Dr. Larry Chapp pushed back at the sentiment. \u201cFirst, it is indeed strange that there is no mention of a specifically Catholic mission that guides all the staff values if the goal was to emphasize that all the various values fall under that Catholic umbrella,\u201d he wrote. \u201cA neutral observer, ignorant of Notre Dame\u2019s Catholic status, if handed these values would have no inkling from them that they were animated in some way by a Catholic missional identity.\u201d He also pushed back that it caused \u201cconfusion.\u201d \u201cThat problem is now \u2018solved\u2019 at Notre Dame since the staff values no longer mention Catholicism at all. However, at a school where Catholic identity is truly valued and where there is a proper theological vision for a true Catholic humanism\/globalism, instead of eliminating the Catholic mission bits, there should instead be a series of sub-statements that make it very clear what adhering to the Catholic mission of the school means and, most importantly, what it does not mean,\u201d he said. \u201cThis would give employee evaluators and the staff members the specific and concrete criteria they need for adjudicating expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Notre Dame University raised some eyebrows after it released an \u201cupdated\u201d version of its so-called \u201cND Values\u201d that removed a commitment to the school\u2019s Catholic mission. The school\u2019s Vice President for Human Resources, Heather Christophersen, announced the creation of new values for university staff at town halls on October 29 and 30th, with the new&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":29942,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Notre Dame Removes Commitment to Catholic Mission in Updated &#039;ND Values&#039;<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Notre Dame faces backlash after removing mention of its Catholic mission from updated staff values, sparking debate over faith identity.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" 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