The Notre Dame Center for Ethics & Culture

“Professor Snead and the Center’s leadership team are outstanding colleagues for Notre Dame’s faculty, incredible assets for our students, and key partners in the work of advancing Notre Dame’s Catholic mission.”

Our MissionThe Notre Dame Center for Ethics & Culture

-Fr. William Lies, CSCVice President for Mission Engagement and Church Relations

At the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture, we believe that the truth the Church affirms about the human person is the foundation for freedom, justice, human dignity, and the common good.

Our Mission is to share the richness of the Catholic moral and intellectual tradition through teaching, research, and dialogue, at the highest level and across a range of disciplines.

In so doing, we strengthen Notre Dame’s Catholic character on campus, and we bring the University’s voice into the public discussion of the most vital issues of our day.

ethicscenter.nd.edu

Our Mission

“My Junior Fellowship has been an amazing opportunity to meet and work closely with brilliant and inspiring scholars and public figures from around the world. I look forward to developing professional skills and building relationships this summer during my internship at the USCCB.”

-Erin Stoyell-Mulholland President of ND Right to Life

The Notre Dame Center for Ethics & Culture

Forming Notre Dame Students

First and foremost, the Center is dedicated to serving Notre Dame students. Through the opportunities we provide, we encourage them to explore the depth of the Catholic intellectual tradition and give them essential tools to engage the world beyond the University. Our student outreach includes:

-Integritas, a year-long undergraduate formation program that combines classroom instruction from Notre Dame’s most outstanding faculty with outside activities including cultural events and retreats, in order to help students understand more deeply the connections among the intellectual, spiritual, moral, and cultural dimensions of their Notre Dame education.

-Junior Fellowships, where undergraduates participate in the work of the Center by conducting original research and by collaborating with our affiliated faculty, visiting fellows, speakers, and staff.

-Summer Internships to help students develop the skills and relationships for their future vocations, with such organizations as USCCB, Catholic Charities, National Right to Life, and Catholic Relief Services.

-Programming for graduate students, including the Arthur J. Schmitt Lecture Series, established to provide Notre Dame’s Schmitt Fellows in science and engineering a deeper understanding of the human and ethical dimensions of science and technology.

ethicscenter.nd.edu

The Notre Dame Center for Ethics & Culture

“The Center for Ethics and Culture plays an indispensable role in contemporary intellectual life. No university—Catholic or otherwise—can boast an academic unit that does more to promote the deep and sophisticated engagement of ideas among important thinkers of every tradition of faith in the fields of ethics, law, politics, and theology. The Center is a jewel in the crown of Our Lady’s university.”

The Notre Dame Center for Ethics & Culture

Alasdair MacIntyre, Senior Distinguished Fellow Emeritus

-Prof. Robert P. GeorgePrinceton University

Cultivating Academic Excellence

The Center engages in work that is essential to Notre Dame’s mission to be the most academically excellent and robustly Catholic university in the world. This work includes:

-A Mission Hiring Initiative, which aims to attract and retain the most eminent and productive permanent faculty, graduate fellows, and visiting faculty who are devoted to preserving and advancing Notre Dame’s distinctive Catholic identity on campus and beyond.

-Cutting-Edge Research and Publications by our Fellows and affiliated faculty, including the Center’s book series with the University of Notre Dame Press, which features first-rate scholarship bringing a distinctive voice to the most important conversations in elite academia.

-Visiting Fellowships for both senior and emerging scholars from around the world.

-The Annual Fall Conference, the most important interdisciplinary forum for fruitful dialogue and exchange among the world’s leading Catholic thinkers and those from other traditions on the most pressing and vexed questions of ethics, culture, and public policy.

ethicscenter.nd.edu

Alasdair MacIntyre, Senior Distinguished Fellow Emeritus

A Witness in the Public Square

“Hundreds of scholars, professionals, and leaders of the Protestant, Orthodox, Jewish, and Muslim communities have also shown their support [for the religious freedom of individuals and institutions threatened by the HHS contraceptive/abortifacient mandate] in a statement called ‘Unacceptable,’ which the University of Notre Dame’s Carter Snead led the effort to create.”

-Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig MüllerPrefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

The Notre Dame Center for Ethics & Culture

Carter Snead, William P. and Hazel B. White Director

A Witness in the Public Square

ethicscenter.nd.edu

-Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig MüllerPrefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

The Center projects and amplifies Notre Dame’s voice into the public square on the most important public policy debates concerning human dignity and the common good. For example, the Center’s Director, Professor of Law Carter Snead, and the Center’s affiliated experts provide:

-Legislative Testimony before the U.S. Congress and state legislatures on urgent and vital issues including abortion, euthanasia, and the HHS contraceptive/abortifacient mandate.

-Advice and Counsel to elected and appointed local and federal officials through policy briefings, Supreme Court amicus briefs, and white papers.

-Media Commentary through press interviews, op-eds, and public statements.

The Notre Dame Center for Ethics & Culture

Transforming the Culture

THE NOTRE DAME CENTER FOR ETHICS AND CULTURE CATHOLIC LITERATURE SERIES

This 2010 Catholic Culture Series focuses

on four influential American Catholic

Authors: Flannery O’Connor, Walker Percy,

J.F. Powers, and Ralph McInerny.

The Notre Dame Center for Ethics & Culture

Transforming the Culture

ethicscenter.nd.edu

The Center for Ethics and Culture examines questions of how art, especially film and television, function to transform culture. The Center engages these questions in a comprehensive fashion through:

-Scholarly Research to study the effects of media on culture from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, including sociology, history, political science, philosophy, and theology.

-Promotion of Culturally Transformative Art through film festivals and seminars for artists including screen writers, directors, producers, and actors, in collaboration with our network of friends and contacts in the entertainment industry.

-Lectures and Conferences on campus, including our popular Catholic Literature Series, and presentations by experts such as music journalist and cultural commentator John Waters and Notre Dame Professor and distinguished practitioner of architecture, Duncan Stroik.

“In the pursuit of its mission, the Center runs up against some big players, most of Hollywood and the best part of the media. Against these powerful forces, the Center brings only wit, learning, and a love for the truth. As you can see, it’s not even close to a fair fight. Those other guys don’t stand a chance.”

-William McGurn, New York Post

The Notre Dame Center for Ethics & Culture

The Notre Dame Center for Ethics & Culture

“The Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture is a key partner in the Alumni Association’s efforts to promote faith, learning, and service for the global Notre Dame family.”

Engaging Alumni & Friends

-Professional Ethics Programming, including the annual Medical Ethics Conference and resources and events for Catholic business leaders seeking to integrate their faith and work– especially in the face of threats to religious liberty.

-Participation in the Notre Dame Alumni Association’s Hesburgh Lecture Series, featuring presentations by Notre Dame faculty in alumni clubs across the country.

-The Center for Ethics and Culture Football Tailgates, which provide opportunities for great food and conversation for the extended Notre Dame family.

ethicscenter.nd.edu

As a part of the Notre Dame Family, the Center serves alumni, friends, and professionals through a variety of activities:

-Dolly Duffy, Executive Director, Notre Dame Alumni Association

-Elizabeth Everett President, IdND

“I march with hundreds of Notre Dame students, faculty, and staff, joining the hundreds of thousands of people at the annual March for Life, to speak on behalf of the voiceless. I’m grateful that the Center for Ethics and Culture helps to make this event possible for Notre Dame.”

The Notre Dame Center for Ethics & Culture

ethicscenter.nd.edu

Fighting for Life

The Center is the most prominent and energetic locus at Notre Dame for pro-life teaching, research, and advocacy. The Center’s extensive work includes:

-The Notre Dame Vita Institute, an intensive interdisciplinary training program for national and international established and emerging leaders of the pro-life movement.

-Semi-annual Bread of Life series, providing students with dinner and conversation with pro-life Notre Dame faculty and staff.

-The University of Notre Dame Evangelium Vitae Medal, the nation’s most important lifetime achievement award for heroes of the pro-life movement.

-Travel Grants for Notre Dame students, faculty, and staff to attend the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C.

The Notre Dame Center for Ethics & Culture

The Notre Dame Center for Ethics & Culture

ethicscenter.nd.edu

Serving the Church

The Center and its affiliated faculty also work in service of the Church locally, nationally, and in Rome. This work includes:

-Collaborating closely with our local Bishop, the Most Reverend Kevin Rhoades, on issues facing the Diocese, particularly those concerning religious liberty.

-Working with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and its various Secretariats, especially on human dignity and bioethical issues.

-Providing substantive and strategic advice to the Holy See’s UN diplomatic corps.

“I am deeply grateful for the fine work of Notre Dame’s Center for Ethics and Culture. The Center serves the Church and the University’s Catholic mission by engaging issues of today’s culture in the light of the truth of the Gospel, thus serving the promotion of human dignity and the building of a civilization of love.”

The Notre Dame Center for Ethics & Culture

-Most Reverend Kevin C. RhoadesBishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend

The Notre Dame Center for Ethics & Culture

The Notre Dame Center for Ethics & Culture

The Notre Dame Center for Ethics & Culture

ethicscenter.nd.edu

The Notre Dame Center for Ethics & Culture

“This College will be one of the most powerful means of doing good in the country.”

-Rev. Edward Sorin, CSC

The Notre Dame Center for Ethics & Culture

424 Geddes Hall Notre Dame, IN 46556p. 574.631.9656 f. 574.631.6290

ndethics@nd.eduethicscenter.nd.edu