The University of Notre Dame, one of the most important Catholic institutions of higher education in the United States, has been consecrated for the first time in its 184-year history to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The initiative originated from a group of students and culminated last Friday, September 25, with a Mass, a eucharistic procession across campus, and the consecration ceremony before hundreds of students, professors, and members of the university community.
According to the National Catholic Register, the celebration was presided over by Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend and included the participation of Notre Dame’s president, Father Robert A. Dowd of the Congregation of Holy Cross. After the Mass at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, the Blessed Sacrament was carried in procession across campus to the statue of the Sacred Heart located in front of the university’s main building, where the consecration took place.
A consecration born among the students
The initiative did not originally come from university authorities. Four Notre Dame students proposed consecrating the institution to the Sacred Heart after learning of the consecration of the United States carried out by the country’s bishops in June.
The proposal was presented to priests of the Congregation of Holy Cross and eventually became an event for the entire university community.
The students’ response was evident during the celebration. The Basilica of the Sacred Heart was filled for the Mass, and numerous students later joined the eucharistic procession across campus.
“Many times we gather for football on Saturdays, but today we have gathered to consecrate the university to the Sacred Heart,” explained Noah Lim, a senior. “What better reason could there be to rejoice?”
“It is in the DNA of this university”
The consecration holds particular significance at Notre Dame because devotion to the Sacred Heart has been linked to the university almost since its founding.
“Devotion to the Sacred Heart is in the DNA of this university, just as devotion to Our Lady is,” Bishop Rhoades stated during his homily.
Blessed Basil Moreau placed the priests of the Congregation of Holy Cross under the special patronage of the Sacred Heart in 1841. A year later, he sent Father Edward Sorin and several brothers of the congregation to Indiana, where they founded Notre Dame.
Sorin personally professed this devotion and dedicated the first church he built on the site in 1844 to the Sacred Heart. When the current church was dedicated in 1888, it also received the name Basilica of the Sacred Heart.
Since the late nineteenth century, the university has also had a statue of the Sacred Heart at the center of campus, located in front of the well-known building crowned by the golden dome and the image of the Virgin.
Despite this history, a consecration of the entire university to the Sacred Heart had never been carried out until now.
“Born from the heart of the Church”
Bishop Rhoades used the homily to connect the consecration with the very nature of a Catholic university.
“Just as the Church was born from the Heart of Jesus, the University of Notre Dame was born ‘from the heart of the Church’: ex corde Ecclesiae,” he said, evoking the apostolic constitution of Saint John Paul II on Catholic universities.
The bishop insisted that the knowledge cultivated in a Catholic institution cannot be separated from the pursuit of the good.
At Notre Dame, he maintained, love must guide the cultivation of knowledge, and academic and scientific work must remain directed toward what truly serves humanity.
The issue takes on particular relevance in light of technological development. Bishop Rhoades warned in his homily about the dangers of technology and artificial intelligence when they are no longer ordered toward true human flourishing, and stated that a Catholic university must reject the “dehumanizing technocratic paradigm” in light of the Church’s social doctrine.
“We take your Sacred Heart as the measure of all our works”
After the Mass, the university community processed with the Blessed Sacrament. Members of the Knights of Columbus carried the canopy while the liturgical choir accompanied the procession to the statue of the Sacred Heart.
There, Bishop Rhoades, Father Dowd, and hundreds of students and members of Notre Dame knelt before the Blessed Sacrament to make the consecration.
“We take your Most Sacred Heart as the first object of our love and as the measure by which we measure all our works,” they prayed.
The prayer asked forgiveness for the occasions when the university has not lived up to that vocation and entrusted its activities to Christ so that Notre Dame may become a force for good and its initiatives may be directed to the glory of God.
“Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, on this day we consecrate to you the University of Notre Dame and entrust every action it undertakes to your watchful and tender gaze,” the community proclaimed.
The ceremony concluded with eucharistic benediction and the singing of divine praises.
A Catholic identity also subject to tensions
The consecration comes at a time when Notre Dame’s Catholic identity has been the subject of debate due to certain institutional decisions. This year, the university has faced criticism over the appointment—later withdrawn—of a professor known for her public positions in favor of abortion to direct one of its institutes, while various organizations have also questioned university activities related to the so-called “Pride Month.”
In the face of these controversies, Friday’s consecration arose precisely from the students themselves and revived a devotion present at Notre Dame since its origins.
The university had explained before the ceremony that to consecrate means to set something apart to be sanctified. Father Gregory Haake, C.S.C., director of Mission and Ecclesiastical Affairs, especially highlighted that students from different groups were the ones who promoted the initiative: in his view, their attraction to the Sacred Heart expresses the desire to draw near to God, to experience his love in a tangible way, and to imitate him.
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