[Pecos]

Does Norte Dame get ANY financial support from the Catholic Church these days? If so, things have dropped even further than I thought. If not, then they should change the name of the institution.

[Mrs. Don-o]

No, they are separately incorporated, and are financed by students, alumni/corporate donors, and some public funding (onds, student loans), like other private colleges. No direct financial tie (and, unfortunately, no DIRECT governance tie) to the Catholic Church -— although if they are notably anti-Catholic, the Bishop can deprive them of the right to put themselves forward as a Catholic institution. In other words, they lose the formal use of the descriptor word “Catholic”.

And there's no copyright or trademark issues, so that's not even enforceable.

ND has been pushing, pushing, pushing the limit for decades. I do wonder what they could possibly do, at this point, to be considered definitively “over the line”. Maybe crucify somebody?

We went all over this in 2009 when they decided to give the honorary doctorate to the Obamunist. Besieged "trustees" and "fellows", Bishop of South Bend, head of the CSC's in Rome, etc. etc.

Nada.

A truly ugly, hideous situation. But those who know the history, know that it was basically lost way back in 1967, when most of the Catholic colleges and universities in the U.S. signed the "Land o' Lakes Declaration" asserting their independence from Church governance, and the bishops essentially ran up the white flag and said, "Oh well, it's a new day..."

But there's still a faithful remnant. Thank God for the TFP's. Fr. Norm Weslin, pray for us.