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Father Hesburgh celebrated in U.S. Capitol

2013-06-14T11:00:00-04:00

University President Emeritus Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., enjoyed a reception at the U.S. Capitol in honor of his 96th birthday. Following a 20-minute visit in the White House with President Barack Obama, Father Hesburgh received well wishes from Vice President Joe Biden, top House Democrat Nancy Pelosi and many others.

Pelosi co-hosted Father Hesburgh with Republican House Speaker John Boehner, who was expected but could not attend the 3 p.m. gathering. Both members of Indiana’s split-party U.S. Senate delegation, Dan Coats and Joe Donnelly, offered appreciative reflections. In all, it was a genuinely bipartisan affair that brought politicians and staffers from “both sides of the Capitol, both sides of the aisle and all sides of Pennsylvania Avenue,” Pelosi said.

Reunion weekend draws nearly 4,000

2013-06-03T09:00:00-04:00

President Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C. delivers the homily at the 2013 Reunion Mass held Thursday, May 30 to Sunday, June 2.

Nearly 4,000 alumni and friends enjoyed the beautiful weather while attending class dinners and celebrations, a Bookstore Basketball Tournament and many seminars, tours and programs.

Cardinal Dolan awarded honorary doctorate

2013-05-20T09:50:00-04:00

Commencement principal speaker Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, accepts an honorary doctor of laws degree from Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C. at the 2013 Commencement ceremony in Notre Dame Stadium.

Dolan urged graduates to consider their experiences in a fuller light: “Here our goal is not just a career, but a call; not just a degree, but discipleship; not just what we’ve gotten, but what we’re giving; not just the now, but eternity; not just the ‘I,’ but the ‘we’; not just the grades, but the gospel."

Seniors' Last Visit to the Grotto

2013-05-17T13:15:00-04:00

Seniors gather at the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes on Thursday for the last time as a group before the 2013 Commencement on Sunday, May 19.

Muddy Sunday

2013-05-06T09:00:00-04:00

On April 28, students participated in Muddy Sunday, a volleyball tournament played in — you guessed it — the mud to support Habitat for Humanity.

The annual tournament, organized by Keenan Hall, allows eight-member teams to compete, collect donations, and navigate the soggy terrain of White Field, an area north of campus.

Although White Field is best known as a tailgating and parking spot during the football season, firefighters hose it down ahead of the tournament, transforming the area into a giant mud pit.

The Bald & the Beautiful 2013

2013-04-19T09:00:00-04:00

Friends of student Colleen Boyle react to her newly shaved head at The Bald and The Beautiful event April 17.

Started in 2008 after freshman Sam Marx lost his battle with cancer, the yearly event is organized by students to fight pediatric cancer locally and nationally. Since its beginning, the effort has raised more than $150,000 for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation and for Memorial Hospital of South Bend, and more than 400 hair donations have been made to Pantene Beautiful Lengths.

The Bald and the Beautiful is the largest student-run philanthropic event on campus with more than 40 student volunteers and 1,600 participants.

Easter Vigil Mass

2013-04-01T14:00:00-04:00

The candle-lighting ceremony is held at the beginning of Easter Vigil Mass held Saturday, March 30.

The culmination of the Easter Triduum is the great Vigil which takes place Holy Saturday night. Following the extended liturgy of the Word, the Elect, the unbaptized, are initiated into the Christian faith through the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist. The Vigil Mass, in its entirety, is two and a half hours long.

See more photos of the great Vigil here.

Stayer Executive Education Center opens

2013-03-22T15:00:00-04:00

The Stayer Executive Education Center is open and ready for business.

The center increases significantly Notre Dames capacity to create and deliver both degree and non-degree executive programs and provide state-of-the-art classroom technology. The self-contained center, located immediately south of the Mendoza College, also provides a more focused experience to meet the specific needs of executive-level students and corporate clients, which are increasingly complex in today’s global environment.

See more images of the center here.

NCAA Men's Basketball Championship

2013-03-18T15:00:00-04:00

Men’s basketball fans cheer at a game in the Joyce Center Purcell Pavilion.

Fans will have another opportunity to cheer on Friday, March 22, when the Fighting Irish meet the Iowa State Cyclones in the University of Dayton Arena in the second round of the 2013 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship. The game starts at 9:45 EST.

This marks the sixth time in the last seven years the Irish have earned an invitation to the NCAA Championships and the ninth time during the 13-year tenure of current Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey.

Snowy Main Quad

2013-02-20T14:00:00-05:00

Students walk across the Main Quad in the snow during class change on February 20.

Located in the Main Quad, the Main Building, with its famous Golden Dome, is a centerpiece of Notre Dame’s past and present. Today, it serves primarily as a headquarters for administration, although it still contains classrooms, harking back to a time when it was a crossroads where students learned, ate meals, and resided. This structure is actually the third building to stand on the site. It was built in 1879, the same year in which the previous building was destroyed by fire.

The Golden Dome was added to this building in 1882 and was most recently regilded in 2005. The regilding process uses only about a fist-full of gold leaf to cover the entire structure. Atop the Dome, you will find a 19-foot-tall, 4,000-pound statue of Mary, the Mother of God, “Notre Dame” (“Our Lady”). With this beautiful adornment, the Main Building is 187 feet tall, making it the second tallest structure on campus after the Basilica of the Sacred Heart.

Recreational Sports Winter Activities

2013-02-06T13:00:00-05:00

Bored with running on the treadmill? Besides offering pools, tracks and equipment, Recreational Sports also offers cross country skiing, downhill skiing and snowboarding opportunities.

Cross country skiing on the Notre Dame golf course begins at the start of spring semester and ends the weekend before spring break. Equipment rental is available on Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons to Notre Dame students, faculty, staff and their spouses. Ski and snowboarding trips are scheduled as weather allows.

For those individuals who would rather stay warm indoors, over 150 fitness classes are offered, ranging from Zumba to body sculpting to prayer postures yoga. At RecSports, there are opportunities for everyone to take a break from studies and work, and be a part of the healthy campus movement.

Reliquary Chapel

2013-01-22T16:00:00-05:00

Relics of the manger, the Blessed Virgin, and the True Cross

To the right off the Lady Chapel in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart is the Reliquary Chapel. Found here are the relics of each of the 12 Apostles, a piece of the manger at Bethlehem, pieces of the veil and belt of the Blessed Virgin and relics of all of the saints in the Church calendar. The large wood cross contains a relic of the True Cross.

The wax figure in the chapel is that of Saint Severa, a martyr in the third century; the cloth-covered lead boxes at the head and feet of the wax figure contain her bones.

Above the relic repository is a copy of a portion of Raphael’s fresco Disputa. On the opposite wall is an exact replica of the Miraculous Madonna of Czestochowa.

Notre Dame Football is #1

2012-11-19T13:00:00-05:00

High atop Grace Hall is the illuminated #1 in honor of Notre Dame football’s new BCS standings.

The Fighting Irish football team is No. 1 in the BCS for the first time in the BCS era. The last time the Irish football team was ranked No. 1 by the Associated Press was in 1993.

In honor of the football team’s rise to No. 1 in the national rankings, the “#1” sign atop Grace Hall on the Notre Dame campus was lit at 5:30 p.m. Sunday. The University announced the sign was going to light up at 8:30 p.m. when the BCS standings were released, but instead the “#1” was shining bright three hours early.

The last time the sign was lit was in 2010, when the Irish women’s soccer team won the national championship.

More photos of the Wake Forest game

Glee Club hosts alumni reunion

2012-11-05T11:00:00-05:00

Notre Dame Glee Club performs on the Library Quad on game day.

The Notre Dame Glee Club triennial Alumni Reunion took place Oct. 19-21 as part of the Notre Dame vs. BYU football game day activities. More than 250 Glee Club alumni came to campus to celebrate the 97th anniversary of the club. The reunion included a concert in which the current Glee Club sang a combined performance with alumni members. (Watch Video)

“The Glee Club Reunion weekends are always a great way for me to reconnect with friends,” said Art Panfile, a 1975 graduate. “In addition to connecting with friends who were in the Glee Club at the same time I was, by attending reunions every three years, I’ve made friends with members from the classes since I graduated.”

Established in 1915, the Glee Club has more than 1,200 alumni who share in the tradition, music and fraternity of Notre Dame’s oldest and best known choir. The Glee Club performs a wide repertoire of music ranging from football fight songs and African-American spirituals to Renaissance motets and Indian ragas. They perform six regular concerts a year at Notre Dame to sold-out audiences and tour twice a year to locations around the United States, and occasionally around the world. Members also participate in service initiatives on campus and around South Bend.

Abandoned Irish island offers window to the past

2012-10-15T14:45:00-04:00

Team members end their day around a campfire made from driftwood in front of the ruins of St. Leo’s church, Inishark Island, Ireland.

The last 24 human inhabitants of the island of Inishark off the coast of Galway, Ireland, departed together on Oct. 20, 1960—a beautiful, sunny day that marked a solemn end to a steady decline that began in the mid-19th century.

That’s when a more robust population of 300 or so first began to drift away from Inishark—many sought a new life in America. By 1960, life on the island had become too remote, too hard, too dangerous, says Ian Kuijt, a professor in Notre Dame’s Department of Anthropology. “They never had electricity,” he says. “They never had phones.”

Kuijt and his team of students, academics and technicians from Notre Dame and Ireland are in a race to understand island life and capture the stories of the last 12 survivors of Inishark to preserve a portrait of their way of life before it disappears for good. The research is part of “Cultural Landscapes of the Irish Coast,” Kuijt’s six-year, multidisciplinary, inter-institutional study of coastal western Ireland. See article

Fireworks Over Soldier Field

2012-10-10T15:00:00-04:00

Fireworks explode over Soldier Field in Chicago prior to the Fighting Irish football game against Miami in the Shamrock Series on October 6, 2012. Notre Dame beat Miami 41-3.

Rockne Takes The Reigns

2012-09-28T14:00:00-04:00

Ninety-four years ago, Knute Rockne took the reigns as Notre Dame head football coach.

After Knute Rockne graduated from Notre Dame in 1914, he worked as an assistant in the Department of Chemistry while also helping head coach Jesse Harper with the football team.

On Sept. 28, 1918, Rockne made his debut, helping Notre Dame defeat Case Tech, 26-6. Over the course of 13 seasons, he led the Irish to 105 victories, and his lifetime winning percentage of .881 still ranks first in college and professional football. Read more about this story and other historic moments in the Notre Dame football program’s history as we celebrate its 125th year.

Teach Bhríde enters fourth year of Irish ministry

2012-09-18T06:00:00-04:00

Most Rev. Denis Brennan, bishop of Ferns, blesses the newly minted plaque for Teach Bhride in Clonard.

Teach Bhríde, or House of Brigid, a ministry started by the University of Notre Dame Folk Choir, is embarking on its fourth year in Ireland — and its first year including students from outside the choir.

The Folk Choir started Teach Bhríde, pronounced “chalk breed,” in response to a trend members observed over the years while touring and performing in Ireland — fewer young people and families were going to church. The initiative invites recent college graduates to serve in Ireland as lay volunteers who work closely with the Catholic Church, creating new choirs, assisting in the Church, offering musical and liturgical programs for grade schools, and more.

Notre Dame and Navy

2012-09-07T09:00:00-04:00

Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C. enjoys fellowship with Ray Mabus, Secretary of the Navy, during a reception aboard the Ft. McHenry Ship prior to the Emerald Isle Classic against Navy in Dublin, Ireland.

In addition to the football game, the visit also celebrated Notre Dame’s enduring Irish heritage and its modern-day engagement in Ireland, highlighted by an array of events that shared a taste of the University’s educational, intellectual, faith and cultural mission to its host country, and offered thousands of visiting fans opportunities to learn about, explore and enjoy Ireland.

The Fighting Irish defeated the Midshipmen with a final score of 50-10.

1916: What it meant to Ireland

2012-08-30T19:00:00-04:00

Nearly 100 years after the 1916 uprising in Ireland that challenged British rule and established the Irish Republic, scholars continue to explore the historical, cultural and literary contexts of the pivotal event in Irish history. Notre Dame brought together some of the world’s top intellectuals on the subject on Aug. 30 for a conference at the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin.

“Ambiguity and complexity continue to cloud the meaning of the Rising, nearly a century after it captured the world’s attention,” said Robert Schmuhl, Annenberg-Joyce Professor of American Studies and Journalism at Notre Dame, who then probed the context for historical understanding of the event, particularly the role of one key figure, politician Eamon de Valera.

The line-up of speakers included scholars from Notre Dame, New York University, Northwestern University, Oxford University, National University of Ireland, University of Aberdeen and University College Dublin. Notre Dame’s Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies also showcased its forthcoming TV documentary on 1916 at the event.