The EWTN News portal (February 11, 2026) reports that multiple U.S. “bishops” – including Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Samuel Aquila of Denver, Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, and Michael Olson of Fort Worth – have criticized the University of Notre Dame for appointing pro-abortion professor Susan Ostermann as director of the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies. The institution defends its decision, claiming Ostermann’s personal views won’t influence her role. This controversy reveals the theological bankruptcy of conciliar structures masquerading as Catholic.
Conciliar “Bishops” Prove Their Own Irrelevance
The feeble protests of these “bishops” amount to ecclesiastical theater. Rhoades speaks of “scandal” while remaining in communion with antipopes who have promulgated heresies for decades. Aquila’s call to “pray for conversion of hearts” ignores the Church’s perennial teaching that formal cooperation with abortion incurs latae sententiae excommunication (Canon 1398, 1917 Code). Their milquetoast rebukes demonstrate what Pope St. Pius X condemned in Pascendi Dominici Gregis:
“Modernists… endeavor to make their teachings acceptable by a certain veneer of religious sentiment which, were it genuine, would be most praiseworthy.”
The “bishops” carefully avoid naming the root cause: Notre Dame’s decades-long apostasy stems from its embrace of the conciliar revolution. The university hasn’t been Catholic since implementing Vatican II’s naturalistic educational principles outlined in Gravissimum Educationis, which replaced scholastic formation with ecumenical dialogue.
Notre Dame’s Defense Embodies Modernist Heresy
Ostermann’s claim that she’ll promote “integral human development” while supporting child-murder exemplifies the heresy of dual truth condemned by the First Vatican Council:
“The Church, which together with the apostolic duty of teaching has received the command to guard the deposit of faith, also has the right and duty to proscribe ‘knowledge falsely so-called’ (1 Tim. 6:20), lest anyone be cheated by philosophy and empty deceit.” (Dei Filius, Ch. 4)
Notre Dame’s statement that Ostermann won’t “advance a personal political agenda” adopts the Modernist separation between private belief and public action – a heresy explicitly condemned in St. Pius X’s Lamentabili Sane (Proposition 65). The university’s continued employment of abortion advocates proves its complete absorption into the anti-church system.
Omission of Supernatural Consequences Reveals Apostasy
Neither the conciliar “bishops” nor Notre Dame’s administration mention the eternal consequences of promoting abortion. This silence betrays their shared naturalism. Contrast this with Pope Pius XI’s uncompromising stance in Casti Connubii:
“Those who hold the reins of government should not forget that it is the duty of public authority by appropriate laws and sanctions to defend the lives of the innocent… some today… dare to pronounce the sentence of death on the unborn.”
The article’s reference to Notre Dame’s “Catholic identity” is grotesque irony. A true Catholic institution would immediately fire any professor supporting intrinsic evil, following Pope Leo XIII’s mandate in Sapientiae Christianae:
“Catholic journalists must never write anything that might prove injurious to religion, or that would offer an occasion for error to Catholic youth.”
Systemic Apostasy Demands Complete Separation
This scandal confirms that conciliar institutions cannot be reformed. Notre Dame’s trustees and administrators are formal heretics under Canon 1325 §2 of the 1917 Code. The solution isn’t empty appeals to modernist “bishops,” but complete separation from these structures of apostasy.
True Catholics must heed Pope Pius XI’s warning in Quas Primas:
“Nations will be happy and peaceful only when they accept the rule of Christ the King and obey His laws.”
Until Notre Dame repents and restores the Traditional Mass, bans all anti-Catholic faculty, and rejects Vatican II, it remains what Pope St. Pius X called a synagogue of Satan – unworthy of any Catholic’s support or attendance.
Source:
Multiple U.S. bishops join call for Notre Dame to rescind appointment of pro-abortion advocate (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 11.02.2026