The
Spirit of Inclusion at Notre Dame
“Strangers and sojourners no longer. . .” (Ephesians 2:19)
The University of Notre Dame strives for a spirit of inclusion
among the members of this community for distinct reasons articulated
in our Christian tradition. We prize the uniqueness of all
persons as God’s creatures. We welcome all people, regardless
of color, gender, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation,
social or economic class, and nationality, for example, precisely
because of Christ’s calling to treat others as we desire to
be treated. We value gay and lesbian members of this community
as we value all members of this community. We condemn harassment
of any kind, and University policies proscribe it. We consciously
create an environment of mutual respect, hospitality, and
warmth in which none are strangers and all may flourish.
One of the essential tests of social justice within any Christian
community is its abiding spirit of inclusion. Scriptural accounts
of Jesus provide a constant witness of this inclusiveness.
Jesus sought out and welcomed all people into the Kingdom
of God—the gentile as well as the Jew, women as well as men,
the poor as well as the wealthy, the slave as well as the
free, the infirm as well as the healthy. The social teachings
of the Catholic Church promote a society founded on justice
and love, in which all persons possess inherent dignity as
children of God. The individual and collective experiences
of Christians have also provided strong warrants for the inclusion
of all persons of good will in their communal living. Christians
have found their life together enriched by the different qualities
of their many members, and they have sought to increase this
richness by welcoming others who bring additional gifts, talents,
and backgrounds to the
community.
The spirit of inclusion at Notre Dame flows from our character
as a community of scholarship, teaching, learning, and service
founded upon Jesus Christ. As the Word through whom all things
were made, Christ is the source of the order of all creation
and of the moral law which is written in our hearts. As the
incarnate Word, Christ taught the law of love of God and sent
the Holy Spirit that we might live lives of love and receive
the gift of eternal life. For Notre Dame, Christ is the law
by which all other laws are to be judged. As a Catholic institution
of higher learning, in the governance of our common life we
look to the teaching of Christ, which is proclaimed in Sacred
Scripture and tradition, authoritatively interpreted by church
teaching, articulated in normative understandings of the human
person, and continually deepened by the wisdom born of inquiry
and experience. The rich heritage of the Catholic faith informs
and transforms our search for truth and our understanding
of contemporary challenges in higher
education.
This statement was adopted by the officers of the University
on August 27, 1997, in conjunction with an Open Letter to
the Notre Dame Community.
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