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Centers and Programs

Centers and Programs

	Echo is a dynamic two-year experience of service and apprenticeship that prepares tomorrow’s leaders in faith formation. Participants in Echo have the opportunity to engage in on-going academic, professional-ministerial, communal, and spiritual formation while serving at a parish in one of our partner dioceses. To learn more, visit the Echo website.

The Notre Dame Center for Liturgy (NDCL) promotes the liturgical renewal of the Church through scholarship, pastoral education, and spiritual formation. Established in 1970 through the initiative of Aidan Kavanagh, O.S.B., the NDCL serves all those working in liturgical formation, including catechists, liturgical and music ministers, theologians, campus ministers at high schools and colleges, deacons, priests, and bishops. In particular, the NDCL offers an annual symposium on liturgical prayer for pastoral ministers, an online resource dedicated to liturgy and evangelization, e-seminars on liturgical theology and spirituality, retreats and talks for national audiences, and lectures and conferences on the campus for faculty, staff, and students of the University.

For more information, please contact ndcl@nd.edu, or visit liturgy.nd.edu.

Notre Dame Vision intentionally connects the University of Notre Dame with the young Catholic Church. Founded in 2001 with the charge to "theologically explore vocation," Notre Dame Vision continues to offer innovative and substantive programming that promotes the validity of holiness in our contemporary situation. The primary annual events of Notre Dame Vision are its summer conferences for high school students (Vision) and its complementary summer conferences for campus and youth ministers (Vision CYM). These conferences enable the Institute for Church Life to put some of the very best resources of the University of Notre Dame at the service of the faithful, as well as a wide array of Church leaders.

For more information on Notre Dame Vision, please contact us at ndvi@nd.edu, (574) 631-7425, or vision.nd.edu.

Since 1999, the Satellite Theological Education Program (STEP) at the University of Notre Dame has offered quality theological education to pastoral ministers and other adult Catholics across the country. It provides a wide array of adult faith formation opportunities via online courses.

Members of Notre Dame's renowned department of Theology and nationally recognized ministry experts have designed over 50 unique online courses exclusively for STEP. Active and experienced pastoral ministers and educators facilitate the courses, ranging from four-week book reviews to seven-week theological explorations. Each STEP-trained facilitator holds an advanced degree in theology or ministry. Find out more at step.nd.edu.

Initiatives

University Life Initiatives

	The University Life Initiatives of the University of Notre Dame integrates principles of the Catholic teaching on the sanctity of life across all areas of the university and collaborates with relevant education and research programs across all colleges to support and enhance the university mission and vision as a Catholic institution of higher education.

Catholic Social and Pastoral Research Initiative

	New in 2011, the CSPRI seeks to conduct top-notch research that is theologically informed and pastorally relevant. In partnership with Christian Smith and the Center for the Study of Religion and Society, CSPRI is dedicated to social science research on and for the benefit of the Catholic Church, especially in its efforts toward education, re-evangelization, and faith formation.

Church Life Research Initiative

The study had its inception in 1981; its final report was published in 1989.

"Our study is different from general population surveys that examine Catholic subsamples..We began with a sample of Catholic parishes. Only after identifying the major differences among U.S. parishes did we move to probability samples of parishioners and their identified leaders to understand in microscopic manner their interactions within the local parish. Thus it is important to identify this as a study of parishes and parish-connected Catholics."

Events

Saturdays with the Saints

	Fall, 2013 is the Season for Saints! Now, courtesy of Institute for Church Life, you can spend one hour with the Saints before the game on selected weekends this fall. Come nourish your Catholic faith and your mind at the same time with talks by distinguished members of the Notre Dame faculty.