Emily Lyons (Educator)

From the University's Mission Statement: 

"The University of Notre Dame is a Catholic academic community of higher learning, animated from its origins by the Congregation of Holy Cross. The University is dedicated to the pursuit and sharing of truth for its own sake. As a Catholic university, one of its distinctive goals is to provide a forum where, through free inquiry and open discussion, the various lines of Catholic thought may intersect with all the forms of knowledge found in the arts, sciences, professions, and every other area of human scholarship and creativity."

The intersection of Catholic thought and all knowledge can only happen when students are educated in Catholic thought in particular. American Catholics are woefully un- or under-educated in their faith. As America's premier Catholic university, I am asking that Notre Dame be a leader. 

As an ACE graduate, I strove to carry Notre Dame's mission of educating the whole person, mind, body, and spirit, to the classroom. I am blessed to still work in a Catholic high school after graduation. Even though I am no longer a Notre Dame student, I still consider myself an ambassador for the university. Every morning, I put my class ring on, ND logo facing outward, to remind myself to bring ND to the world. That includes the essential knowledge I learned in my theology classes. I do not think I could encourage my students to apply to my alma mater without the theology requirement. Notre Dame without a theology requirement is Catholic in name only, and I want my students to continue their education at an authentically Catholic school. Please, keep the theology requirement!