Bishop Rhoades celebrates Mass, leads Rosary for life at Notre Dame amid professor controversy

SOUTH BEND, Indiana (LifeSiteNews) — The latest display of opposition to the University of Note Dame’s decision to appoint a pro-abortion professor to lead its Asian Studies institute occurred Tuesday on the school’s campus when local ordinary Bishop Kevin Rhoades said Mass and prayed the Rosary.

Rhoades initially rebuked school officials several weeks ago in a statement published February 11, expressing his “dismay” and “strong opposition” to the decision, which he said is “causing scandal to the faithful of our diocese and beyond.”

Before offering Mass at Sacred Heart Basilica on campus Tuesday evening, Rhoades lead dozens of faithful in praying the Rosary at the famous Our Lady of Lourdes grotto nearby.

“It was a blessing to pray the Rosary this evening with students at the University of Notre Dame at the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes, following Mass at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. I am grateful for Notre Dame’s pro-life witness reflected in the students and faculty who… pic.twitter.com/Wrtee0Xsvr

— Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend (@diocesefwsb) February 25, 2026

During the Rosary, Rhoades knelt alongside Luke Woodyard and Gabriel Ortner, two students who are organizing a march on campus this Friday to oppose Professor Susan Ostermann’s appointment to head the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies. Rhoades personally thanked the two young men, telling them he is “very proud” of them before addressing the group of 50 or so persons gathered. University president Fr. Matthew Dowd did not concelebrate Tuesday’s liturgy.

Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend celebrated Mass tonight at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at the University of Notre Dame ahead of praying a rosary “for the cause of life and the protection and the safety of all human life,” as he said after Mass. pic.twitter.com/fhltcAanpX

— Gretchen Crowe (@GretchenOSV) February 24, 2026

National Catholic Register journalist Jonathan Liedl and others shared video of the Rosary on their X accounts.

Bishop Rhoades leads a rosary at Notre Dame’s grotto, praying for the university’s Catholic identity and commitment to protecting all human life. pic.twitter.com/GcX4E8JlwJ

— Jonathan Liedl (@JLLiedl) February 24, 2026

Bishop Kevin Rhoades prays in solidarity with Notre Dame students standing up for the university’s Catholic mission and the sanctity of all human life. pic.twitter.com/SE1PyPNYt8

— Jonathan Liedl (@JLLiedl) February 24, 2026

READ: Notre Dame students to lead protest against promotion of pro-abortion professor

Alumni association The Sycamore Trust promoted the Rosary event and Rhoades’ Mass on its X account. The group, which has as its aim the safeguarding of Notre Dame’s Catholic identity, issued an open letter to school officials, noting that Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-Kiun, and more than a dozen other U.S. bishops oppose the appointment due to Ostermann’s radical pro-abortion activism.

“The elevation to a position of prominence and influence of a relentless public adversary of the Church on a moral issue of surpassing importance is a scandal of the highest order,” the petition, which can be read here, states.

On Friday, February 27, students will hold a “March on the Dome.” The march will begin at 6 p.m. EST at the Main Circle on the school’s South Bend, Indiana, campus. It will end at a stage on the South Quad. In a Sycamore Trust email, Ortner was quoted as having described Ostermann’s appointment as “the last straw in a long series of University actions counter to Notre Dame’s Catholic identity.” Woodyard similarly noted that Bishop Rhoades “did not urge us to sit silently and watch our Lady’s University fall before our eyes; he gave us a clear call to action.”

.@NotreDame students will “March on the Dome” Friday, February 27, 2026, 6:00-7:30pm. All members of the Notre Dame community and friends of the University are invited to attend. Meet at Main Circle. See the media release for more information at https://t.co/VIdOVK6UQF pic.twitter.com/RVa3bU3JHi

— sycamoretrust (@sycamoretrust) February 23, 2026

Other groups sponsoring the march include Notre Dame Right to Life, Knights of Columbus Council 1477, The Irish Rover newspaper, Students for Child-Oriented Policy (SCOP), Militia of the Immaculata, and Children of Mary. Longtime Notre Dame professor Fr. Bill Miscamble, CSC will lead a blessing of candles and another Rosary will be prayed at the Grotto after several students will address those who gather at the rally.

Despite the outcry, administrators have steadfastly refused to listen to the growing number of voices, both laity and clergy, who are demanding Ostermann not be given the promotion. Archbishop Paul Coakley, who began his tenure as president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in November, said in an X post that he fully supports Rhoades “in his challenge to Notre Dame to rectify its poor judgment in hiring a professor who openly stands against Catholic teaching when it comes to the sanctity of life, in this case protection of the unborn.”

The university has since issued a statement defending Ostermann, whom it has described as a “highly regarded political scientist and legal scholar.” In the past, Ostermann said that “abortion access is freedom-enhancing,” that “forced pregnancy and childbirth are violence against women,” and that banning chemical abortion pills “would be a terrible policy choice and violate human rights.” Dissident outlets such as the National Catholic Reporter have scandalously defended her appointment.