President of Nation’s Catholic Bishops Condemns Notre Dame Pro-Abortion Appointment

The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops condemned the University of Notre Dame’s decision to appoint a pro-abortion professor to lead one of its academic institutes.

The Catholic leader is calling it poor judgment that opposes Catholic teaching on the sanctity of life and the protection of the unborn.

Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, who currently serves as USCCB president, said in a statement posted Friday on X that he fully supports Bishop Kevin Rhoades in challenging Notre Dame to rectify the appointment of the professor, who “openly stands against Catholic teaching when it comes to the sanctity of life, in this case protection of the unborn.”

The controversy centers on Susan Ostermann, an associate professor of global affairs and political science at Notre Dame since 2017, who was named director of the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies effective July 1.

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Ostermann has co-authored at least 11 opinion columns since May 2022 advocating for abortion, describing laws protecting unborn babies as “forced pregnancy and childbirth” amounting to “violence,” “sexual abuse” and “trauma,” and arguing that abortion is “freedom-enhancing” and “consistent with integral human development.”

She has also linked opposition to abortion with white supremacy and racism, and served as a consultant for the Population Council, which promotes abortion and has worked with the Chinese government on its one-child policy.

Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska, became the latest church leader to criticize the appointment Thursday, saying he stands “in support of Bishop Rhoades and share his concern.”

“Catholic institutions must faithfully reflect the truth of the dignity of every human life in both their mission and their leadership,” Conley said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

His statement followed similar rebukes from Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, and Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver, who both expressed solidarity with Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend on Wednesday.

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Rhoades, whose diocese includes Notre Dame, issued a strongly worded statement that day expressing “dismay” and “strong opposition” to the naming of Susan Ostermann as director of the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies. He said the appointment “is causing scandal to the faithful of our diocese and beyond” and urged university leaders to “rectify this situation.”

Ostermann, an associate professor of global affairs and political science at Notre Dame since 2017, was appointed to the post effective July 1, according to a university announcement last month. She has co-authored at least 11 opinion columns between May 2022 and May 2024 advocating for abortion and opposing laws that protect unborn babies from it.

In those writings, she has described such laws as “forced pregnancy and childbirth” amounting to “violence,” “sexual abuse” and “trauma,” linked opposition to abortion with white supremacy and racism, and argued that abortion is “freedom-enhancing” and “consistent with integral human development.”

Ostermann has also served as a consultant for the Population Council, an organization that promotes abortion and has collaborated with the Chinese government on enforcing its one-child policy.

Rhoades said Ostermann’s public support for abortion and her “disparaging and inflammatory” criticism of the pro-life movement “go against a core principle of justice that is central to Notre Dame’s Catholic identity and mission.” He added that her views “should disqualify her from an administrative and leadership role at a Catholic university.”

Barron, in a post on X, described Ostermann as “not simply ‘pro-choice’ on the question of abortion; she is a sharp critic of the pro-life position and those who advocate it.” He said she has “gone so far as to characterize the anti-abortion stance as rooted in white supremacy and racism, and she has insinuated that the Catholic commitment to integral human development implies the support of abortion rights.”

Barron called the appointment “repugnant to the identity and mission of that great center of Catholic learning.”

Aquila, also posting on X, thanked Rhoades for his statement on “the most unfortunate appointment by Notre Dame that truly tarnishes Our Lady’s University & what it means to be Catholic.” He prayed that “those who can rescind this terrible appointment will do so” and for the “conversion of hearts.”

The controversy has led to resignations from two scholars affiliated with the Liu Institute: Robert Gimello, a research professor emeritus of theology, and Diane Desierto, a professor of law and global affairs. Gimello said his continued association under Ostermann would be “simply unconscionable — this regardless of whatever considerable talents and accomplishments the appointee might otherwise bring to the job.”

He doubted anyone “so hostile to, or dismissive of” Catholic moral principles “could do justice to Notre Dame’s properly Catholic endeavors in and about Asia.”

Rev. Wilson D. Miscamble, a Holy Cross priest and professor emeritus of history at Notre Dame, called the appointment a “travesty” that exposes “the hollowness of the claim that Catholic character informs all Notre Dame’s endeavors.”

Students from Notre Dame Right to Life opposed the decision in a letter to the campus newspaper, arguing that Ostermann’s work with the Population Council “violates the dignity of human life” and renders her “unfit to serve as head of the Liu Institute.”

Anna Kelley, the group’s president and a Catholic adoptee from China, said: “As a Catholic adoptee from China, I take personal offense at this appointment. I am so blessed to have escaped the fate that Professor Ostermann’s work has inflicted on so many innocent Chinese lives. Because I have been given the gift of life, I am choosing to speak out with my own testimony to bring attention to the real-life consequences that her ideology promotes.”

Notre Dame defended the appointment, describing Ostermann as “a highly regarded political scientist and legal scholar” qualified to lead the institute. Officials said those in leadership positions must make decisions “guided by and consistent with the university’s Catholic mission” and reaffirmed the school’s “unwavering commitment to upholding the inherent dignity of the human person and the sanctity of life at every stage.”

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