In 2014, the University of Notre Dame created a unique way to allow students to incorporate their faith lives and their academic pursuits – a key principle upon which Holy Cross Father Edward Sorin founded the university in the mid-1800s. Father Sorin said education should cultivate a person’s spirituality as well as shape them academically. “We took that as the inspiration for the Sorin Fellows Program,” said Margaret McManaway, senior associate director of the university’s de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, which sponsors the program. McManaway told Today’s Catholic that Father Sorin’s idea of “integral education” is key to forming “a person not just intellectually but spiritually, socially in their future vocations.” The Sorin Fellows Program was created through the de Nicola Center to create an opportunity for students who want to integrate those areas of their life, McManaway said. “We thought this student formation program would be a fitting tribute to his legacy. It gives them the opportunity to engage both their intellect and their spiritual lives, and then to make lifelong friends along the way,” McManaway said. According to the de Nicole Center website, the Sorin Fellows Program is a community of undergraduate, graduate, and professional students at Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s College, and Holy Cross College “inspired by the richness of the Catholic moral and intellectual tradition and committed to pursuing truly integral development in the context of their collegiate experience and in the discernment of their vocations.” “Through this student formation program, Sorin Fellows are … provided opportunities to encounter role models and befriend mentors who exhibit virtues of integral formation, consider enduring and contemporary issues through the lens of the Catholic moral and intellectual tradition, nourish their interior life and appreciation for the spiritual heritage of the Catholic Church, and discern and cultivate their gifts and talents through grant funding and internships. … By actively participating in and contributing to the life of the de Nicola Center, Sorin Fellows also play a crucial role in amplifying Notre Dame’s witness to human dignity, authentic human freedom, and the common good in the global public square.” In its early stages, the fellowship had just over a dozen students. Today, the Sorin Fellows Program has grown to include more than 700 fellows, two-thirds of whom are undergraduate students. The program has also seen dozens of its students be accepted to the seminary and religious orders, she said. “We’re really proud of all of our students who step out so boldly into their future careers after Notre Dame,” McManaway said. David Younger, student formation program manager at the de Nicola Center, told Today’s Catholic that the Sorin Fellows Program “exists to help students not just receive a Catholic education but also integral formation in a Catholic tradition through our extensive academic, spiritual, and social programs offering students the opportunity to experience the richness of the Catholic intellectual and moral tradition as it pertains to their chosen field of study.” Younger has served the de Nicola Center since December of 2021 by developing and implementing the programming for the fellowship. He says the program works in dual part to help students nurture their faith-life while in college but, beyond that, to help them understand contemporary Church topics and teachings. Tess Barrett, a senior at Notre Dame, is a Sorin Fellow studying in the school’s Program of Liberal Studies. She joined the fellowship after hearing from her older sister how it transformed her college experience. Now, she says, “Some of my closest friends are Sorin Fellows, and I have learned so much about Catholicism and what it truly means to be a force for good in the world.” Barrett told Today’s Catholic that the best part of the program is the people. “It has benefited me immensely, allowing me to grow closer to God and to meet wonderful people that have shaped my college experience.” She said the connections she has made are not just with other student fellows but also with faculty fellows and professors. The program offers fellows an opportunity to socialize off campus, including dinners at the homes of faculty members. Barrett said these interactions help students see faithful Catholicism modeled outside of the classroom. “It has allowed me to go even deeper into questions about my Catholic faith and identity,” Barrett said. Younger concurred, saying that it’s important for students to see “that our faith can actually lead us all ‘to the heights’ in our study, work, and relationships,” Younger said, quoting the famous line from St. Pier Giorgio Frassati. Notre Dame alum Will Grannis told Today’s Catholic that “it would be very hard to overstate the impact that the program had on my life.” Grannis, a 2025 graduate who majored in math and theology with a minor in constitutional studies, credits the program for his marriage, several of his closest friends, some of his fondest college memories, but especially his well-formed faith. He said joining the fellowship played a role in his decision to add a theology major during the fall of his freshman year. “I know that one of my mother’s most frequent prayers has been, is, and will be for her children to cherish and be active in our Catholicism. At least for one of her children, the de Nicola Center has been an answer to her prayers.” In 2022, Barrett and Grannis traveled to Rome as part of a pilgrimage through the de Nicola Center. According to Grannis, he was most excited to “see many of the roots of the Western Tradition,” and he credits the trip for helping shape his perspective on the Catholic faith. He said he “began seeing the faith not just as a system of true propositions that naturally impose duties but also as a complete way of life.” For Barrett, seeing St. Peter’s Basilica was the most illuminating part of the pilgrimage. “There is nothing that can compare to the grandeur and wonder of actually being in the church,” she said. “The sheer size is astonishing.” The de Nicola Center also sponsored a discernment trip to the Norbertine St. Michael’s Abbey in San Diego during Grannis’ sophomore year; he also received the opportunity to go on a pilgrimage to England the following year. He said it was during his time in England that he and his now-wife, Maddie, discerned they wanted to marry. Senior Sorin Fellow Michael Urban is studying theology and said the fellowship has been “the greatest blessing of my time at Notre Dame.” He hadn’t heard about the program until arriving on campus his freshman year. But now, he said, the program has made him better in all aspects of his life, including being a better man of faith, student, and friend. Last year, he also traveled on a pilgrimage to Rome with other fellows and called it an “unforgettable experience” that “is one of the many unique opportunities for Sorin Fellows to enhance their Notre Dame education.” All three of the fellows with whom Today’s Catholic spoke agreed that the best part of the program for them has been the relationships it has brought about. “The community of students fostered through the events and programming of the de Nicola Center is undeniably my favorite part of being a Sorin Fellow,” Urban said. “Being a Sorin Fellow has allowed me to join a community of friends and peers who share a desire to grow not just as students but as people.” Younger said that in all of the opportunities the program provides for its fellows, faith is at the center of the Sorin Fellows Program. “There is no part of our lives that faith does not touch in some form,” he said. The principle behind the program is being able to not only defend but to also grow in one’s faith while pursuing a college education and beyond. Through the program, Younger said, “Students receive the opportunity to meet faculty members who share their common faith, consider and learn about contemporary topics impacting the Church and the faithful today, and find support for their own academic pursuits as they move through college.” In the future, the de Nicola Center hopes to grow the program even more, including more students and programming to attract a larger audience of fellows. After only 12 years, the Sorin Fellows Program has shown the sheer impact it can have on the Notre Dame community as a whole and on each fellow. The post Sorin Fellows Program Integrates Faith, Academics appeared first on Today's Catholic. ...read more read less