Holy Cross College: A History of Faith, Education, and Community

Holy Cross College, a private Catholic institution in Notre Dame, Indiana, stands as a testament to the enduring values of faith, education, and community. Rooted in the apostolic mission of the Holy Cross Brothers, the college has evolved from its humble beginnings as a two-year junior college to a thriving four-year liberal arts college.

Origins and Early Development

Holy Cross College was established in 1966 by the Mid-West Province of the Brothers of the Holy Cross. Initially, its primary purpose was to educate Holy Cross Brothers. However, the college soon opened its doors to lay male students from the surrounding area in 1967, and became coeducational in the fall of 1968. Brother John Driscoll, C.S.C., served as the first president and dean, guiding the college through its formative years from 1966 to 1987.

During its early years, Holy Cross College offered a two-year degree program. Students would then transfer to top-tier institutions such as Notre Dame, Purdue, or Princeton to complete their education.

Transition to a Four-Year College

After two interim presidents, Brother Richard Gilman, C.S.C., took the helm from 1992 to 2010. Under his leadership, Holy Cross underwent a significant transformation, evolving from a two-year community college into a residential four-year liberal arts college. This transition marked a turning point in the college's history, as it began to attract more students seeking a complete undergraduate education.

Over time, Holy Cross College increased its enrollment and academic offerings, and started to offer four year bachelor's degree and many students would complete their education there and the institution became a destination in its own right.

The "Rudy" Effect and Growing Reputation

In 1993, Holy Cross College gained international recognition through the movie "Rudy." The film tells the inspiring story of a young man who attends Holy Cross College and, through diligence and hard work, overcomes great odds to achieve his dream of attending the University of Notre Dame and playing football for the Fighting Irish.

Today, Holy Cross’s reputation for producing excellent students is even stronger as a destination school in its own right.

Commitment to Catholic Identity and Mission

Holy Cross is a Catholic college that advances the apostolic mission of the Holy Cross Brothers. The community’s seal is the cross and anchors with the motto, Spes Unica: The Cross, Our Only Hope. At the time Blessed Moreau founded Holy Cross in post-Revolutionary France, faith was being suppressed, and Catholic institutions that had provided education, health care, and other necessary services throughout the country had been decimated without any replacement. Holy Cross’ commitment to education, parish, and mission is rooted in the crisis of those times but is still relevant today. We live out this mission in many ways, one of which is a commitment to quality Catholic higher education. Read a summary of the booklet, “Holy Cross and Christian Education,” written by Fr. James King, C.S.C.

The University of Notre Dame, the Congregation of Holy Cross’ first educational institution in the “New World,” was founded in the true spirit of Holy Cross’ charisms of education, parish and mission. Founder Blessed Basil Moreau’s vision was for an apostolic religious community destined to serve the Church well beyond the frontiers of his own country. In 1841, just four years after Fr. Moreau had founded Holy Cross, he sent Rev.

Academic Programs and Experiential Learning

The college's baccalaureate program focuses on experiential learning, founded upon a program of Four Pillars: Service Learning, Global Perspectives, Professional Internship, Classroom Experience which culminates in a capstone presentation. Each student completes the same multidisciplinary core courses. Electives may be taken which allows each student to gain knowledge and experience preferred areas of interest. Current accreditation at the Baccalaureate level includes ten Bachelor of Arts degrees, 17 minors, and two Bachelor of Science degrees in Biology and Computer Science. As of 2018, Business, Psychology, and Communications were the most popular major, although History and Liberal Arts have received favorable reviews.

Read also: A History of Holy Cross Football

Holy Cross College requires all Bachelor of Arts students to go on a global immersion experience and costs are covered by tuition.

Campus Life and Student Activities

Students take part in the about 500 student clubs and organizations across the tri-campus community, including Notre Dame and Saint Mary's College (Indiana). The college's intramural sports include flag football, volleyball, basketball, and pickleball. Holy Cross hosts its Student Government, which is composed of the Executive Board, the Programming Board, and the Student Senate. The Social Concerns Committee plays an important role in the student's body volunteering and social service causes.

Holy Cross has six residence halls for students: four male residence halls and two female residence halls. The six residence halls are: Anselm, Basil, James, North, Pulte, and South.

Athletics

The Holy Cross (HCC) athletic teams are called the Saints. The college is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), primarily competing in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) since the 2009-10 academic year. HCC competes in eight intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports include basketball, golf, soccer and tennis; while women's sports include basketball, golf, soccer and tennis. The HCC men's lacrosse team competed in the Great Lakes Lacrosse League (GLLL).

Financial Stability and Future Outlook

In 2013, the college received a record donation of $2 million from Guy Gundlach and the Elkhart County Community Foundation, aimed at providing scholarships to family and spouses of fallen veterans. David Tyson became president in 2017 and set to repair the school's finances and reorganize the school.

Read also: A Comprehensive Look at Holy Cross

The Clark Presidency

Today the college is led by Marco J. Clark. The words of Psalm 40 “Here I am, Lord: I come to do your will,” shared during the Inaugural Mass on the Solemnity of the Annunciation set the stage for a journey by Dr. Marco J. Clark, newly installed as the 6th President of Holy Cross College at Notre Dame, Indiana on Saturday, March 25.

“This is an historic moment for the college as I am the first non-priest or religious brother to serve in this role. While this weekend is quite special for Peggy and me, this is, more importantly, a celebration of the Holy Cross College community. After weathering some storms in recent years, this young college is poised for a bright future,” said Clark.

Connection to the Congregation of Holy Cross

Founder Blessed Basil Moreau’s vision was for an apostolic religious community destined to serve the Church well beyond the frontiers of his own country. In 1841, just four years after Fr. Moreau had founded Holy Cross, he sent Rev.

Since then, Holy Cross priests and brothers have served at the University of Portland, carrying out the vision of our founder, Blessed Basil Moreau, C.S.C., to educate the hearts and minds of students.

King’s College was established in 1946 in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., by the Congregation of Holy Cross. Founded to educate the children of miners of the Wyoming Valley, King’s is a nationally ranked, liberal arts college offering challenging academic programs of 35 majors, 10 pre-professional programs and seven special concentrations. News and World Report has ranked King’s College among the nation’s best colleges for its committed faculty and dedication to providing quality education at an affordable price.

Stonehill College was founded in 1948 in Easton, Mass., by the Congregation of Holy Cross. Stonehill’s undergraduate program offers 32 major programs in the liberal arts, natural sciences and business, with more than 120 faculty members, 81 percent of whom hold doctoral degrees.

The Five Principles of a Holy Cross Education

With those words, Blessed Basil Moreau began to pen a short treatise entitled Christian Education that was designed to spell out the basics of a Holy Cross education at the primary level. The five principles to follow are clearly evident in this unfinished work’s opening pages and typically characterize modern Holy Cross educational institutions throughout the world, even as those have grown to include much more advanced ones of higher learning than anything Moreau envisioned.

Development of the Mind

A Holy Cross education begins with a rigorous and full development of the mind. Moreau himself was a committed student who took his studies seriously and engaged energetically in the intellectual debates of his day. He perceived early on that it could only be detrimental to both Church and society were Catholics to refrain from engaging the scholarly questions and controversies of the age. Like John Henry Cardinal Newman, his contemporary, Moreau sought to instill within students the belief that reason and faith were complementary aspects of God’s revelation. He resisted the post-Enlightenment tendency to compartmentalize theology and rely solely upon human knowledge.

Cultivation of the Heart

Having come of age in the wake of the French Revolution, Moreau knew firsthand that an education which imparts knowledge without values and faith can produce people with sharp intellects but malformed hearts. He was undoubtedly influenced by a wise spiritual advisor who counseled him, “Our first rule must be to disregard what only tickles the ears; it is hearts that we must win.” For him, the development of the heart was rooted in our essential dignity as God’s children. It is a relationship that is made explicit and central in our baptism.

Zeal

Zeal was the term Fr. Moreau used to express the virtue that actualizes the development of our minds and the cultivation of our hearts for the good of others. An education of minds and hearts can only set the world on fire if it has truly enkindled within a person the desire to act boldly. But he always understood that it was one’s longing for God and commitment to a life of faith that sustained the use of those gifts for the good of others. Ultimately, he believed Holy Cross schools should help a young person come to a clear understanding of his or her vocation in the Church and in the world, irrespective of our individual roles or responsibilities.

Family

Moreau realized that he would never have become a priest but for the influence of his family and also his parish priest who first recognized the stirrings of a vocation and arranged for his education. If people associated with Holy Cross speak frequently today about the “family-like” atmosphere they encounter in our parishes and educational institutions, that is directly traceable to Fr. Moreau’s teaching philosophy and ideals for community life. It is that family-like atmosphere that constituents typically identify as the most distinguishing feature of a Holy Cross apostolate. It is, however, an elusive and ephemeral quality, felt more easily by people who have experienced it than readily describable, even for those who have enjoyed a long association with Holy Cross. Though it is arguably the community’s most appealing quality, few would know that what they sense intuitively in a Holy Cross school or parish today was the product of Fr. Moreau’s spirituality was rooted in the desire to be an apostle, to pick up his cross daily and conform himself wholly to the person of Jesus Christ.

Faith

He sought to make the Congregation an extension of his zeal for mission and devotion to union with mixed results, but his influence continues to permeate how Holy Cross expresses itself today. Were it not for Moreau’s faith and fortitude no matter his disappointments, the other four principles of mind, heart, zeal and family would have little meaning or purpose. However, they are the foundation for a unique pedagogy that mirrors a person’s natural human development and moral formation along the path of Christian discipleship. Ultimately, his vision encourages us to embrace the cross of Jesus while progressing through this world toward the light of God’s kingdom.

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