Notre Dame’s Growing Role in Global Catholicism with Kathleen Cummings (Ep. 44)

Kathleen Sprows Cummings brings Catholic history vividly into the present—illuminating not only where the Church has been, but where it may be headed next.

In this episode of For Good, Cummings, the John A. O’Brien Collegiate Professor of American Studies and History and inaugural director of Notre Dame’s Global Catholic Research Initiative, reflects on the people and movements that have shaped Catholic life across generations—from the women religious whose work helped build Notre Dame to the growing influence of the global Church today.

She also shares timely insight into the election of Pope Leo XIV, the growing role of women’s leadership in the Church, the call for Catholics around the world to listen and discern together, and why Notre Dame is uniquely positioned to become a leading center for the study of global Catholicism.

Join us for a fascinating conversation about faith, history, and the evolving role of the Church in a rapidly changing world.

0:00 — The hidden history of Visitation Hall at Remick Commons

4:05 — A Saint of Our Own, canonization, and the making of Catholic heroes

9:04 — From American Catholicism to the global Church

12:18 — Notre Dame archives and preserving Catholic history

15:15 — The election of the first American pope

20:27 — Pope Leo XIV’s first year and the future of the Church

23:47 — Pope Leo XIV, politics, and moral leadership

27:00 — How the Church is rethinking women’s leadership

34:05 — Leading a global Church

37:12 — Notre Dame and the future of global Catholicism

40:00 — Finding hope in the global Church