Notre Dame’s John Cavadini taught the forgotten power of fatherhood

(RNS) — It would be difficult to find a more influential lay-run organization in the U.S. Catholic Church than the McGrath Institute for Church Life at Notre Dame. McGrath became an extraordinarily consequential bridge between the university’s intellectual life and the wider Church, with some of the best Catholic scholars in the world, tens of millions of dollars in endowments and grants and, until very recently, the remarkable leadership of its longtime director, John Cavadini.

Under John’s 26 years of leadership, McGrath exploded the number of its programs, which now include online theology courses, teacher placements at Catholic schools around the country, professional development, conferences for high school students and youth leaders and many resources, dialogue and teaching materials on science and faith and Catholic social teaching. In particular, McGrath’s “Church Life Journal” reaches many thousands of readers every year and contributes in essential ways to serious-but-accessible discussion of theological trends and other ideas in Catholic circles.

Notre Dame has now hired Catholic University’s Joe Capizzi to take John’s place. There is little doubt that John’s…