MTSM Dean Receives Grant from the University of Notre Dame to Support Research

Rev. David J. Endres, Ph.D., Dean of Mount St. Mary’s Seminary, is the recipient of a research grant from the University of Notre Dame’s Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism.

This fall Fr. Endres will be on-site at the University of Notre Dame Archives where he will research the Archbishop Elder papers for his project titled “Race, Region and Reconciliation: Archbishop William Henry Elder.”

Archbishop Elder was bishop of Natchez, Mississippi (1857-1880) before becoming the second archbishop of Cincinnati (1880-1904). Born in Maryland to a slave-owning family, Elder was an unabashed supporter of the Confederacy at the time of the Civil War. After the war, he came to Cincinnati, where he grappled with aftereffects of slavery and the need to evangelize freed Blacks. This research focuses on Elder’s evolving conceptions of race and post-war efforts toward reunion and reconciliation.

“Elder is a fascinating and understudied figure in U.S. Catholicism,” said Fr. Endres. “His story is useful to better understanding the nineteenth century, but there are aspects that also shed light on the present. In this way, Elder’s life suggests how we might examine—or reexamine—race and racism.”

This year the Cushwa Center provided funding to 26 scholars engaged in a variety of research projects. Funds will support research at the University of Notre Dame Archives and at other archives in a number of U.S. cities including: Boston, Chicago, New York, San Antonio and Washington, D.C.—as well as Limerick, Ireland; Llandudno, Wales; Paris, France; and Rome, Italy.

Founded in 1829 and the third-oldest Catholic seminary in the U.S., Mount St. Mary’s Seminary & School of Theology is a graduate school that forms priests, permanent deacons and laity to faithfully follow Christ and serve His mission by fulfilling their vocations in the Church. The Seminary prepares men for ordination to the priesthood and permanent diaconate, while the School of Theology offers classes for graduate and certificate programs for laity, clergy and religious.

For additional information about MTSM, please contact advancement@athenaeum.edu or 513-231-2223.