Global Catholic Research Initiative
Notre Dame's Global Catholic Research Initiative mobilizes the University’s intellectual and institutional resources to advance scholarship on Catholicism as a global and dynamic tradition. It supports interdisciplinary research on how Catholics, Catholic institutions, and the intellectual, social, artistic, and cultural expressions of Catholic life have circulated—and continue to circulate—across regions, nations, and cultures, shaping and being shaped by the local contexts in which they take root.
The initiative seeks to position Notre Dame as the preeminent hub for research on global Catholicism, broadly defined, by fostering collaboration among University departments, centers, and Institutes, and by building and expanding relationships with other University, Catholic, and global partners. In doing so, it strengthens undergraduate and graduate education, advances the University’s global strategy, and deepens its Catholic mission.
Status Update
New:
We've moved!
Visit our offices at 1202 Hesburgh Libraries or contact us at gcri@nd.edu.
The History Department at the University of Notre Dame invites applications for an open-rank tenure-track faculty position in the History of Global Catholicism, understood broadly.
Following the appointment of Kathleen Sprows Cummings as its inaugural director, the Global Catholic Research Initiative (GCRI) formally launched in spring 2026, introducing its vision for advancing interdisciplinary, globally oriented research on Catholicism. Since its launch, GCRI has established an executive committee of faculty leaders from across the University and expanded collaborations with faculty, centers, institutes, libraries, and international partners.
The Initiative announced two signature funding opportunities, Catalyst Grants and Amplification Grants, to support interdisciplinary research, convenings, and collaborative scholarship on global Catholicism. GCRI also partnered with the Franco Family Institute to support two Research Innovation Collaboratives. By funding “From Medieval Roots to Global Networks: Catholic Sisters and the Archive” and “Vatican II: Renewal within Tradition,” GCRI is investing in projects that exemplify the global scope, historical depth, and interdisciplinary strength of Notre Dame scholarship.
Other major developments include the appointment of Rev. Roberto Regoli as the inaugural Global Catholic Research Fellow; collaboration with the Arts Initiative to co-sponsor two globally oriented Notre Dame Arts Biennial projects; projects focused on the preservation, digitization, and accessibility of at-risk Catholic archives around the world; and new research efforts supporting the global study of women religious. GCRI also co-sponsored a public conversation with Sr. Nathalie Becquart, XMCJ, on women’s leadership in the Church as part of the Hesburgh Women of Impact's Women for Good Annual Weekend 2026.
In support of its mission to amplify and connect Notre Dame’s strengths in global Catholic scholarship, GCRI is co-sponsoring postdoctoral fellowships in partnership with the Medieval Institute, the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism, the Center for the Study of Religion and Society, and the Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion.
These collaborations are complemented by a growing series of international convenings focused on migration, democracy, women religious, and the global Church.
In addition, GCRI has been invited to participate in the Vatican Dicastery for Evangelization’s international initiative, The Church of the Sheaves: Equipping the Saints for Mission as Gift Exchange, focused on missionary formation, synodality, and global ecclesial exchange.
For more information, contact the Global Catholic Research Initiative at gcri@nd.edu.
A Big Moment for American Catholics is coming
In this piece for the New York Times, GCRI Director Kathleen Sprows Cummings examines Pope Leo XIV’s visit to honor St. Frances Cabrini — and what we can learn from their shared global sensibility.
Notre Dame’s Growing Role in Global Catholicism
This episode of the For Good podcast features a conversation about 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.
GCRI Blog: Dispatches from the Field
Short reflections written by GCRI faculty, fellows, postdoctoral scholars, graduate students, undergraduate researchers, and collaborators highlight moments from the field that illuminate the study of Global Catholicism as it happens.
Executive Committee
View Committee MembersLatest News
View all news
Media Mentions
More Media Mentions-
The New York Times
Pope Leo Praises Europe's Democracy, diverging once again from Trump
September 28, 2026
“He always frames his messages universally,” said Kathleen Sprows Cummings, a historian at the University of Notre Dame and director of the Global Catholic Research Initiative. He is not seeking “to correct or condemn."
-
Religion News Service
Fulton Sheen, Catholic media star, will be beatified in St Louis Thursday
September 22, 2026
“The heavy lifting in a canonization happens before” a miracle, said Kathleen Sprows Cummings, a history professor at the University of Notre Dame who has studied American saints. “That’s when you gather all the evidence, and you have to weigh everything the saint ever said or did or wrote.”