College football may seem like a religion to Americans, but to many American Catholics the University of Notre Dame football team is the incarnation of their faith in sport. Yet, apart from the battle for the college football national championship, the biggest biggest news in college football this season has been the continued decline of Notre Dame. After another disappointing season, the University of Notre Dame has lost another football coach. Charlie Weis tried to make the ...

He is neither old nor a priest nor particularly attached to time-honored traditions. At 35, John Eriksen, one of the nation's youngest Catholic-school superintendents, offers a ruthless assessment of parochial education. "The biggest threat that urban Catholic schools face is nostalgia," he says both of districts nationwide and of his own diocese of Paterson, N.J. A Notre Dame and Harvard graduate fluent in Spanish and Arabic, Eriksen is part of the next generation of Catholic leaders in search of ...

He is neither old, nor a priest, nor particularly attached to time-honored traditions. At 35, John Eriksen, one of the nation's youngest Catholic school superintendents, offers a ruthless assessment of parochial education. "The biggest threat that urban Catholic schools face is nostalgia," he says both of districts nationwide and his own diocese of Paterson, N.J. A Notre Dame and Harvard graduate fluent in Spanish and Arabic, Eriksen is part of the next generation of Catholic leaders in search of ...