With more than 10,000 subscribers and the national spotlight on Notre Dame's identity crisis, Sycamore Trust is well positioned for a major campaign to expand its presence dramatically within the Notre Dame family. Although the Internet has been an indispensable tool for our early work, we cannot fully achieve our mission online. We must build an organization capable of reaching into conventional markets and promoting activities that mobilize the faithful and demonstrate their zeal for keeping Notre Dame Catholic for future generations.

Accordingly, we are calling on all our supporters to help us launch this campaign by making a tax-deductible donation today. Your donation will help cover the costs of getting our message to 20,000 Notre Dame alumni and will support our work as we develop the resources needed to employ staff and pursue all means available to further our mission.

For several decades the University, in a drive to raise its academic ranking, has chipped away at its mission by hiring fewer and fewer practicing Catholics. The result is that today there are no longer the "predominant number of Catholic intellectuals" the University's Mission Statement declares necessary to the school's Catholic identity.

Thus, more than 150 years after Father Sorin assembled his celebrated class of two in Badin's old log chapel, the voice he sought to raise up is being drowned out by a faculty that unabashedly declares, "The University should not compromise its academic aspirations in its efforts to maintain its Catholic identity." (Notre Dame Faculty Senate, April 9, 2008.) No wonder Catholic educators at Notre Dame complain that they feel marginalized.

While warnings of the deterioration of the Catholic faculty presence have been sounded more than once within the University, few outside the University community were aware of it until Sycamore sounded the alarm. All members of the Notre Dame family should be aware of the distressing state of affairs.

Fortunately, all is not lost. Many of the school's Catholic underpinnings remain and it could, over time, regain its religious footing -- but not if those in governance continue to trade Notre Dame's Catholic identity to climb another rung or two up the secular rankings ladder.

Our purpose is to influence the course of events by providing a source of information, a means of communication, and a collective voice to those who are concerned about restoring and preserving Notre Dame's Catholic identity.

We ask you now to consider making a tax-deductible donation. While large, recurring donations are needed, no donation is too small! Please give whatever you can afford and be on the lookout for other ways to put your skills to work for Sycamore Trust.

P.S. We have just launched our new improved website with updated information and a variety of social networking features. We think it will play an important role. Have a look at it and tell us what you think.