I wonder what role economics has played in the secularization of the university? Notre Dame is becoming more of an elite school. It is harder to get in, and more expensive to attend. The University compares itself to Ivy League schools. Part of the reason tuition is more expensive, is that the university is paying administrators (and top level professors) at the same rates as "fellow" Ivy League schools. By contrast, staff wages are lower as they are compared to South Bend (where wages are depressed since the loss of Studebaker in the fifties/sixties and subsequent deindustralization). While the article says that 50% of Catholics under 40 in the US are Hispanic, Notre Dame is only 10% Hispanic. Clearly ND is failing to serve the US Catholic youth population - and I suspect the cost of tuition, ND's elite acceptance requirements, and the failure of US inner-city public schools are at the heart of the problem.