Notre Dame’s Burtchaell to resign, sources say

Kansas City, Missouri -

Holy Cross Father James Tunstead Burtchaell, a prominent theologian at the University of Notre Dame, has agreed to resign from his tenured teaching position following an investigation into charges he had engaged in sexual misconduct while counseling male students.

Burtchaell, former university provost and theology department chairman, is currently on sabbatical at Princeton University under a Lilly Endowment grant. Contacted by NCR on three occasions, he refused to comment on either the allegations or his status at Notre Dame except to say he has not resigned.

According to university sources, including members of the Holy Cross order, Burtchaell is still on faculty but has agreed to submit his resignation in December, perhaps as early as this week. The resignation is said to be effective at the end of this academic year.

Sources said Burtchaell agreed to resign last spring after the university investigated the allegations of several students who claimed Burtchaell had made sexual advances toward them in counseling or in spiritual-advising situations. In some cases, sexual contact as alleged to have occurred between Burtchaell and the students, sources said.

Read the article at The National Catholic Reporter dated December 6, 1991