University of Notre Dame fans traveling to Texas for the Shamrock Series off-site home football game, to be played Saturday (Oct. 5) against Arizona State at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, will have the opportunity to enjoy numerous other public events reflecting the life and spirit of Our Lady’s University in the days leading up to the game.
Scheduled events include academic and faith discussions, a service project, Mass and a celebration of Texan culture and traditions, including a march through Fort Worth by the Notre Dame Band, accompanied by a herd of longhorn cattle.
- Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) will visit two local Catholic schools Thursday and Friday (Oct. 3 and 4) as part of the Fighting For Our Children’s Future National Bus Tour. At 2:30 p.m. Thursday (Oct. 3), ACE will host a celebration of students, faculty and honored guests at Bishop Dunne High School, 3900 Rugged Drive, Dallas; and at 8 a.m. Friday (Oct. 4), ACE will visit St. Rita Catholic School, 712 Weiler Blvd., Fort Worth, for Mass and a special event to include the presentation of the University of Notre Dame Sorin Award for Service to Catholic Schools. Notre Dame fans and friends are welcome to attend.
- Members of the Notre Dame science faculty will address a variety of major scientific questions in a panel discussion titled “Science and Spirits” at 10:30 a.m. Friday (Oct. 4) in the Worthington Renaissance Fort Worth Hotel’s West Fork I and West Fork II meeting rooms. Panelists will include biologists Rebecca Wingert and David Lodge, physicist Christopher Kolda and chemist Norman Dovichi.
- A kick-off luncheon will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Friday (Oct. 4) at the Worthington Renaissance Forth Worth Hotel. Sponsored by the Notre Dame Alumni Association, along with the Notre Dame Clubs of Dallas and Forth Worth, the event will feature speakers Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., Notre Dame’s president; Jack Swarbrick, vice president and director of athletics; Brian Kelly, head football coach; and Notre Dame football great Tim Brown. Doors open at 11:30 and the luncheon begins at noon. Tickets are available here for $75 each, with all proceeds benefiting the Notre Dame Club of Dallas Scholarship Fund.
- In partnership with Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Fort Worth, the Notre Dame Alumni Association will sponsor a Shamrock Service Project from 2 to 5 p.m. Friday (Oct. 4) for the Assessment Center of Tarrant County, a 24-hour, 40-bed facility that provides a safe, nurturing and temporary home for children placed in the care of Child Protective Services. Notre Dame alumni, parents and friends will help to refurbish the center with painting, cleaning and outside yard work.
- A panel discussion sponsored by Notre Dame’s College of Arts and Letters titled “Latinos and the Future of America” will be held at 3 p.m. Friday (Oct. 4) in the Worthington Renaissance West Fork I and West Fork II meeting rooms. Panelists include José Limón, Julian Samora Professor of Latino Studies and director of Notre Dame’s Institute for Latino Studies (ILS); Philip Fuentes, McDonald’s Restaurants franchise owner and ILS advisory council member; Anne Garcia-Romero, assistant professor of film, television and theatre at Notre Dame; Marcos Ronquillo, partner at Beirne, Maynard and Parsons and ILS advisory council member; Timothy Matovina, professor of theology at Notre Dame and ILS executive director; and Ricardo Ramirez, associate professor of political science at Notre Dame.
- The Notre Dame pep rally will be held Friday (Oct. 4) at 6 p.m. at Ninth and Main Streets in downtown Fort Worth. The Notre Dame Band will step off at 6 p.m. from Fourth and Main Streets, followed by the longhorn cattle of the Fort Worth Herd. The pep rally will be preceded at 4:45 p.m. by a free concert by local artist Charla Corn.
- A Mass at which Father Jenkins will preside and preach will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Saturday (Oct. 5) at Fort Worth’s Saint Patrick Cathedral, 1206 Throckmorton St.
- At 11:30 a.m. Saturday (Oct. 5), a lecture in the Saturday with the Saints series, “Stories Written in Light: The Saints in the Windows of Notre Dame’s Basilica of the Sacred Heart,” will be given by John C. Cavadini, professor of theology at Notre Dame and director of the Institute for Church Life in the Worthington Renaissance West Fork I and West Fork II meeting rooms.
A complete listing of the weekend’s events and activities can be found online at gameday.nd.edu.
Contact: Julie Hail Flory, Notre Dame Public Relations, jflory@nd.edu, 574-606-5025