When John Babbo first stepped onto Notre Dame’s campus, he imagined himself studying great books and cheering in the student section. He didn’t imagine that the ideas he encountered would eventually lead him toward the priesthood.
Babbo graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2024 with a degree from the Program of Liberal Studies (PLS) and minors in Constitutional Studies and Business Economics. Babbo was also a member of the Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Government’s (CCCG) Tocqueville Fellowship for four semesters.
As a Chicago, Illinois native, Babbo chose to attend Notre Dame because of its mix of academics, football culture, and Catholic identity. During his time as an undergraduate, Babbo was introduced to the CCCG by a fellow PLS classmate and friend. This introduction, coupled with his interest in exploring political philosophy more deeply, inspired him to pursue the Constitutional Studies minor.
Babbo reflected on two influential classes he took through the minor, the first being a class on Nicomachean Ethics and Aristotle's Politics taught by Professor Susan Collins, which he described as “one of the best classes I ever took.” Babbo credited this class as planting the intellectual seeds that were influential in discerning major life decisions upon graduation.
During his senior year, Babbo enrolled in a course taught by both Professor Patrick Deneen and Professor Phillip Munoz entitled “Core Texts and the Constitution.” Babbo recalled reading The Odyssey, The Republic, and The City of God, the latter of which has continued to shape his thinking in both his personal and professional life. Reflecting on this course’s influence, Babbo said it encouraged him to see himself as “a pilgrim on a pilgrim’s journey,” and to consider whether “I [am] try[ing] to serve the city of God or the city of man.”
Alongside the Constitutional Studies minor, Babbo participated in the Tocqueville Fellowship program during his sophomore and senior years. The colloquia and readings offered outside of a traditional classroom setting deepened Babbo’s interest in political philosophy. Babbo appreciated the caliber of the CCCG’s invited speakers, noting that meeting them in small settings, such as breakfast or lunch, allowed for a unique perspective. Those conversations, he explained, allowed him to see each speaker “as a person, not when they're public speaking, but on a more personal basis. I loved that.”
Outside of the academic realm, Babbo particularly enjoyed the community he found through the fellowship. He elaborated, “I felt like I met so many friends who I would not have met outside of the program.” Looking back, Babbo admitted he has been surprised by the longevity of the friendships he formed through the center, and attributed them to the fellowship’s thought-provoking colloquia and informal conversations that took place alongside them.
Though Babbo came into Notre Dame as a declared PLS major, he developed a love for investing during his sophomore year, describing it as a form of “applied philosophy.” The technological and psychological components involved in investing touched on many of his intellectual interests, and after graduation, Babbo worked at a small investment partnership firm based in Boston. Despite having a career and being surrounded by colleagues that he loved, Babbo recounted experiencing a sense of “restlessness.” This feeling persisted until he met Fr. Pete, a priest at Gate of Heaven Parish in Boston, whose joy and contentment prompted Babbo to reflect on his own state of vocational restlessness. Babbo described thinking back to Aristotle, whom he first studied with Professor Collins; he recalled asking himself, “Why is this person so happy? What does he have that these people I work with maybe don't have? And he's poor and he's unmarried, so how is he so happy?”
Coupled with Fr. Pete’s preaching on the Eucharist and the presence of Jesus in the sacrifice of the Mass, Babbo said, “For the first time in my life, it's sort of like the radicality of the Catholic faith really impressed on me. And if Jesus is God, then that has to change my life in some very important ways. And if Jesus is really present in the Eucharist, how am I not at Mass every day? How am I not crawling in on my knees?” The combination of his restlessness and this epiphanic realization of the radicality and importance of his Catholic faith ultimately brought Babbo to pursue the priesthood.
Now, as a postulant with the Congregation of Holy Cross, Babbo encourages current Notre Dame students to approach classwork as an end in itself, rather than a means toward getting an A to get a job. “Looking back,” Babbo said, “I appreciate the quality of the education I got at Notre Dame in the Constitutional Studies minor, which I think you don’t appreciate as much when you’re in the middle of it.” Babbo concluded by emphasizing the importance of “investing in your faith at a place like Notre Dame,” adding, “This sort of is Christendom, it feels like to me, so make sure you get your faith really strong here, then you can go out in the world and evangelize.”
To learn more about the Constitutional Studies minor and the Tocqueville Fellowship Program, please visit our webpage.