Chaplain’s Corner: Rev. Andrew Fritz, C.S.C.

“At Notre Dame, athletics is the perfect place for faith to flourish.”
—Rev. Andrew Fritz, C.S.C.

Double-Domer. Associate Director of the Office of Vocation. Priest-in-Residence of O’Neill Family Hall. Cheer team chaplain.

Fr. Andrew Fritz is a double-Domer with a unique perspective on what it means to be a cheerleader.

Among other campus assignments, Fr. Andrew Fritz serves as the team chaplain for Notre Dame Cheer. Originally from Columbia, Maryland, Fr. Andrew attended Holy Cross College before transferring to Notre Dame to earn a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and philosophy. He earned his Master of Divinity degree in 2021. From entering the novitiate in 2016 to professing Final Vows in 2022, Fr. Andrew was ordained a Holy Cross Priest in April 2023. 

Shortly before returning to his alma mater, Fr. Andrew was an associate pastor of St. John Vianney Parish, which consisted of 7,000 families, 500 students, and seven Sunday Masses. The families he served were either immigrants from Mexico or families a few generations removed from Mexico who had relocated from Los Angeles to the west side of Phoenix. He also served as pastoral director of a Catholic day shelter called Andre House of Hospitality, where thousands were served every week.

Fr. Andrew described these assignments as “beautiful, challenging ministry.” He continued, “I encountered some of the most profound saints and prophets: men and women who speak easily about faith, trust in God, and surrender to His plan.”

Fr. Andrew’s vocation has taken him to Notre Dame’s most prominent games as part of the cheer team. The team is composed of 45 student-athletes, including cheerleaders and University leprechauns, who share the Fighting Irish spirit with fans at varsity sports competitions around campus and across the country.

The next time you cheer for Notre Dame, see if Fr. Andrew is on the sideline.

Q&A with Fr. Andrew

What stands out to you about Notre Dame as a place for faith to flourish, especially in athletics?

At Notre Dame, athletics is the perfect place for faith to flourish. It is a radical choice to live a life as a student-athlete, which is marked by discipline, sacrifice, and love/zeal for what you are most passionate about. Anytime you or I participate in such an endeavor, Jesus is behind it all. And He calls the best out of us, even when we wonder why it costs us everything!

What is the most rewarding part of supporting Cheer and the team’s unique role on gameday?

I never thought I would be an athletic chaplain, to be honest with you! My favorite sport I grew up playing was lacrosse from 4th grade all the way through the interhall sports here at Notre Dame during undergrad. I also ran cross country and swam in the summers when I was younger mainly to stay in shape. But Cheer is something I had no experience with. 

It was called out of me by one of the residents in my section of O’Neill Hall who is a member of the Cheer Team, actually. It’s been a good way to stay connected to the students here at Notre Dame while I travel around the U.S. promoting vocations for the Congregation of Holy Cross and talk with many young people discerning a call from God to be a Holy Cross brother or priest. But through them, it’s a blessing to make connections between their lives as cheerleaders and my own vocation as a priest and as a consecrated religious. 

Priests and religious (think of Brothers and Sisters whom you know) are kind of “God’s cheerleaders” in a way—we are hoping that our own love edifies and encourages others in their own discipleship of following the Lord Jesus Christ who died so that others may have life. 

I shared with the cheerleaders before their regional competition that sometimes we are called to radiate to others a joy that we ourselves may not have. And that’s okay. Cheer Team is less about a disposition than it is about adopting a way of life. A way of life that gives and gives, expecting nothing in return, and doing everything so that a greater Joy and Love—hint hint: Jesus—can be visible to others.

What is the one chant or cheer from the team that you find yourself singing in your head?

My favorite will always be “Notre Dame, Our Mother,” our alma mater. I sang in the Glee Club for a few years in undergrad, and one fall semester, when my grandmother passed away while we were on tour, 60 men sang the Ave Maria to her. So when I see the whole Notre Dame team walk arm in arm to that endzone, win or lose, singing that alma mater, that’s true brotherhood.

If you could have one cheer or stunt named in your honor, what would it be?

I think the move would be called the “Padre.” It’s a scorpion, where you hold your foot behind your head in the shape of the letter “P,” but during the dismount, you make the sign of the cross and hope to God you land on both feet and not in the hospital!

Fr. Andrew’s ministry has called him to many dynamic places. Because of your generosity, our student-athletes on the cheer team have the chance to learn from his experiences and receive his support in faith wherever competition takes them. Thank you for putting them first with your gifts to the Rockne Athletics Fund, which make chaplainship like this possible at Notre Dame.