December 9, 2025 // Diocese

New Film Explores the Life, Legacy of Holy Cross Brother Columba O’Neill

Lisa Kochanowski

Freelance writer

“He was living what Jesus said in the Gospel: ‘Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart,’” Bishop Rhoades said in the new documentary, “In Kind Love: The Life and Legacy of Brother Columba O’Neill, CSC.” Bishop Rhoades added, “I hope that the cause will move forward and that Brother Columba would become the first saint from South Bend, Indiana.”

Known as the “Miracle Man of Notre Dame,” Brother Columba O’Neill was a member of the Congregation of Holy Cross and is currently under consideration for sainthood in the Catholic Church. A collaboration between NewGroup Media, the Midwest Province of Brothers, and the Congregation of Holy Cross, United States Province of Priests and Brothers, has produced this new documentary that includes interviews from Bishop Rhoades and members of the Holy Cross Congregation and tells the inspirational story of a man’s quest to live a life of faith.

“This person who is emerging as a saint isn’t the scholar, isn’t the administrator. He was a shoemaker,” said Holy Cross Brother Kenneth Haders, provincial superior of the Midwest Province of Brothers, Congregation of Holy Cross, in the new documentary. “I’m excited about the prospect of canonizing our brother Columba O’Neill.”

Holy Cross Father Ronald Raab said in the film, “Through the Sacred Heart, Columba was a humble instrument of God’s healing in the world.”

The University of Notre Dame hosted the premier screening of the film on Sunday, November 23, the anniversary of the burial of Brother Columba. More than 150 priests, brothers, members of the religious community, and laypeople filled McKenna Hall on Notre Dame’s campus to view the documentary. Following the presentation, visitors had the opportunity to listen to a panel discussion with documentary writer Sister Judy Zielinski, the director of faith and values programming at NewGroup Media, and film collaborator Edwin Donnelly, a temporarily professed seminarian with the Congregation of Holy Cross.

Photos by Lisa Kochanowski Bishop Rhoades addresses more than 150 priests, brothers, religious, and lay faithful gathered in McKenna Hall at the University of Notre Dame for a screening of “In Kind Love: The Life and Legacy of Brother Columba O’Neill, CSC” on Sunday, November 23.

“For the film … to progress from its earliest conceptualization to a 45-minute absorbing visual reality is no easy task,” said Holy Cross Brother Philip Smith, the archivist for the Congregation of Holy Cross and USA coordinator for Brother Columba’s canonization cause. “It takes a village of committed professionals who combine their many skills to weave a tale created as a mosaic of Brother Columba’s life. But of more importance to me is the commitment of Bishop Kevin Rhoades. We all owe him our thanks for agreeing that the life of the humble cobber, the miracle man of Notre Dame, is not only worth telling but that his devotion to the hearts of Jesus and Mary and the Sacred Heart must be told. Without his support, there would be no film. I shared my research on Columba with him in 2020. Since that time, he has provided unflinching support, and continues to do so, as Columba’s cause for canonization progresses.”

At the premiere, Bishop Rhoades shared the news that the U.S. bishops will consecrate the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in June of 2026.

“During these coming months before the consecration happens in June, I think it would be wonderful to do all we can, connecting Brother Columba to this,” Bishop Rhoades said. “I’m thinking of Sacred Heart badges and everything else that we will do in our diocese and then spreading this wonderful documentary during this time leading up to the consecration of our nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.”