Well-Spent Summer

CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, Aug. 19 — The 12th annual Crossroads Walk by pro-life students has captured the attention of the readers of North Carolina’s Charlotte Observer.

In an 800-word article entitled “Student’s Pro-Life Pilgrimage; Crossroads Walk Across U.S. Packs Powerful Message,” columnist Tom Ashcraft highlighted the efforts of this year’s participants.

“Students returning to school this month will inevitably be asked, ‘What did you do on your summer vacation?’” Ashcraft wrote. “How many of them can answer, ‘With others, I walked across the United States as a witness for unborn children, speaking out against abortion and praying for God’s mercy on our country?’”

The students said most people they met were supportive of their pro-life witness.

“We’ve had some negative responses, but it’s been 95% positive,” Sarah Gallaher, a student at Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, told The Bakersfield Californian earlier in the summer. “America is pro-life — we just need more people to stand up and say so.”

Catholic Colleges Shine

Time and Newsweek magazines both named some Catholic institutions as top academic performers in articles published in August.

In an article in its Aug. 21 issue about “outstanding alternatives” to elite Ivy League colleges, Time praises the “rigorous Catholic education” offered by Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in Merrimack, N.H. Alverno, a Catholic college for women in Milwaukee, Wis., was another of Time’s picks.

For its part, Newsweek included Boston College and Notre Dame among the 25 academic powerhouses that it designated as “the New Ivies” in its Aug. 21 issue.

Meanwhile, Catholic schools were prominent in U.S. News & World Report’s 2006 ratings of all U.S. colleges, which were released in mid-August.

Creighton University in Omaha, Neb., and Xavier University in Cincinnati were among those singled out for favorable mention, finishing first and second in the ratings of Midwest colleges that grant undergraduate and master’s degrees.

American Leader

THE HARTFORD COURANT, Aug. 15 — Anthony Cernera, president of Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn., has become the first layperson and the second American elected as president of the International Federation of Catholic Universities, a worldwide association of Catholic universities.

Cernera was elected during the federation’s international forum, which took place July 31-Aug. 4 in Bangkok, Thailand.

Holy Cross Father Theodore Hesburgh, the former president of the University of Notre Dame, is the only other American to serve as president of the International Federation of Catholic Universities.

Southern’s Soph Year

THE TIMES, Aug. 13 — Southern Catholic University is gearing up for its second year of operation, the Gainesville, Ga., newspaper reported.

The university, which became Georgia’s first Catholic college when it opened its doors last year, will welcome its second freshman class. Returning students will enter sophomore classes, with junior and senior classes to commence in 2007 and 2008 respectively.

Southern Catholic, which is located an hour’s drive north of downtown Atlanta, opened in 2005 with 72 students. This year, with approximately  126 students, the college has expanded its faculty and administrative staff, added new student development programs and hired a new director of campus activities.