Too Catholic?

CATHOLIC LEAGUE FOR RELIGIOUS & CIVIL RIGHTS, June 7 — The League’s communications director, Kiera McCaffrey, disagreed with criticism of St. Thomas University student Ben Kessler for his spirited defense of Catholic teaching at the St. Paul, Minn., university’s recent graduation address.

Even though Kessler himself admitted that his tone and his criticism of “selfishness” by students and faculty was somewhat strident, the League’s McCaffrey contended that Kessler’s comments were “completely appropriate” and said the boos and catcalls of fellow graduates and others was “absolutely disgraceful.”

Even if presented in a less than diplomatic way, “you wouldn’t think that defending Catholic teaching on things like birth control would be controversial at a Catholic college,” McCaffrey said, “but as we all know, it unfortunately is.”

Georgetown Diss

THE NEW YORK TIMES, May 30 — The appointment of ex-Pentagon official Douglas Feith as a faculty member at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service has not been welcomed by all.

Mark Lance, a philosophy professor who teaches in the program for Justice and Peace at Georgetown, organized a campus protest of Feith’s appointment.

Lance told The Times that he will not be shaking Feith’s hand upon being introduced to the new professor. “And if he asks why, I’ll say because … you’re a war criminal and have no place on this campus.”

What’s in a Name?

TIMES-LEADER, May 29 — Come the fall of 2008, the unique name of College Misericordia might become University Misericordia — or maybe not.

Members of a special task force at the 2,300-student Sisters of Mercy college in Dallas, Pa., will submit a recommendation to the board of trustees next month in an attempt to achieve university status.

Jim Roberts, the college’s director of marketing and communications, said a handful of new names were considered, but none proved especially popular.

If the transition does take place, the words university and Misericordia will appear somewhere in the institution’s new name, though not necessarily with university serving as a direct replacement for college.

Restoring Musica Sacra

THE CHURCH MUSIC ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA, June 1 — The association will hold its Summer Music Colloquium, “Liturgical Music and the Restoration of the Sacred,” at The Catholic University of America in Washington June 20-25.

“With Gregorian chant scholas starting up in parishes around the country and world, and a rising sense of optimism about the prospects for sacred music, we expect great things to emerge from this year’s meeting,” said William Stoops, the group’s treasurer.

Registration is available on line at musicasacra.com/ colloquium.html.

New President

CINCINNATI BUSINESS COURIER, May 23 — Ron Slepitza, a vice president at Xavier University in Cincinnati, has been appointed president of Avila University in Missouri.

He joined Xavier as vice president of student development in 1993 and later assumed the task of special counsel to the president for strategic planning.

Avila University is a liberal-arts university founded in 1916 and sponsored by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet.

Before coming to Xavier, Slepitza worked at Omaha’s Creighton University.