Saint Anselm’s Moment

CNN.COM, May 26 — Saint Anselm College is a hot political destination these days. The Catholic college’s location, close to the airport in Manchester, N.H., helped persuade the organizers of the June 3 Democratic and June 5 Republican presidential debates to hold the events on Saint Anselm’s campus.

Even before the debates, the campus was a prime destination for campaigning candidates. Said Anne Botteri, executive director of the school’s New Hampshire Institute of Politics, “There are some weeks where we are literally doing things every day, or multiple candidates on the same day at different locations.”

Brave Students

EL UNIVERSAL, May 29 — Catholic university students led protests against Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez’s decision to close a TV station critical of his regime. Students at Andrés Bello Catholic University, along with students at Santa María University and the Central University of Venezuela, rallied May 28 and May 29 in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas against the non-renewal of a broadcast license for private TV channel Radio Caracas Televisión. Chávez, a Marxist with close ties to Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, has clashed repeatedly with Church leaders since he came to power in February 1999.

New Rector

THE BALTIMORE SUN, May 25 — Sulpician Father Thomas Hurst has been appointed president-rector of St. Mary’s Seminary & University in Roland Park, Md., effective July 1. Father Hurst has served since 2001 as rector of Theological College, the national seminary of The Catholic University of America. He was a member of St. Mary’s faculty from 1980 to 1992. St. Mary’s is the oldest Catholic seminary in America.