Shooting the Messenger?

THE BOSTON GLOBE, Aug. 17 — Boston College has “blasted the [Cardinal] Newman Society as a fringe group bent on grabbing public attention,” reported the Boston daily.

At issue is the Newman Society's criticism of three BC professors — bioethics professor Father John Paris and law school professors Charles Baron and Milton Heifetz — for supporting the removal of the feeding tube of Terri Schiavo.

While Baron is quoted in the story explaining that a brief he filed in the Schiavo case dealt with “legal” and not “moral” issues, the substance of the complaints of the Newman Society is not addressed in the quotes from Boston College officials. Also, the tone of the Globe article is one of surprise that the college and its faculty have come in for questioning.

New Generation

NEWSWEEK, Aug. 29 — The weekly magazine featured Franciscan University of Steubenville as serving “the generation raised under the more orthodox Pope John Paul II,” which longs for a “stronger flavor of Catholicism.”

As part of an extensive cover story on spirituality in America, the magazine reported that many young Catholics are not happy with “a less dogmatic form of faith” and the modern, “dispirited” liturgy that has marked recent decades.

Instead, “they're reviving old rituals,” such as the Rosary, in search of a more personal connection with Christ that is available through prayer, devotion and the sacraments, whose “nourishment comes daily.”

Truly Catholic

THE REPUBLICAN, Aug. 14 — James Mullen has heard a consistent message since becoming the new president of Elms College in Chicopee, Mass., earlier this summer, reported the Springfield daily.

The former chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Asheville told the newspaper: “They told me they like to see Elms stay true to its core traditions, core values and offer a truly rich Catholic liberal arts education, true to … the Sisters of St. Joseph.”

Filling a Gap

THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC, Aug. 18 — Driven by population growth and crowded public universities, two separate proposals for Catholic colleges are under consideration in Phoenix.

One is sponsored by the Diocese of Phoenix and the other, the prospective College of John Paul in the Desert, a lay initiative that would feature “traditional Catholic values.”

Father Fred Adamson, vicar general for the diocese, said the lack of a Catholic college is a major gap for a city Phoenix's size, and that the region would benefit from Catholic higher education.

Top Rankings

U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, Aug. 22 — In the magazine's annual ranking of the nation's best colleges, three Catholic colleges made the top 50; they are the University of Notre Dame in Indiana (18), Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. (23) and Boston College (40).

Catholic colleges and universities fared best in the category of Best Universities — Master's. The category ranks schools with undergraduate and master's programs but few, if any, doctoral programs.

In this category, Villanova University in Pennsylvania topped the list in the North and Creighton University in Nebraska placed first in the Midwest.