‘Friendly' Debate?

TOWNHALL.COM, Dec. 16 — They both came from the same institution, but their jobs are now worlds apart.

Edward Gillespie, chairman of the Republican National Committee, and Terry McAuliffe, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, are both alumni of the Catholic University of America.

The two will engage in a debate hosted by the university March 18, with George Stephanopolous, host of ABC's “This Week,” moderating. It will be the first time leaders of the two parties will meet for a debate.

Gillespie graduated from the university with a bachelor's degree in politics in 1983, and McAuliffe graduated with a bachelor's degree in political science in 1979.

True Calling

THE COLUMBIAN (Wash.), Dec. 25 — Sharon Heidland had everything a college student could want: smarts, boyfriends, a volleyball scholarship to the University of Nevada. But in the end, she realized, it wasn't enough.

Heidland left her promising career in communications after college to join the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity. Now Sister Miriam James Heidland spends much of her time in quiet contemplation at Our Lady of Guadalupe Convent in Dunseith, N.D., a town of 739 residents.

“Thanks be to God,” Sister Heidland said. “I found the meaning of my life, and I found it at 22 years old.”

All Girls

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, Dec. 22 — All-girls schools are better than coed ones, according to a survey of 1,600 girls who attend all-girls Catholic schools in the Chicago area.

The anonymous Internet survey, whose results were released Dec. 19, found 89% of girls said it's easier to concentrate on classes at an all-girls school; 81% think it's easier to express themselves at an all-girls school; 72% have never or rarely experienced difficulty with peer pressure; and 64% have never or rarely experienced issues with self-esteem at their school.

The survey was a part of a marketing campaign called “Together4You,” launched by seven schools last fall. Its goal, the paper said, is to promote single-sex education at a time of declining enrollment and school closings.

Discriminating?

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, Dec. 17 — A pro-life group was banned from the Catholic Gonazaga University in Spokane, Wash. It sounds like a contradiction, especially to law student Ashley Horne.

Horne and a fellow law student decided to start the Pro-Life Law Caucus in the fall to support pro-life causes and a crisis-pregnancy center in the Spokane area. The club requested affiliation with the Student Bar Association, which, among other things, entitles it to money from student fees.

But the association refused to recognize the club, saying its policy to only allow Christians in leadership positions was discriminatory.

Interreligious

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY, Dec. 11 — John Borelli, former associate director of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs for the U.S. bishops' conference, has been named special assistant to the president for interreligious initiatives at the university.

Borelli has also been a consultor to the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. Among his duties, according to a press release, will be “to coordinate Georgetown's contributions to interreligious understanding.”