Catholic Identity

WESTERN CATHOLIC REPORTER, July 19 — Canada's bishops are giving the nation's Catholic colleges and universities another year — to May 1, 2006 — before the bishops’ ordinances for the implementation of Ex Corde Ecclesiae, Pope John Paul II's 1990 apostolic constitution governing Catholic higher education, go into effect.

The ordinances, approved by the Vatican last year, uphold academic freedom and scholarly excellence.

They also stress the recruitment of faculty of “exemplary character” so as to appoint “teachers who are outstanding in their integrity of doctrine and probity of life.”

Land Swap

BILLINGS GAZETTE, July 14 — Cheyenne, Wyo., Bishop David Ricken and Gov. Dave Freudenthal jointly announced a donation of land and a land swap that would give the proposed Wyoming Catholic College one of the nation's largest campuses.

The donated land consists of Broken Anvil Ranch, a gift of Francie Mortenson-Perkins, some of which the Diocese of Cheyenne would like to swap for state land, a step that might be opposed by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The total area leased and owned by Wyoming Catholic College in and around Lander would be 8,575 acres, or more than 13 square miles.

Love of School

CLARION HERALD, July 25 — The new U.S. ambassador to Spain credited Holy Cross School in New Orleans, the Holy Cross brothers and the teachers there for putting him on a path to success, reported the newspaper of the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

Part of a family that fled Cuba following the country's takeover by Fidel Castro, Eduardo Aguirre Jr., arrived in the United States ahead of his parents and was taken in as a boarder at Holy Cross, which became “a vital ray of sunshine during what was a bad time in my life,” said Aguirre.

“It was a huge act of generosity on the part of the school, both in financial assistance and caring ways,” said Aguirre, who continues to support Holy Cross, because “it was there that I got my first understanding of the generosity of America.”

NFL Streak

GREEN BAY GAZETTE, July 15 — The Green Bay Packers have begun their 48th consecutive summer training camp at St. Norbert College, the longest such relationship in the NFL.

St. Norbert serves as the site where the players eat, sleep and relax while actually training at legendary Lambeau Field.

It was decided last year that the players would eat their lunch at Lambeau to save time. This year, the players voted to return to St. Norbert for lunch each day, offering an indication of why the team's relationship with the college is so enduring.

“We kind of spoil them a little bit,” a campus chef said.

Focus Expands

FELLOWSHIP OF CATHOLIC UNIVERISTY STUDENTS, July 12 — The fellowship, known by the acronym FOCUS, will expand to four additional universities this fall.

The new campuses include the U.S. Naval Academy (Annapolis, Md.), Bradley University (Peoria, Ill.), Western Illinois University (Macomb, Ill.) and the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Focus trains recent college graduates and sends them out in teams of four per campus to work with students through formal programs and personal discipleship to help them build virtue and habits of prayer.