True Reform

NEWSDAY, Oct. 12 — Some Catholic academics have groused about Pope John Paul II's apostolic constitution on Catholic universities, Ex Corde Ecclesiae (From the Heart of the Church). But far from a “crackdown,” the 1990 document is only the beginning of a much-needed reform in the field, according to some Catholics interviewed for a story on the Pope's 25th anniversary in the Long Island daily.

“The issue is a lack of formation and the dissent that has been allowed to be institutionalized” within Catholic education, says Joseph Varacalli, a sociologist who directs Nassau Community College's Center for Catholic Studies. If anything, say these Catholics, the Holy Father is too lenient toward “internal dissent.”

BC Football

CHRONICLE.COM, Oct. 13 — The Jesuits' Boston College has agreed to become the Atlantic Coast Conference's 12th member, which will allow the conference to hold a lucrative championship football game.

Boston College has now become the third Big East defector to the conference this year following switches by the University of Miami and Virginia Tech earlier this year.

Four universities have vowed to reintroduce a lawsuit against the conference for damages they allege were caused by the conference's efforts to woo teams from the Big East Conference. An earlier suit had met technical hurdles.

Arm's Length

THE JOURNAL NEWS, Oct. 12 —The lay organization Voice of the Faithful, founded in the midst of the clerical sex abuse scandal of 2002, will hold its “second major gathering” at New York's Fordham University, reports the New York-area daily.

“The fact that Fordham, a Jesuit university, was willing to host the conference is seen by many involved as a gentle sign of support,” says the newspaper.

But Fordham “does not want to be too closely associated with Voice of the Faithful,” says the Journal News in a reference to a criticism of the organization that it is closely aligned with dissenting forces in the Church.

Former Maryknoll priest Eugene Kennedy will be a featured speaker at the Fordham event.

“This arrangement is a conference services agreement, nothing more,” the university said in a statement.

Latin Growth

NOTRE DAME UNIVERSITY, Oct. 5 — A Brazilian sociologist told a conference at Notre Dame University that new Catholic movements such as Opus Dei, charismatic renewal and Focolare are growing in Latin America.

Movements such as the socially oriented base communities continue to grow, said Luiz Gomez de Souza, though at a slower pace and with less prominence.

The workshop on contemporary Latin American Catholicism was sponsored by the U.S. bishops' Secretariat for the Church in Latin America and focused heavily on the inroads of Protestant sects in Latin America.

Record Setter

FAIRFIELD UNIVERSITY, Oct. 3 — Jesuit Father Aloysius Kelley will step down at the end of the current academic year as president of Connecticut's Fairfield University, a post he has held for the past 25 years.

His tenure makes him the longest-serving president in Fairfield's history and the longest-serving president of the nation's 28 Jesuit colleges and universities. He has presided over the graduation of 64% of Fairfield's 38,000 alumni.