Mass Marks Beginning

NAPLES DAILY NEWS (Florida), March 26 — Officials at Ave Maria University near Naples, Fla., celebrated Mass on March 25, the feast of the Annunciation, at the site of the school's future 150-foot-tall church.

Jesuit Father Joseph Fessio led about 200 people through several fields to the spot where the church will stand. About 400 people participated in the Mass, some huddled under a tent.

The future church, made of glass, aluminum and steel, will seat 3,300 and display a 60-foot red-tinted glass cross with a 40-foot body of Jesus. The first phase of the project will begin in the fall or winter, the paper reported, and cover 960 acres. (See “The St. Patrick's of South Florida?” on this page.)

Fund Focus?

INDEPENDENT RECORD (Montana), March 25 — Students, faculty and staff at Carroll College in Helena, Mont., are debating whether or not to fund the Fellowship of Catholic University Students on campus.

Budget constraints have forced changes to the campus' ministry efforts, according to chaplain and campus minister Father Bob Turner.

At a March 25 meeting, some students and faculty complained Focus was “not open to the views of non-Catholics and was insensitive to Catholics who were struggling to understand their faith,” the paper reported.

Other students and faculty, however, told of how they were positively affected by Focus.

Williams at Georgetown

THE GEORGETOWN HOYA, March 30 — Dr. Rowen Williams, the Anglican archbishop of Canterbury, spoke at Jesuit-run Georgetown University March 29.

His speech was the opening address to the Building Bridges seminar, a three-day meeting of Muslim and Christian scholars. The address focused on how differences in perceptions of religion could help foster dialogue between faiths, the school newspaper reported.

Regarding the inter faith split in the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches, Williams said: “I hope and pray for rein-tegration someday.”

Pope Challenges Youth

ASSOCIATED PRESS WORLDSTREAM, April 1 — Pope John Paul II challenged university students to make a “radical” choice for God in an April 1 address in St. Peter's Square.

“Certainly, love the world and do good, because the world is made by man. But at one point in life, you have to make a radical choice,” John Paul said. “Without denying anything that is an expression of the beauty of God or the talents you have received from him, you must know to side with Christ.”

Tens of thousands of youth gathered for music and prayer ahead of the April 4 World Youth Day ceremony.

New Trustees

FRANCISCAN UNIVERSITY, March 30 — Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, has announced the addition of religious and lay members to its board of trustees.

Third Order Regular Franciscan Father Christian Oravec, Patricia Lynch, Diane Brown and Dr. Charles Bentz were appointed March 30.

Father Oravec has been president of St. Francis University in Loretto, Pa., for 27 years. Lynch is currently on four other boards, including St. John Vianney Seminary in Denver. Brown is founder of the Marian Servants of the Divine Providence, a Florida-based lay association. Bentz is co-founder and vice president of Physicians for Compassionate Care, which seeks to repeal assisted-suicide laws.