A Supplement to the Catholic Star Herald

March 18, 2016

Photo by Alan M. Dumoff

Father James King, chaplain, celebrates Mass at Stockton University in Galloway Township on March 4.

S2 — CATHOLIC STAR HERALD MARCH 18, 2016HIGHER EDUCATION

By Peter G. Sánchez

GLASSBORO — In front of RowanUniversity students here, 24-year-oldseminarian Ryan Meehan shared hisvocation story.

“Up until three years ago, my life wasgoing the wrong way. I was deeplyempty inside,” he said.

In discovering the Catholic faith, andthrough prayer, Meehan now finds him-self “at peace” in this moment, and in hissecond semester of College Seminary atSeton Hall University’s Saint Andrew’sHall in South Orange, N.J.

“I’m at peace, doing his will. I’mgrowing closer to the Lord and happy todo his will, rather than my own.”

Meehan, along with his seminaryhousemates Patrick Erdmann, 19; PeterGallagher, 21; and Eric Goonan, 23,met with students at Rowan’s CatholicCampus Ministry Center on March 2for dinner and a question-and-answerdiscussion on their desire to enterpriestly formation and serve theDiocese of Camden.

When he was asked what he wasmost looking forward to as a priest,Gallagher, currently completing his

fourth college year, gave the answer,“Accompanying people to anencounter with Christ.”

“To teach and preach the faith, andwalk with someone as they grow infaith,” he added.

When discerning what vocation Godis calling you to, be it married orpriestly or religious life, first year col-lege student Goonan urged students to“trust the Lord, and have an openwill.”

Rowan’s Catholic Campus Ministrygathers every Wednesday night duringthe school year for faith and fellowship.

This weekly occasion, along with otherevents, is consistent with the ministry’sgoal to “help students find a communi-ty where they can realize their faith anddraw closer to it, and encourage othersin their journey,” said Rowan juniorKasey O’Leary, president of the min-istry.

The seminarians’ visit, she said,helped the students see “what brought(the seminarians) to their vocations,and what is guiding them in their lives.We need to pray for them and theirvocation, and pray for others to realizetheir own calling.”

Seminarians share their stories with Rowan students

In September, Saint Joseph HighSchool in Hammonton will begin a newprogram, Pathway to College.

It has formed partnerships with theCollege of Saint Elizabeth, GeorgianCourt, as well as with Delaware ValleyUniversity to arrange guaranteedadmission and courses for collegecredit to qualified students at SaintJoseph.

“Our strong commitment to BishopSullivan’s Plan for Catholic Educationis reflected in this undertaking as we

encourage our students to continue theirpost-secondary education at Catholicinstitutions, and emphasize a strongrelationship with Christ in every aspectof their lives. We are also working withnon-Catholic universities as a part ofour Pathway to College initiative,” theschool said in a statement announcingthe initiative.”

Over the last five years, 98 percentof Saint Joseph seniors have attendedcolleges and universities after highschool. In 2015, 89 graduates were

offered over 8 million dollars in schol-arships.

In related news, Saint Joseph HighSchool is offering guaranteed admis-sion to graduates of Catholic elemen-tary schools who provide a letter of rec-ommendation from their principals andregister as freshmen for the 2016-17school year.

“We are committed to providing aChrist-centered environment whichempowers students to reach their fullestpotential in an intellectually challeng-

ing, academically excellent environ-ment,” the school said in a statement

To encourage students to continue inCatholic education, Saint Joseph HighSchool will grant all Catholic elemen-tary school graduates who register forthe 2016-17 academic year, a $1,000scholarship for grade nine, and $750scholarships for grades 10-12. Thesescholarships are dependent upon main-tenance of satisfactory grades andbehavior while attending Saint JosephHigh School.

Saint Joseph High School partners with colleges

Photo by Alan M. Dumoff

Eric Goonan, standing among fellow seminarians Patrick Erdmann, Ryan Meehan and Peter Gallagher, leads Rowan University’s Catholic Campus Ministry stu-dents in a blessing on March 2 in Glassboro. The four men spoke with youth about their vocation and finding God’s calling for them.

MARCH 18, 2016 CATHOLIC STAR HERALD — S3HIGHER EDUCATION

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Photographer’s life work to expose horrors of global human traffickingBy Sam LuceroCatholic News Service

DE PERE, Wis. — Lisa Kristine was 11when her aunt and uncle gave her anOlympus 35 mm camera. From a convert-ed darkroom in her home in California,she developed black-and-white film andprinted images of family and friends.

“They weren’t the typical ‘everybodysay cheese’ images,” said Kristine.Even then, her photos had depth andemotion. “They were definitely moreabout solitude and looking for the infin-ity in somebody.”

It is this creative, photographic eyeand a deep fascination with people thathas taken Kristine around the worldphotographing indigenous people inremote locations. It is also those twotraits that have launched a new missionin her work: humanitarian photographerwho captures images of modern slavery.

Kristine’s work to expose globalhuman trafficking led to her invitationat a ceremony Dec. 2, 2014, at theVatican. Held on the U.N. Day for theAbolition of Slavery, Kristine wit-nessed 12 religious leaders, includingPope Francis, sign a pledge to help endmodern slavery in the world by 2020.

On March 1, Kristine was guest lec-turer at St. Norbert College in De Pere.Her address, “The Faces of Modern-

Day Slavery,” was part of the Normanand Louis Miller Lecture in PublicUnderstanding series. A free photogra-phy exhibition, “Enslaved: A VisualStory of Modern-Day Slavery” alsowas unveiled at the Baer Gallery, locat-ed at the college’s Bush Art Center.

In an interview with The Compass,newspaper of the Diocese of Green

Bay, Kristine said her fascination withdifferent cultures launched a career inhumanitarian photography. She hastraveled to more than 100 countries insix continents capturing images of peo-ple from indigenous cultures.

“Initially it was to go out and learnfrom these people, who I felt had such arich history, to see what it was that

brought them meaning,” she said.“That’s always been a huge curiosity tome.”

Through her work, Kristine wasinvited to exhibit photographs at theVancouver Peace Summit in 2009. “Itwas there that I learned about humanslavery,” she said.

“I knew ... there was some traffick-ing, but then when I learned there are30-plus million people, I was so takenaback,” said Kristine. She began arelationship with Free the Slaves, anongovernmental organization basedin Washington. It led her to placessuch as India, Ghana and Nepal whereshe has photographed children,women and families who are modern-day slaves working as fishermen, goldminers, quarry laborers and prosti-tutes.

“That entire body of work is specifi-cally intended to raise awareness about(human slavery), to raise funding and tohelp groups eradicate it,” said Kristine.“People often ask me, ‘How can I help?I really want to go out there and volun-teer in the field.’ But it’s really not asimple thing to liberate people. I’m in itconstantly and I don’t have the where-with-all to do it. There are experts whoknow how to do it and I’m just aboutreally supporting them to do theirwork.”

CNS photo/Sam Lucero, The Compass

Photographer Lisa Kristine gives a presentation at St. Norbert College in De Pere,Wis., March 1, about her work photographing human trafficking around the world.

S4 — CATHOLIC STAR HERALD MARCH 18, 2016HIGHER EDUCATION

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The South Jersey Catholic MedicalAssociation is sponsoring a talk,“First Terri Schiavo, Next You,” atRowan University School ofOsteopathic Medicine, One MedicalCenter Drive, Stratford, on April 11,5:30-8 p.m.

The guest speaker will be BobbySchindler, brother of Terri Schiavo, andFounder of the Terri Schiavo Life andHope Network.

Terri Schiavo, who died in 2005, wasat the center of a lengthy legal battlethat resulted in a Florida court orderingher feeding tube removed.

She collapsed in her home in 1990and experienced respiratory and cardiacarrest. She fell into a coma and withinthree years was diagnosed as being in a“persistent vegetative state.”

Doctors appointed by the courts hadsaid she had no real consciousness orchance of recovery.

Her family fought with her husband,Michael Schiavo, for seven years overthe right to make medical decisions forher. They tried unsuccessfully to per-suade state and federal courts that theyshould have the right to care for her,

and, later, that her feeding tube shouldbe reinserted.

Under a court order, Schiavo’s feed-ing tube was removed on March 18,2005, based on Michael Schiavo’s testi-mony that his wife had told him shewould not want to be kept alive artifi-cially. Schiavo died two weeks later.

The family’s last appeal to the U.S.Supreme Court was rejected withoutcomment hours before she died at ahospice in Pinellas Park.

“I don’t know why Terri’s case madeso much news because, sadly, this kindof thing has been happening for years,”Schindler said in a workshop during aNational Right to Life Committee con-vention in Nashville in 2006.

“But if God wanted to use Terri toexpose this dangerous movement, thenfor that I will accept what happened toher,” he told convention participants.

“First Terri Schiavo, Next You,” willbe held in the school’s AcademicCenter, Auditorium (ground floor). Theevent is open to the public and free.Registration is not necessary, but RSVPrequested at lamprosm@rowan.edu.Guests are welcome.

‘First Terri Schiavo, Next You,’ at RowanUniversity School of Osteopathic Medicine

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EMMITSBURG, Md. (CNS) — SimonNewman, president of Mount St. Mary’sUniversity in Emmitsburg, resigned fromhis post Feb. 29 and the university’s boardof trustees named the dean of the businessschool to be acting president.

Newman faced mounting criticismover language he used to describestruggling freshmen and for the way hehandled the fallout.

The changes were announced by theuniversity in a news release.

John Coyne, chairman of the board oftrustees, said in the release that the boardwas grateful to Newman “for his manyaccomplishments over the past year,including strengthening the university’sfinances, developing a comprehensivestrategic plan for our future, and bring-ing many new ideas to campus that havebenefited the entire Mount community.”

Newman, a former financial executive,said he was “proud of what I have beenable to achieve in a relatively short timeparticularly in helping the university charta clear course toward a bright future.”

In mid-February the board of trusteesissued an apology to the university com-munity after a controversy erupted over adiscussion about student retention thatNewman had with some faculty members.In the aftermath, two faculty memberswere dismissed but quickly reinstated.

After Newman was installed duringthe summer, he made steps to addressareas of concern at the university.

In October, the university announcedchanges to employee health benefitsand cuts in retirement benefits.Newman also worked with faculty andstaff members to identify 20 to 25freshman students who were not likelyto succeed at the school, so that theycould be dismissed before they paid alot of tuition or incurred significant stu-dent debt.

Critics charged that the move alsowould improve the school’s postedretention rate, if the students were dis-missed before an important deadline forreporting enrollment statistics. Newmanfired two faculty members, since rein-stated, who had opposed his plan.

Last fall, when Newman announcedhis plans, The Mountain Echo studentnewspaper reported that Greg Murry,director of the university’s VeritasSymposium, was part of a small groupof faculty discussing the changes withNewman. According to Murry,Newman was reported as having saidduring the course of the conversation:“This is hard for you because you thinkof the students as cuddly bunnies, butyou can’t. You just have to drown thebunnies ... put a Glock to their heads.”

President of Mount St. Mary’s Universityresigns amid ongoing criticism

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MARCH 18, 2016 CATHOLIC STAR HERALD — S7HIGHER EDUCATION

By Michael M. Canaris

This week I was asked by a friend and colleague atMontclair State University to speak to a group ofundergraduates from various institutions interested inphilosophy, theology and religious studies at a recep-tion for the Mid-Atlantic Region of the AmericanAcademy of Religion in New Brunswick, near RutgersUniversity. The topic she wanted me to address is whyto pursue graduate studies in these disciplines todayand what are some related employment options insideand outside of academia for majors and specialists inthem.

It is true, I admitted, that while tenure-track teachingpositions with ample space for research and writing dostill exist (Deo gratias), a number of converging fac-tors today make them more and more scarce. Yet, onewould be hard pressed to argue that fluency in religionand the critical methodological tools honed in thesefields of study are not more necessary today than everbefore. A simple glance at a (more and more likelyonline) newspaper or television broadcast gives evi-dence of this fact. Deeply held religious convictionsand the shifting landscape of social, civic and ecclesiallife and practice in our world are in dire need of menand women who can speak knowledgeably about thepast, present and future of philosophical presupposi-tions and faith commitments.

Many people, including well-intentioned parents,often ask why students do not focus on more practicaland applicable job skills in higher education.Someone recently assured us that welders make morethan philosophers, after all. (Labor statistics say other-wise, in fact!)

Instead think about this — 47 percent of jobs thatexist today did not exist 20 years ago. That is not interms of employment numbers, but rather types ofjobs. My defense of studying liberal arts and humani-ties then often involves not trying to prepare students

for a job that may not currently yet exist, or one thatmay not look anything like what it does now by thetime they are looking to be hired, but rather touting thebenefits of teaching skills that prepare students tolearn how to read carefully and think critically, articu-late their conclusions interpersonally and on paper,and apply these tools to any field they eventuallychoose.

I often remind them that I sat where they are nownot all that long ago, and joke that none of them, whendiscussing their future with their parents, likely had tocall an active federal agent on a presidential protectiondetail to tell them they wanted to study theology as Idid as an undergraduate. There were, to be sure, someexpletives about future career planning not fit for printin the Star Herald on the other side of that phone call.But I also assure them that “all shall be well, and allshall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well,” asJulian of Norwich insists.

The intersection of philosophy, theology and clas-sics, with classroom and ministerial settings is obvi-ously very natural. But it is clear that other professionsalso offer many possibilities that draw upon theseskillsets: journalism, politics, economics, sociology,psychology, ecological studies, law, civil engineering,urban planning and health sciences immediately cometo mind.

For instance, in addition to degrees focused morestrictly on pastoral and academic study, my graduatedepartment at Loyola offers curricula focusing on dig-ital media and storytelling in ministry, church manage-ment and human resources, social work and immigra-tion studies, health care mission and leadership. Addto this: spiritually-integrated psychotherapy, counsel-ing, spiritual direction, a dynamic bilingual parishleadership program, an inspirational new hire inAfrican American Catholic experience and thought,and the only graduate degree in social justice in thenation, focused largely on community organizing,advocacy, and NGO/charitable work.

We are undoubtedly at a time of seismic changes indemographics and religious practice in an ever-shrink-ing and globalized world. Think: the activist Nuns onthe Bus meet the “nones” at the polls. There are incred-ible challenges, but also perennial relevancy in areastranscending instrumental perspectives about labor andthe human person. The meta-questions in life willnever be outgrown, outdated or deleted from humani-ty’s collective mental database. The key to success insuch an environment is, I argue, a microscopic atten-tion to detail paired with a telescopic openness to widervistas of the ever-receding horizons of transcendence.

I ended my short presentation by reminding the stu-dents at their first taste of an academic conference, asI always do with my own at orientation, that anyonewho claims not to be thinking, “I’m a fraud; I don’tbelong here; Everyone is smarter than I am;Someone’s going to find me out and expose me” iseither self-delusional, or more likely, overtly lying.The key to wisdom and authentic professional and per-sonal development which overcomes such paralysis isowning such a perspective and not being owned by it.Useless theology taught me that.

Collingswood native Michael M. Canaris, Ph.D.,teaches at Loyola University, Chicago.

Catholic college leaders urged to promote school charismsBy Carol ZimmermannCatholic News Service

WASHINGTON — The best way for Catholic col-leges to move forward is to look back, said speakers atthe annual meeting of the Association of CatholicColleges and Universities.

They were not stressing the need to reminisce butinstead emphasizing the importance of tapping into thecharisms particular to the orders that founded manyCatholic colleges and universities and making surethey are understood and embraced by school commu-nities.

“Our charisms should be revered as much as possi-ble,” said Mercy Sister Susan Sanders, founding direc-tor of the Center for Religion and Public Discourse atSt. Xavier University in Chicago.

Sister Susan, a member of the leadership team of theMercy Sisters’ Midwest Community, gave the closingaddress Feb. 1 at the ACCU meeting in Washingtonattended by Catholic college presidents and leadersfrom around the country.

Speaking at a podium in front of pictures of the menand women religious who founded many of the reli-gious congregations that sponsor Catholic collegesnationwide, the Mercy sister emphasized that charismsof each school set them apart and provide a distinctivecampus culture.

But they are also meant to do more, she said, notingthat these specific gifts, as she called them, can helpstudents understand how faith is lived out concretelyand also can move beyond campuses, particularly inservice work around the world.

Charisms stem from the teachings of the orders’founders and reflect what those in that order strive todo in their ministry. For example, a charism of theVincentians, an order founded by St. Vincent de Paul,emphasizes humble service to others, especially thepoor, so this same spirit is likely to be emphasized atVincentian schools such as DePaul University inChicago or St. John’s University in New York.

Sister Susan said the late Chicago Cardinal Joseph L.Bernardin described charisms as fundamental to reli-gious life and touchstones to help them in their ministry.

As she sees it, they are not stagnant or from anotherage and time but instead are mobile and can providemodern responses to cultural issues on immigrationand race for example.

They also provide something that unchurched stu-dents, students of different faiths or even school pro-fessors can more readily grasp.

Bishop George V. Murry of Youngstown, Ohio, amember of the education committee of the U.S.Conference of Catholic Bishops, addressed the col-lege leaders after Sister Susan and stressed thatschools’ charisms run the risk of “remaining on cam-pus” if students are not encouraged to move them for-ward.

Love of faith is the first thing that schools pass onwhen they pass on a charism, said Bishop Murry, whogrew up in the Diocese of Camden and graduated fromCamden Catholic High School.

He noted that the charisms assure the identity of aninstitution, making people “exhibit a pride in being apart of Benedictine tradition or an Ursuline tradition ora Jesuit tradition, but it can’t stop there,” he warned.

To move the essence of these charisms forward, thebishop said schools need to teach and explore thesegifts but they also have to live them out.

“Charisms have to be shared,” he said, by teachingand exploring them, “but most importantly they mustbe lived, otherwise they become museum pieces thatremain on the shelf and never really affect people’slives.”

Follow Zimmermann on Twitter: @carolmaczim.

Forty-seven percentof jobs that exist

today did not exist20 years ago.

“Charisms haveto be shared.”

— Bishop George V. Murry

In defense of timeless studies in a changing world

By Carol ZimmermannCatholic News Service

WASHINGTON — Many Catholiccolleges seem to value interfaith workand are willing to keep learning how todo this more successfully.

This is true for big universities, likeDePaul in Chicago with an enrollmentof nearly 24,000, and small campuses,like Alvernia in Reading, Pennsylvania,with about 2,400 students, even if theirapproach is different.

“It’s in our DNA to be open to otherreligions,” said Mark Laboe, associatevice president of university ministry atDePaul, who said the university hasMuslim and Jewish chaplains and pro-vides sacred spaces for prayer for manyfaiths.

“We’ve done something, but we havelong way to go,” he said Jan. 29 duringa conference sponsored by theInterfaith Youth Core in conjunctionwith the Association of CatholicColleges and Universities’ meeting inWashington. The Interfaith Youth Coreis a Chicago-based organization thatworks with college campuses on reli-gious diversity issues.

On the first day of the gathering, col-lege leaders shared what has worked ontheir campuses: primarily service proj-ects involving students from many dif-ferent faiths and informative sessionsso students can learn more about otherreligions and break down stereotypesthey might have.

Laboe noted that the campus hasmany students from different faiths and

also, an even bigger challenge — therise of religiously unidentified students.

“We’re starting at different places”with these students, he noted.

Sister Carol Ziegler, a Sister of NotreDame and chief mission officer andexecutive director of the AbrahamicCenter at Notre Dame College in SouthEuclid, Ohio, said the key to gettinginterfaith efforts off the ground is togain allies. You need the support of theadministration, faculty and local part-ners, she said.

And Colleen Kuhl, director of cam-pus ministry at Loras College inDubuque, Iowa, said any interfaithefforts have to go beyond the campus.At Loras, she said the students learnabout other faiths primarily throughservice projects.

“Like others, we have institutionalcommitment to service,” she said, not-ing that “it is nothing new to any of us:the idea of helping people at the mar-gins is common to all faiths.”

Jay Worrall director of the HolleranCenter for Community Engagement atAlvernia University in Reading said theinterfaith efforts at his campus are differentthan at other colleges because the empha-sis is not on accommodating or workingwith students of other faiths, since most ofthe students on campus are Catholic.

Instead, the challenge is to helpCatholic students understand about dif-ferent faiths, which happens throughlectures, service work and participationin a community-run interfaith program.

“We have a lot going on trying tomake connections,” he said.

S8 — CATHOLIC STAR HERALD MARCH 18, 2016HIGHER EDUCATION

The American Society forMicrobiology has published a paperthat was co-authored by Katrina Terry,a Neumann University biology majorfrom Laurel Springs.

The article provides notice to the sci-entific community that the mycobacte-riophage genome called Cabrinians hasbeen sequenced. It discusses the meth-ods and protocols used to assemble thesequence, as well as initial findingsabout the functions of its genes.Mycobacteriophages are viruses thatcan infect Mycobacterium tuberculosis(TB).

In annotating the Cabrinians genesequence, Terry and her fellowresearchers had to make judgment callsabout the locations of the start and stopsites for each gene in the sequence andtheir functions. They referenced multi-ple databases to verify their judgmentcalls. To annotate a genome 56,669base-pairs long takes hundreds ofhours. In order to be published, theirwork also passed inspection by theannotation quality control team at theHoward Hughes Medical InstituteScience Education Alliance PhageHunters Advancing Genomics andEvolutionary Science (HHMI SEA-PHAGES) program.

“This latest article adds to Katrina’sdeveloping body of published researchthat establishes her professional identityas a productive researcher,” explainedElizabeth Moy, executive director of theSoutheastern Pennsylvania Consortiumfor Higher Education (SEPCHE). “Fewstudents have the opportunity to publishas an undergraduate; Katrina’s contin-ued productivity will distinguish her asa prospective candidate for graduateschool.”

The research began with a 2014 pilotcourse, made possible by SEPCHE.Members of the organization’s STEM

faculty workgroup developed a sum-mer undergraduate research experi-ence and nominated students for theclass.

“This project has enabled Katrina andher collaborators to contribute newknowledge to the field of genomics andbioinformatics,” said David Dunbar,the Cabrini College professor who

supervised the research. “Their skillacquisition and their research discover-ies are increasingly important to the sci-entific community, where interest indeveloping targeted medical and envi-ronmental treatments is growing expo-nentially.”

As for the practical applications ofknowing more about viruses that infect

bacteria, there may be therapeuticpotential for treating humans. Researchwith phages to treat human bacterialdiseases was abandoned decades agowith the advent of antibiotics. With therecent rise of drug-resistant bacteria,however, phages are receiving morescientific attention for possible medicaluses.

Katrina Terry, left, and her research partner, Haley Broomell (from Newfield), began the research during a summer program in 2014.

Catholic colleges keep learning about interfaith efforts

Laurel Springs student research is published by Microbiology Society