Fr. Ronald Sams, S.J., “The Fact He Is A Jesuit Makes It A Little More Exciting,”

Fr. Ronald Sams, S.J.

“I would say there haven’t been many bigger surprises for me,” said the Rev. Ronald W. Sams, pastor of St. Michael Church and superior of a group of eight Jesuit priests who live together near the downtown church. “He sounds like a very pastoral, good man. He’s one of our family. We’re very happy with the choice.” The Jesuits also operate two venerable local institutions, Canisius High School and Canisius College. “The fact he is a Jesuit makes it a little more exciting,” said Kenmore resident and Canisius College alumna Meghan Burke, who is currently doing graduate studies at Catholic University. Burke has long appreciated the Jesuit order’s intense focus on education and service. “It emphasizes an aspect of Catholicism that I think is quite admirable,” she said.

Link (here) to Buffalo News

Follow The Money That Supports Abortion

Three laymen recently named presidents of Jesuit universities have contributed to candidates who favor legalized abortion, according to federal election records. David W. Burcham, the new president of Loyola Marymount University, donated $500 to the presidential campaign of John Edwards in 2003 and $250 to the campaign of Rep. Maxine Waters in 2009. John Hurley, the new president of Canisius College, has donated $4,500 to the campaign of Rep. Brian Higgins since 2004. Thayne McCulloh, the new president of Gonzaga University, donated $1,500 to Obama for America and the Obama Victory Fund in 2008. 

Link (here) to the original story at Catholic Culture.

Canisius College And Planned Parenthood

Canisius College, a Jesuit college in Buffalo has helped “maximize [the] personal and company performance” of Planned Parenthood of Buffalo and Erie County, according to the college’s website. Planned Parenthood has taken part in Canisius College’s management development program (MDP), which offers participants “powerful tools and techniques to maximize personal and company performance.” Planned Parenthood is also a past participant in Canisius College’s Fundamentals of Fundraising course.

Blogger Note: All Links or mentions of Planned Parenthood have been removed from Canisius College's website.

Link (here) to the article at Catholic Culture.

Jesuits In Old Main

It used to be when you walked along the first-floor corridor of Old Main, portraits of the 22 ex-presidents of Canisius College followed you with their gaze. They were all Jesuits, the early ones German, later Irish, Italian and Polish-Americans. Their stern visages reminded us of the “Magis”—the call to go above and beyond.

When Old Main was renovated at the turn of the 21st century, the Jesuit presidents were unceremoniously moved, and now hang cramped, shoulder- to-shoulder, in the north end of the corridor where no one ever goes. Father Vincent Cooke’s likeness will soon join them to keep lonely exile there.

John Hurley has been named president of Canisius by the trustees, and the community is rightly pleased. But Hurley is a layman, and with his accession to the presidency, Buffalo’s two major Jesuit institutions — Canisius High School and Canisius College –find themselves with not one Jesuit in a top administrative post. People in Buffalo and Western New York need to know that this situation could lead to an exodus of the remaining members of the Society of Jesus from our area.

The Jesuit order has suffered a substantial decrease in vocations, and is facing the real possibility of not being able to keep a presence in all its historical ministries and institutions. There are 28 colleges and universities and 49 secondary schools vying for a declining number of Jesuits to fill administrative and faculty positions. It seems almost inevitable that since Buffalo has not been able to attract and keep Jesuit administrators, that the other Jesuits here will gravitate toward places where their order is still in control.

Link (here) to the full opinion piece by Michael J. Gent in the Buffalo News

New Canisus College President Is Not A Jesuit

John J. Hurley, a onetime downtown attorney who returned a dozen years ago to his alma mater as a top administrator, was named today as the first lay president of Canisius College.

He succeeds the Rev. Vincent M. Cooke, who will retire after 17 years as head of the college founded by the Jesuit order in 1870.

The board of trustees selected Hurley as the college's 24th president at a meeting Monday and the decision was announced this morning at the Montante Cultural Center on campus.

"My task in the months and years ahead is to put this entire campus community on the same page and to go out and get the job done," Hurley, 53, said at the well attended news conference, before quoting a line from the movie "Apollo 13": "Failure is not an option."

Link (here)

Canisius College Is Poised To Have Its First Lay President.

Three finalists — none of them clergy — have been selected by the school’s search committee as candidates to replace Canisius College President Rev. Vincent M. Cooke, who will retire from the Catholic college after this academic year. The college is already well acquainted with one of the finalists: John J. Hurley, who is a member of Cooke’s cabinet, serving as executive vice president and vice president for college relations at Canisius. The two others are Steven R. Di- Salvo, who has a background in academia and philanthropic advisement, and Guiyou Huang, dean of Biscayne College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at St. Thomas University, a private Catholic college in Miami Gardens, Fla.

The three were narrowed from a field of 55 prospects, Canisius officials said Thursday.

Link (here)