2009

• Approximately 300 priests, seminarians and students of theology gathered at the Pryzybla Center Oct. 6 and 7 to celebrate the priesthood in a one-of-a kind academic and pastoral symposium. The event, held during the Year for Priests as declared by Pope Benedict XVI, was opened by CUA's president, Very Rev. David M. O'Connell, C.M., who said he hoped the lectures and discussions would "renew in our mind and hearts our truest identity as priests and Catholics and our deepest appreciation for the gift of the priesthood."
  
  
• On Aug. 27, the Class of 2013 arrived on campus for Orientation and to move into residence halls. Students attended four days of educational sessions and social activities with their new classmates. Parents also spent a couple of days helping students settle in and learning more about the university.
  
  
• Murry Sidlin, dean of the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music, and 120 singers, including about 85 CUA students, faculty and alumni, performed June 30 in a hall in Terezin, a small town about 45 miles northeast of Prague in what is now the Czech Republic. Sidlin led a performance of his award-winning concert/drama "Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín" on the final day of the international Conference on Holocaust-Era Assets, which was held in Prague.
  
  
• Approximately 1,375 students received bachelor's, master's or doctoral degrees at the university's 120th annual Commencement, held May 16 on campus. New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly delivered the main address and received an honorary doctorate. Also receiving an honorary degree was Professor Karol Musiol, rector of the Jagiellonian University in Cracow, Poland, which has had a longstanding academic partnership with CUA's Columbus School of Law. Ronan Tynan, world-renowned tenor and inspirational speaker, was awarded the James Cardinal Gibbons Medal, the Alumni Association's highest honor.
  
  
• Student volunteers worked in the rain on May 4 for two hours to load more than 7,000 books and 20 computers that were collected, catalogued and packed by Catholic University students to be shipped in a 20-by-8-by-8-foot container to the Brothers of Charity in Kigoma, Tanzania, to build a university-level library.
  
  
• On Feb. 25 at a ceremony at the Edward M. Crough Center for Architectural Studies, leaders from The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and The Catholic University of America announced a student design competition for conceptual proposals for the mosaic art work in the great dome of the Basilica. Speakers included Archbishop Donald Wuerl, CUA chancellor; Provost James Brennan; Monsignor Walter Rossi; and Dean Randall Ott.
  
  
• Catholic University honored longtime athletic equipment manager Franny Murray on Jan. 31 with a ceremony naming the basketball court in the Raymond A. DuFour Center after him. At a dinner that evening, more than 300 guests paid tribute to Murray and watched him receive the university's highest honor – the President's Medal – from Father David M. O'Connell, university president.
  
  
• Nearly 400 Catholic University students joined the March for Life in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2009. Very Rev. David M. O'Connell, C.M., university president, offered a prayer before the group set out amid frigid temperatures. Father O'Connell and Rev. Robert Schlageter, O.M.F. Conv., better known on campus as Father Bob, led the group on the walk from the Washington Monument to the steps of the U.S. Capitol. Some students sported homemade T-shirts and posters for the march.
  
  

2008

• Faculty and staff of The Catholic University of America celebrated the upcoming Christmas holiday on Dec. 18, 2008, with the annual Advent/Christmas Mass in CUA's Caldwell Hall Chapel. Following the Mass, Very Rev. David M. O'Connell, C.M., university president, hosted a university-wide Christmas party in the Edward J. Pryzbyla University Center.
  
  
• Very Rev. David M. O’Connell, C.M., university president, blessed and dedicated the newly constructed Opus Hall on Monday, Dec. 15. Father O'Connell was joined in a ribbon-cutting ceremony by members of CUA's Board of Trustees, including Most Rev. William E. Lori, bishop of Bridgeport, chairman of the board of trustees and alumnus of CUA; and Neil J. Rauenhorst, B.S. Arch. 1976, trustee and donor. The first residents will move into the hall after Christmas break.
  
  
• Opus Hall will welcome its first residents in January 2009 as students move in for the spring semester. The energy-efficient seven-story building will house about 400 students. Students in Opus Hall will live in suites consisting of three single rooms and one double room, all joined to a shared living room and bathroom. Each floor boasts an expansive kitchen and common area. Check out the photos below to see the evolution of Opus Hall since the groundbreaking in March 2007.
  
  
• On the seventh anniversary of 9/11, several hundred CUA students gathered on the front lawn of the Edward J. Pryzbyla University Center for a candlelight vigil and memorial service honoring victims of the terrorist attacks. Participants were invited to say the name of a loved one who was killed in the attack as they lit their candles. Earlier in the day, the names of all 2,974 victims were read aloud before a field of small American flags commemorating those who died. The memorial service was student-inspired and directed.
  
  
• On Sept. 10, approximately 1,000 people gathered in the Great Upper Church of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception for Catholic University's annual Freshman Convocation. As part of the convocation, Michael Mack, director of the University Honors Program and associate professor of English, delivered an address titled "Why Read Shakespeare?"
  
  
• On Aug. 28, more than 2,000 people gathered in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception to celebrate the opening of the new academic year with Mass celebrated by Washington Archbishop Donald Wuerl. Father David O'Connell, university president, delivered the homily. Several CUA professors received the canonical mission from Archbishop Wuerl. Two longtime CUA administrators – Frank Persico and Craig Parker – received papal honors (the Benemerenti Medal).
  
  
• On Aug. 21, more than 900 freshmen, CUA's largest incoming class ever, arrived on campus for Orientation and to move into residence halls. Students attended four days of educational sessions and mixers with fellow newcomers. Parents also spent a couple of days helping students settle in and learning about their children's new home.
  
  
• A record number of nearly 45 Catholic University students spent two weeks early this summer on mission trips to Belize, Honduras, Jamaica and Tanzania, where they tutored children, helped with construction projects and lived and prayed in community with those they served. Rev. Robert Schlageter, O.F.M. Conv., university chaplain and Campus Ministry director who went with six students to Kigoma, Tanzania, says that "for many of our students the trips are indeed life-changing experiences."
  
  
• More than 280 law school graduates received degrees at the 119th Annual Commencement of The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law on May 23. The ceremony was held at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. delivered the commencement address. Alito received a Doctor of Laws honorary degree.
  
  
• More than 800 graduates received bachelor's, master's or doctoral degrees at the university's 119th Annual Commencement, held May 17 on the east steps of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Knights of Columbus Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson and his wife, Dorian, delivered the main commencement address. Each received a Doctor of Theology honorary degree.
  
  
• The 19th American Cardinals Dinner, an annual black-tie fundraiser to benefit CUA scholarships, was held April 25 at the Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel in Boston. Six of America's Catholic cardinals attended the gala, which raised approximately $1.5 million.
  
  
• During his historic visit to the United States, the Holy Father was greeted on campus by thousands of CUA students, faculty, staff and alumni on April 16 and 17. They gathered on campus to welcome Pope Benedict XVI on April 16 as the Pontiff arrived at the adjacent Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, and then again on April 17 when he delivered a speech to 400 Catholic educators in the Edward J. Pryzbyla University Center.
  
  
• Catholic University celebrated the Easter Vigil Mass on Saturday, March 22, in St. Vincent’s Chapel. As has been the tradition of the Church for more than a millennium, at the Easter Vigil the CUA community welcomes new members into its Catholic family through baptism, confirmation and first communion, and fully initiates with first communion and confirmation those members who have already been baptized. This year, CUA baptized four new Catholic members and fully initiated 10 others.
  
  
• On Saturday, March 1, the first day of spring break, about 100 Catholic University students took part in the Sixth European Day for University Students with Pope Benedict XVI presiding via satellite from Vatican City. CUA was the only site in the United States chosen to take part in this event.
  
  
• More than 350 Catholic University students joined the March for Life in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2008.
  
  
• Approximately 130 CUA students, faculty, staff and alumni took part in the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service on Monday, Jan. 21, 2008. Groups from CUA worked at three Washington, D.C., public schools. Members of CUA’s football team painted sports-related murals at Roosevelt Senior High School.
  
  

2007

• Faculty and staff of The Catholic University of America gathered to initiate the university’s Christmas recess on Dec. 20, 2007, beginning with a special Advent/Christmas Mass held in CUA’s Caldwell Hall Chapel and followed by a celebration hosted by Very Rev. David M. O’Connell, C.M., university president, in the Edward J. Pryzbyla University Center. At the Mass, Rev. Robert Schlageter, O.F.M. Conv., chaplain and director of the Office of Campus Ministry, was presented with the Benemerenti Medal, a papal honor bestowed to him by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI.
  
  
• The Catholic University of America began the 2007 Christmas season with its annual Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony held for the first time in the Edward J. Pryzbyla University Center on Dec. 7. Later that evening, the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music presented the 19th Annual Christmas Concert for Charity at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
  
  
• On Nov. 15, Philip A. Stevens (BCE '58), president of the Senators Club Alumni, presented a scholarship to Alex Bautz, a junior architecture and civil engineering major, at a lunch held at the Edward J. Pryzbyla University Center. CUA president, Very Rev. David M. O'Connell, C.M., spoke at the gathering, as did Julie Englund, vice president for finance and administration, treasurer.
  
  
• Ingrid Merkel, longtime director of the University Honors Program, was honored at a Nov. 15 dinner at the May Gallery of the John K. Mullen of Denver Memorial Library. CUA Provost James Brennan presented Merkel with a book of tributes written by her former students, some of whom were in attendance. L.R. Poos, dean of the School of Art and Sciences, delivered a speech praising Merkel, who is retiring next year after working at the university for more than 40 years.
  
  
• Nine Catholic University student ministers and CUA Provost James Brennan presented a check for more than $5,000 to the St. Anthony Catholic School in nearby Brookland on Nov. 14. The money, which will go toward the school's scholarship fund, was raised at the annual Red and Black HoCo Charity Ball organized by CUA's student ministers on Oct. 19 during Homecoming Weekend.
  
  
• The $1 million humanitarian Opus Prize was awarded to Brother Constant Goetschalckx, F.C., founder and director of AHADI International Institute in Tanzania, at a dinner at the Edward J. Pryzbyla University Center on Nov. 8. Half the 360 attendees were students. Rev. John Adams, president of SOME (So Others Might Eat) and the Homeless People's Federation Philippines, represented by its executive director, Rev. Norberto Carcellar, C.M., were each honored with $100,000 awards for their organizations. The dinner was preceded by a Mass at which the principal celebrant was Very Rev. David M. O’Connell, C.M., university president.
  
  
• CUA hosted several events leading up to the awarding of the $1 million Opus Prize on Nov. 8. On Nov. 6, the three Opus Prize finalists spoke about their humanitarian work to an audience of 300 during a panel discussion at the Edward J. Pryzbyla University Center. Opus Prize winner Brother Constant Goetschalckx, F.C., delivered a reflection to 125 students at a House Mass that night. Rev. Norberto Carcellar, C.M., executive director of the Homeless People's Federation Philippines (an Opus Prize finalist), and his colleagues met with members of the CUA Filipino student organization FOCUS for lunch on Nov. 7 and spoke at the Columbus School of Law on Nov. 8. Also on Nov. 8, the finalists joined CUA students in serving breakfast to the homeless at SOME (So Others Might Eat), where a press conference was subsequently held to introduce the winner.
  
  
• Father David M. O'Connell, C.M., university president, welcomed CUA's largest ever incoming class at the annual freshman convocation on Sept. 12 in the Upper Church of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Provost James Brennan delivered the main address. After the convocation, students were treated to dinner in the Edward J. Pryzbyla University Center and a viewing of the CUA production "In Our Own Voices."
  
  
• The annual fall faculty luncheon was held Sept. 6 in the Edward J. Pryzbyla University Center. University President Very Rev. David O'Connell and Provost James Brennan made introductory remarks and academic deans introduced more than 30 new faculty members.
  
  
• Students, faculty and staff attended the annual university Mass of the Holy Spirit celebrated by Most Rev. Donald Wuerl, archbishop of Washington and chancellor of CUA, at the Crypt Church of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on Aug. 30. Earlier that day, Archbishop Wuerl presented a lecture to theology students. Following the Mass the CUA community relaxed at a picnic on the lawn of the Edward J. Pryzbyla University Center.
  
  
• On Aug. 23, nearly 900 freshmen from 38 states and 14 countries arrived at CUA for orientation and to move into residence halls. Students attended four days of educational sessions and mixers with fellow newcomers. Parents also spent a couple of days hauling move-in boxes and learning about their children's new home.
  
  
• More than 900 graduates received bachelor's, master's or doctoral degrees at the university's 118th Annual Commencement, held May 12 on the steps of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. White House Press Secretary Tony Snow gave the commencement address, and honorary doctoral degrees were presented to both Snow and former Washington, D.C., Mayor Anthony Williams.
  
  
• The 18th American Cardinals Dinner, an annual black-tie fundraiser to benefit CUA scholarships, was held April 27 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Las Vegas. Five of America’s Catholic cardinals and about 500 guests attended the gala, which raised $1.2 million.
  
  
• From April 16 to 20, 2007, The Catholic University of America community mourned the victims of the killing spree on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Students, faculty and staff offered their prayers and donations and displayed the Hokie colors as a sign of solidarity.
  
  
• Several dozen students enrolled in CUA's "Poetry and Rock" course attended an invitation-only performance by The Allman Brothers Band at New York City's Beacon Theatre on March 20. Following the concert, band members Warren Haynes and Butch Trucks answered questions about their song writing process with the students. The course professor, Ernest Suarez, presented the band with a certificate of appreciation, signed by Very Rev. David M. O'Connell, C.M., president of the university, for the musicians' continued participation in the course over the last decade.
  
  
• Catholic University held a ceremonial groundbreaking March 12 for Opus Hall, a state-of-the-art residential facility that is slated for completion by 2009. The event was attended by university administrators, CUA trustees, D.C. government officials and other members of the CUA community.
  
  
• The Catholic University of America community marked Ash Wednesday on Feb. 21 with four Masses on campus. Shown here are images from two services in Caldwell Chapel as well as Lenten displays in McMahon Hall and the Edward J. Pryzbyla University Center.
  
  
• Winter was late in coming to CUA in 2007. But it made up for lost time in February with a long string of days when the mercury did not reach 32 degrees and a storm of sleet and snow that briefly closed the campus.
  
  
• Very Rev. David M. O’Connell, C.M., president of The Catholic University of America, accompanied Valdas Adamkus, president of Lithuania, and his wife, Alma Adamkiene, on a tour of the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 11. Father O’Connell presented Adamkus with an honorary degree in 1998.
  
  
• Provost John Convey hosted a reception on Feb. 6 for Ms. Mabel McGlothlin in the atrium of the Columbus School of Law. Ms. McGlothlin retired from CUA after serving the university for more than 27 years, most recently as senior executive assistant to the provost.
  
  
• On January 22, 2007, more than 200 Catholic University students participated in the annual March for Life in Washington DC. Click here for an audio slideshow from the march.
  
  

2006

• The Catholic University community ushered in the 2006 Christmas season on Dec. 1 with the annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony in front of McMahon Hall and the 18th Annual Christmas Concert for Charity at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. A standing-room only crowd gathered in the Basilica for the concert, presented by the CUA Chorus and Symphony Orchestra and the Choir of the Basilica. The event raised $13,000 for the Spanish Catholic Center of Catholic Community Services.
  
  
• The Benjamin T. Rome School of Music presented four performances of Handel’s opera “Julius Caesar” or “Giulio Cesare” Nov. 9 through 12 at Ward Recital Hall. The opera, presented in Italian with English supertitles, was directed by Jamie Roberts and conducted by Joel Lazar.
  
  
• Catholic University’s Benjamin T. Rome School of Music presented the musical “Grand Hotel” on Oct. 27-29, 2006. Set in an elegant Berlin hotel in 1928, the musical tells the story of five guests whose lives intersect over the course of a weekend. CUA faculty member Jane Pesci-Townsend directed.
  
  
• On Oct. 23, students and faculty from the School of Architecture and Planning celebrated at the unveiling of the latest CUAdc project — the redesign of the Stuart-Hobson Middle School library in Northeast Washington. CUAdc — an award-winning design collaborative that provides services free of charge to nonprofit groups — transformed the antiquated room into a light-filled, inviting space. CUAdc and seven Washington, D.C., architectural firms, were selected to design new library spaces in several D.C. public schools on a pro bono basis for the School Libraries Project.
  
  
• More than 500 Catholic University alumni and their loved ones returned to campus on Oct. 13 and 14 to celebrate a combined Homecoming Weekend and Reunions Weekend. Alumni Achievement Awards went to six remarkable individuals, classmates and friends reunited, and the crowd cheered on the CUA football team. The weekend included reunions for the classes of 1996, 1991, 1986, 1981, 1976, 1971, 1966, 1961 and 1956.
  
  
• Hundreds of Catholic University students, faculty and staff packed the National Shrine's Crypt Church on Sept. 11, 2006, to mark the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks with a Mass honoring those who perished. Worshipers filled out cards with the names of friends and relatives who died that day, so the names could be presented along with the Offertory gifts. During Mass a cross crafted from World Trade Center debris rested on the middle of the altar.
  
  
• Catholic University’s Mass of the Holy Spirit, held annually in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception to open the new academic year, attracted hundreds of university faculty, staff and students. The Aug. 31 Mass, at which Archbishop Donald Wuerl delivered the homily, was followed by a university-wide picnic to welcome him as the university’s new chancellor.
  
  
• CUA welcomed approximately 2,500 new students and their families to its new student orientation, held Thursday, Aug. 24, 2006, through Sunday, Aug. 27, 2006. Families attended educational sessions, mixers, skits, book discussion groups and other events designed to help them make the high school-to-college transition. Families also helped students move into their residence halls during this time.
  
  
• More than 900 graduates, guests and members of the CUA faculty and administration gathered Saturday, May 13, on the east steps of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception to celebrate CUA’s 117th Annual Commencement. CNN Anchor Wolf Blitzer delivered the commencement address.
  
  
• CUA alumni gathered on the rooftop of Washington Hay-Adams Hotel on Saturday, April 29, for the Cherry Blossom Reception, hosted by the Office of Alumni Relations.
  
  
• The 17th American Cardinals Dinner, an annual black-tie fundraiser to benefit CUA scholarships, was held April 28 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C. Nine U.S. cardinals and more than 650 guests attended the dinner, which raised nearly a million dollars.
  
  
• Eight U.S. cardinals gathered in the Great Upper Church of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on the afternoon of April 28 to say Mass prior to the 17th American Cardinals Dinner fundraiser in support of Catholic University scholarship funds. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was the principal celebrant and Very Rev. David M. O’Connell, C.M., CUA president, delivered the homily.
  
  
• Catholic University hosted a luncheon on April 26 to mark the opening of the 2006 International Prayer for Peace: "Religions and Cultures: the Courage of Dialogue.," an annual interfaith gathering held for the first time in the United States. Approximately 100 guests, representing a variety of faith groups, attended the luncheon.
  
  
• Catholic University presented Aaron Copland's America, CUA's 2006 President's Festival of the Arts, from March 27 to April 8. This two-week-long celebration of the acclaimed American composer included presentations of Rogers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma, a concert of Copland's Old American Songs, and his opera The Tender Land.
  
  
• "The Furies," the final installment of an operatic trilogy about the tragic house of Agamemnon by CUA husband-and-wife faculty members Andrew Earle Simpson (composer) and Sarah Brown Ferrario (librettist), premiered at Catholic University Feb. 9 through 12. The Washington Post praised the music, libretto, staging and individual performances, calling the opera "tragically good."
  
  
• Led by the Office of Campus Ministry, Catholic University played host to 1,600 pro-life marchers on Jan. 22-23, 2006. Most of them were housed on campus. Several hundred CUA students participated in the annual March for Life on Jan. 23.
  
  

2005

• Catholic University and the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception sponsored the 17th Annual Christmas Concert for Charity in the Basilica on Dec. 2, 2005, to benefit the organization Support Our Aging Religious. The concert was preceded by the lighting of CUA's Christmas tree.
  
  
• Catholic University's Homecoming Weekend, Oct. 14-16, featured awards presentations, induction of former athletes into the Hall of Fame and many opportunities for alumni to renew old friendships.
  
  
• Catholic University welcomes key Catholic Church officials and education experts to campus on Sept. 14, 2005, for a conference on the challenges facing Catholic elementary and secondary schools.
  
  
• King Abdullah II of Jordan delivers an address, "Traditional Islam: The Path to Peace," on Sept. 13, 2005, at the Columbus School of Law.
  
  
• Washington Mayor Anthony Williams visits the School of Architecture and Planning on Aug. 5, 2005, to view a studio project on revitalizing the Anacostia waterfront.
  
  
• Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele visits the Columbus School of Law on Aug. 29, 2005, where he meets with administrators and student leaders before delivering the annual Pope John XXIII Lecture at CUA’s Columbus School of Law.
  
  
• Hundreds of CUA students participate in a prayer vigil sponsored by the Office of Campus Ministry in the courtyard of the Columbus School of Law during the Sept. 7, 2005, Day of Communion and Prayer for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.