SLU inaugurates 34th president
Saint Louis University officially inaugurated Edward J. Feser as its 34th president in a ceremony on Nov. 5. Feser, a Jesuit-educated leader in higher education, assumed the presidency on July 1. He is SLU’s second lay president, succeeding Fred Pestello, who retired earlier this year after 11 years at the university.
Feser also announced the launch of a new strategic planning process that will guide SLU’s direction through the end of the decade. Expected to be completed at the end of the academic year, the plan will focus on four key areas: enrollment, student success, research and scholarship and athletics. The planning process will engage the SLU community in identifying strategies to advance the university’s Catholic, Jesuit mission.
Pray with the woman who prays always
A day of prayer with St. Rose Philippine Duchesne will take place at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 16, at the Shrine of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, 619 N. Second St. in St. Charles. The day will begin at 1:30 p.m. with eucharistic adoration in the shrine chapel. Tours of the historical rooms where St. Rose Philippine Duchesne lived also will be offered from 1:30-4:30 p.m., and a talk on her life will take place in Cribbin Hall at 2 p.m. The day will conclude with Benediction at 4:20 p.m. St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, whose feast day is celebrated Nov. 18, is buried at the shrine. For more information, contact Ann Tollefson at (636) 928-2970 or email aktollefson@gmail.com.
Adoption Mass
The annual Adoption Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 23, at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis. The annual Mass, sponsored by the archdiocesan Respect Life Apostolate, Good Shepherd Children &Family Services and Office of Natural Family Planning, is a celebration of all whose lives have been affected by adoption, whether directly or indirectly. A special invitation is extended to parents who have made an adoption plan for their child and families who have adopted or who are in the process of adoption. A reception will be held after Mass. For more information, contact Joy Quante at jquante@gsstl.org.
Nativities on display
The Franciscan Sisters of Our Lady of Perpetual Help will host their annual “Joy To the World” Nativity display from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 6 and 7, in the Assisi Room at Tau Center, 335 S. Kirkwood Road in Kirkwood. The sisters invite all to open their hearts to the Incarnation of the Word made Flesh through the work of artisans and craftspeople from around the world, through antique sets from childhood, collectable groupings and in a hands-on children’s room. In lieu of an entry fee, the sisters will host a collection of new kitchen and bath towels to be given to Welcome Neighbor STL. Cash donations also will be accepted. For more information, see stlreview.com/4nRAsTR.
Loretto Sister honored for research into slavery
St. Louis native Sister Eleanor Craig of the Loretto Sisters is one of three women religious who received the Father Louis J. Luzbetak, SVD, Award for exemplary Church research from the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) on Nov. 13 at Georgetown University. The award also was presented to Sister Theresa Knabel of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth and Sister Rosemary Rule of the Dominican Sisters of Peace, all of whom were intimately involved in the research into the history of enslaved peoples within their own communities.
Sister Eleanor is the Loretto Community historian and previously served as the director of the Loretto Heritage Center Archives and Museum from 2012-20. Now in her 80s, she has a passion for bringing injustice to light. “The history of enslavement by Catholic bishops and clergy, by religious communities, and by large swaths of the Catholic laity from 1619 through the Civil War is not well known and ought to be,” she said.
