ADDENDA - Catholic Church appointments, United States etc - Brief Article

National Catholic Reporter, March 16, 2001

SR. GLENN ANNE McPHEE, superintendent of schools for the San Francisco archdiocese, has been named education secretary for the U.S. Catholic Conference, effective this summer. Her appointment was announced March 2 in Washington by Msgr. William Fay, conference general secretary. McPhee, a member of the Dominican Sisters of Mission of San Jose, Calif., has served as the superintendent of Catholic schools in San Francisco since 1987. Previously, she was assistant superintendent of schools and regional supervisor for the Los Angeles archdiocese for eight years, and a principal and teacher in Catholic schools in several California cities since 1965.

PARISHIONERS OF THE CHURCH where John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert were baptized are fighting to make sure apartments don't replace its pews. The Boston archdiocese closed St. Aidan's Catholic Church two years ago in response to dwindling attendance and a shortage of priests. The archdiocese is considering putting affordable housing on the site. That could mean either renovation or demolition for the church building. The archdiocese has faced criticism for saying Boston urgently needs more affordable housing but failing to contribute church land toward the cause.

JESUIT FR. MICHAEL J. GARANZINI, special assistant to the president at Georgetown University in Washington, has been elected president of Loyola University Chicago. Garanzini, who will assume his new duties this summer, succeeds Jesuit Fr. John J. Piderit, who resigned last May. Garanzini, a native of St. Louis, has experience in teaching, research and administrative leadership at some of the nation's leading Jesuit colleges and universities including Georgetown, Fordham in New York, St. Louis, Rockhurst in Kansas City, Mo., and Gregorian University in Rome.

WOMEN IN DIOCESAN LEADERSHIP positions in the United States say their participation in church decision-making is sometimes hindered by sexist attitudes, church structures or the strident voices of women themselves, according to a survey released Feb. 27. The results were compiled by the Life Cycle Institute of The Catholic University of America in Washington from questionnaires sent to 378 women in 128 dioceses who had been identified by their bishops as diocesan leaders.

LISA KLOPPENBERG, an associate professor of law at the University of Oregon since 1992, will become dean of the University of Dayton's School of Law this summer. She will become one of approximately 25 women serving as deans at the nation's 183 accredited law schools. Kloppenberg, 38, is an expert in constitutional law, an advocate of settling disputes before they reach court, and a proponent of human rights through organizations such as Amigos de los Sobrivivientos (Friends of the Survivors) of Eugene, Ore., which aids victims of torture.

AUSTRALIAN BISHOPS have committed themselves to the principle of "unacceptable risk" in a revision of guidelines for dealing with sexual abuse of children. "Church authorities shall be guided by the principle that no one should be permitted to exercise a public ministry if doing so presents an unacceptable risk of abuse to children and young people," said a revision of the 1966 text, "Toward Healing," designed to combat child sexual abuse. In committing to the principle of "unacceptable risk," the church is going further than the state or the criminal courts by looking at the possibility of future abuse.