The official start to our 35th Anniversary began with prayer to Our Lady, who has interceded in so many ways during our history. A Novena to Mary, Teacher of the Apostles, commenced on the Feast of the Queenship of Mary, August 22, 2018, exactly 35 years after we opened our doors to the world as a Catholic institute dedicated to teaching the richness and beauty of the Catholic Faith. Our novena, which is posted on the CDU Facebook page, will conclude on the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lady, September 8, 2018. The inspiring novena prayer was composed for CDU by the late Father Frederick M. Jelly, OP, a noted mariological scholar and a distinguished member of our faculty. Our mission is fueled by prayer, so your spiritual support is greatly appreciated.

We invite all who are connected to our beautiful mission to join us in thanking God for accompanying us along this journey of serving the Church’s mission of the New Evangelization. We include our distinguished students and graduates. We greatly appreciate the sacrifices they have made to obtain a CDU education and their extraordinary service of giving back in thanksgiving for their own encounter with the love of Jesus Christ at CDU.

In June I traveled to Denver to participate in the biennial centennial celebration of the Association of Theological Schools (ATS), a meeting of the membership of ATS that includes more than 270 schools educating nearly 75,000 students and employing 7,200 faculty and administrators. I witnessed the nomination and unanimous election of CDU’s Graduate School of Theology as an Associate Member of ATS, the first step in earning accreditation, and was confirmed for my second and final term as a member of the Board of Commissioners. We will host ATS’ Dr. Tom Tanner on October 16 for our candidacy visit, the next step in our journey toward full accreditation.

Thank you for your very special novena prayers as we entrust so many important projects for our future to Our Lady, Queen of CDU.