Recently, James J. Annarelli, Ph.D., Vice President for Student Life, Dean of Students, at Eckerd College made the following announcement:

Dear Friends,

I am pleased to announce that Doug McMahon, Interim Director of Campus Ministries and Chaplain, has accepted permanent appointment to that position, effective August 1. In addition, Eckerd alumna Elizabeth "Libby" Shannon '05, has accepted appointment as Associate Chaplain. Libby earned her Master of Divinity degree from Columbia Theological Seminary and is a candidate for ordination as a Minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA). Mona Bagasao, who has served as Director of Religious Life and Senior Chaplain, has accepted an appointment in the Program for Experienced Learners where she will continue her excellent work with students in an advising and teaching role.

During the coming year, the College will be reviewing and evaluating alternatives for configuring the Center's full-time staff positions to ensure that the changing spiritual needs of our students and broader campus community are met most effectively. Until this review process is complete, the two full-time professional staff positions in the Center will be the Director of Campus Ministries/Chaplain position and the Associate Chaplain position.

Please join me in offering congratulations and support to Doug, Libby, and Mona as they assume their new campus roles.

Best regards,
Jim

Summer has taken Eckerd College's Catholic Campus Minister, Father Oscar Kozyra, to Rome, where he is the translator for the general chapter meeting of his order, the Mercedarians.  Father will call upon his fluency in 5 languages to assist this global gathering of friars in the plenary meetings and committees.  While he will be working hard from May 3 to May 24, he'll take advantage of his time in Italy afterwards for some R&R.

The Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy, commonly called the Mercediarians, was founded in 1218 and is an international community of priests and brothers, who live a life of prayer and communal fraternity based on the Rule of Saint Augustine and the Constitutions of the Order.  Father is a part of a community here in St. Petersburg that has provided Eckerd with a Catholic presence for over 20 years.  Father himself came to Eckerd three years ago after a career as an educator, teaching seminarians in Argentina and in the US.  An academic himself, he was delighted to join the Campus Ministries team here.

Every religious organization (for example: Jesuits, Franciscans, etc., and all monks, friars, ad nuns) has chapters.  There are two types of chapters:

• Provincial (at the national or regional level) chapters are usually celebrated every 3 years

• General (at the worldwide level) are usually celebrated every 6 years

The scope of the chapters is to:

• Check over the spiritual communitarian and pastoral life during the last period

• Plan for the next period

• Elect (or reelect) both the provincial and general government of the order

This is a great honor to be bestowed upon Father Oscar and he is excited to be taking part in the chapter. We pray that he do well, stay healthy, and have fun!