News

During his final weeks as president of the College of the Holy Cross, Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J., sat down with a reporter from the Telegram & Gazette to share his favorite moments and proudest accomplishments, as well as what he’ll miss most about Holy Cross and Worcester. 

He said he will miss the people here and added, “I do like Worcester. It’s really a very interesting community. A lot of really hard-working people, and a great sense of community here. People have great pride in their city.”

Fr. McFarland will step down at the end of the month after a twelve-year tenure.  Among many other things, during his time as president, he oversaw: the addition of more than 400,000 square feet of new building space; a 61 percent increase in the College’s endowment, which now stands at nearly $617 million; financial aid initiatives, including a program whereby Worcester students admitted to Holy Cross whose families earn less than $50,000 per year receive free tuition; an expanded applicant pool and the simultaneous increase in the diversity of the student body; as well as significant community partnerships in Worcester. 

But a large part of his presidency has been his time with students. Lauren D’Abrosca ’12, co-president of the Student Government Association, described Fr. McFarland as being the type of person you never needed an introduction to say hello to.  “As a student, it could be almost a nerve-wracking experience sitting down with the president of your college. … And he doesn’t make it like that at all,” she said.

• Read the Telegram & Gazette story

This “Holy Cross in the News” item by Kristine Maloney.

Rev. Thomas Worcester, S.J., professor of history, at the College of the Holy Cross wrote an op-ed for The Huffington Post on the state of Vermont’s political transition from the majority of its citizens being strictly Republican with individualistic mindsets to a democratic view that aims for the common good.

Despite the decline in church attendance in Vermont, Worcester, a native of the state, writes that he witnessed not only a political conversion, but also a religious one over time. He writes, “I believe that a kind of conversion, political as well as moral and religious, has occurred. This may seem a surprising claim for a region that has seen church attendance decline in recent decades, among Protestants and Catholics. Vermont seems to be catching up with European countries such as France or Germany where formal church membership and attendance have been dropping precipitously for a long time.”

• Read the op-ed in The Huffington Post.

This “Holy Cross in the News” item is by Sara Bovat ’14.

In an edition of “Arts and Ideas,” Leslie Schomp, College of the Holy Cross visual art department lecturer, discusses her inspirations, themes, and preferred style of art as a teacher, with particular emphasis on her work currently being displayed in the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery’s exhibition Viewpoints: Holy Cross’ Visual Art Faculty.

“One of the things about teaching is that you have to teach your lesson and whatever concept that you’re developing,” Schomp explained.  “But also be on the lookout for what they do and if someone has a tendency toward sculpture or other materials, I really enjoy looking hard for that and trying to draw it out of them.”

• Watch Leslie Schomp on “Arts and Ideas.”

This “Holy Cross in the News” item is by Sara Bovat ’14.

The Telegram & Gazette published an op-ed on the future of Social Security co-written by A. Joe Dalton, a first-year student, and Bryan Engelhardt, an assistant professor of economics at the College of the Holy Cross.  In the piece, Dalton and Engelhardt encourage Americans to demand that banks and financial advisors offer the option to insure Social Security payments.

Reminding readers that there is a high probability of the U.S. government defaulting in the next twenty years, which would lead to the average person losing $250,000 in Social Security payments, they write, “Semi-privatizing Social Security by buying insurance — or trading payments for a diverse array of assets — would protect individual Americans against Congress cutting future payments, reduce an individual’s exposure to a U.S. government default, and result in a higher level of income for retirees as U.S. IOUs sell at a premium.

• Read this op-ed in the Telegram & Gazette.

This “Holy Cross in the News” item is by Sara Bovat ’14.

In an Agence France-Presse article examining the  trend of states starting to lean away from capital punishment, David Schaefer, professor of political science department at the College of the Holy Cross, provides insight on why the practice remains surprisingly consistent.

“Americans as a whole favor the death penalty when it is imposed only when there’s absolute certainty,” Schaefer explained.

• Read the article on Agence France-Presse.

This “Holy Cross in the News” item is by Sara Bovat ’14.

The first Sunday of Advent, celebrated this year on Nov. 27, marked the debut of a revised English translation of the Roman Missal, the text used during masses in the American Roman Catholic Church.  The Telegram & Gazette reported on the changes and explored both positive and negative reactions. Although the revisions to the English liturgical text have successfully become truer to the original, Latin version, Paul Covino, associate chaplain at the College of the Holy Cross, explains that the process was a difficult and complicated one.

“There were bishops who felt the translations contained words that were too archaic or too theological for the ordinary person,” explained Covino. “Some of the words used in the new text are not part of the discourse used by the average Catholic. There was some thought that some Americans might be alienated by the changes.”

• Read this article in the Telegram & Gazette.

This “Holy Cross in the News” item is by Sara Bovat ’14.

The Telegram & Gazette devoted their weekly “Neighbors” column to the College of the Holy Cross’ HC Goes Unified program, which brings 50-60 young Special Olympians to campus on Sundays to play sports together with Holy Cross students.  Matt Zielinski ’13, Archie Bellos ’12 and Chris Tota ’13 created the club on campus last spring and it has become incredibly popular among Holy Cross students and the Special Olympics athletes.

“For two hours a week, the stigmas and stereotypes for individuals with intellectual disabilities disappear as HC Goes Unified hopes to create an equal peer-to-peer environment between the student body and Special Olympics athletes,” said Archie Bellos, an English major from Worcester, who hopes to work with Special Olympics athletes after graduation. “I got involved with HC Goes Unified to hopefully ignite the same passions within my friends and fellow students that I have, and to create something really special and unique here on campus.”

• Read this article in the Telegram & Gazette.

This “Holy Cross in the News” item is by Sara Bovat ’14.

The Telegram & Gazette sat down with the College of the Holy Cross’ Assistant Director of Athletic Media Relations, Meredith Cook, a former high school basketball player who serves as the primary media contact for the Holy Cross women’s basketball team.  Cook also works with the baseball, field hockey, men’s soccer, men’s and women’s golf and men’s and women’s tennis teams.

“I love the fast pace of athletics in general and being right in the thick of it,” said Cook. “In sports there’s always something exciting going on, and there’s always someone who wants to talk about sports or write about it.

• Read this article in the Telegram & Gazette.

This “Holy Cross in the News” is by Sara Bovat ’14.

In a FOX25 special report on paying for college, Lynne Myers, director of financial aid at the College of the Holy Cross, and Ann McDermott, director of admissions, share insight and advice on applying for financial aid.

There are several factors that go into coming up with your financial aid package, says Myers.  “It’s not just savings. We look at it as a significant purchase, we use the resources of income, we use our past income in the form of savings, we use our current income, what comes right out of our budget, what have I not committed already to another purchase. In my future income, how much am I able to finance? You have to consider all three of those sources,” she told FOX25.

McDermott reminds families that getting the financial forms into the college at same time as the application gives more of a chance of getting the best package possible.

“They shouldn’t be waiting until they are accepted no matter how much good work the financial aid office is doing,” she said.  “It’s shocking and amazing how many families think that’s the time the conversation starts is once they get the acceptance letters.  It’s not then, it’s now.”

Holy Cross is one of a select group of colleges and universities that accept students regardless of their ability to pay (“need-blind admissions”) and then meet 100% of their need, as calculated according to nationally recognized financial aid criteria.  Read more about financial aid at Holy Cross.

• Watch the FOX25 story

This “Holy Cross in the News” item by Kristine Maloney.

With the number of early applications on the rise at selective institutions across the country, Ann McDermott, director of admissions at the College of the Holy Cross, provides insight into the reasons why more students are applying to early action and early decision programs.

“There’s a lot of pressure on kids to get a jump on the process and have some certainty about their future,’’ McDermott told The Boston Globe. “We spent a lot of time trying to make students and their families think about what a serious commitment it is…”

Despite the fact that Holy Cross’ early decision deadline is still weeks away (Dec. 15), McDermott reported that Holy Cross’ numbers are “running slightly ahead of last year.’’

• Read The Boston Globe story
• Learn more about admissions at Holy Cross

This “Holy Cross in the News” item by Kristine Maloney.

Catholic News Service published an op-ed by Mathew N. Schmalz, associate professor of religious studies at the College of the Holy Cross, which explores the morality of commercial gain in response to an advertisement by Benetton, an Italian fashion retailer. The advertisement displays Pope Benedict XVI kissing Imam Sheik Ahmed el-Tayeb of Cairo’s al-Azhar Mosque. After the Vatican denounced the image, Benetton excused it by explaining that it is a part of the company’s promotion of its “unhate campaign.”

Schmalz explains, “The issue then goes beyond simple understandings of ‘consent’ but to deeper critiques of ‘commodification’” from a Christian perspective. If the Benetton campaign were left to stand, one could envision the Pope’s picture being used to sell things like scarves and sneakers.”

• Read this op-ed in the Catholic News Service.

This “Holy Cross in the News” item is by Sara Bovat ’14.