News and Events
[printer friendly version]posted on 8/3/11
Saint Joseph's College Graduates 46 Students at Summer Commencement
On Friday, July 29, 46 students were presented with their degrees at the Saint Joseph's College Summer Commencement ceremony. The majority of the graduates were nursing students who earned their Bachelor of Science degrees in Nursing.
Three people graduated from the Rensselaer Program of Church Music and Liturgy - the country's longest serving program of its kind - with a Master of Arts in Pastoral Liturgy and Music, and one received her Master of Arts in Music with a concentration in Church Music and Liturgy. Another graduate received her diploma in Pastoral Liturgy. The program is led by Dr. Steve Janco, who has served as its director since 2006. Janco, a well known composer of liturgical music, serves as a consultant to the Office for Divine Worship of the Archdiocese of Chicago and as a member of the Board of Directors of the North American Forum on the Catechumenate.
Fr. Daniel Coughlin served as this year's Commencement speaker. He was born and raised in Chicago, Ill., and attended Catholic schools and the Archdiocesan seminary before being ordained a priest on May 3, 1960. He lived and served in parishes while serving as Director of the Office of Divine Worship and later as the director of a retreat center.
During a sabbatical, Fr. Coughlin lived at Gethsemane Abbey in Kentucky for five months, studied Eastern and Western religion, and worked with the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta. He has written articles for liturgical periodicals on prayer and spirituality and received an honorary doctoral degree from Lewis University in Romeoville, Ill. He earned his Master of Arts in Pastoral Studies.
Coughlin was serving as Vicar for Priests in Chicago when he was recommended by Cardinal Francis George to be the Chaplain of the United States House of Representatives. He was sworn in on March 23, 2000 as the first Catholic priest to serve as Chaplain. He retired from his position as Chaplain in April 2011 and returned to the Archdiocese of Chicago.
Saint Joseph's College, named a "character-building college" by the Templeton Foundation and a "best Midwestern college" by the Princeton Review, is a four-year, Catholic college offering 25 majors, 4 group majors, 32 minors, and 9 pre-professional programs, complemented by the nationally acclaimed Core Program. Founded and sponsored by the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, SJC is located in Rensselaer, Indiana, approximately 90 minutes from both Chicago and Indianapolis, on a park-like campus of 180 acres and has an enrollment of more than 1,000 students.
# # #
