On Friday, September 23, 2011, events beginning with a morning Mass led to the afternoon installation of Brother John Paige, C.S.C., as the president of Holy Cross College. Father John Pearson, C.S.C. was among the celebrants of the Mass and among the guests during the day's celebrations. See the South Bend Tribune editorial pasted below and you will know something of the ambition and energy Brother John Paige brings to the college. For his part, Father John Pearson now represents St. Mary's College as well as Notre Dame. Father John heads the ministerial services staff serving 1,500 young women. “Someone's got to do it,” Father John says.
South Bend Tribune editorial September 29, 2011
Holy Cross hails a new leader
September 29, 2011
Congratulations to Brother John R. Paige
who was officially installed as president of Holy Cross College on Friday.
He has been serving the office since
January.
Holy Cross just 10 years ago was best
known as a junior college transferring students to the University of
Notre Dame. Today it's just as often
the recipient of transfers, a four-year school serving 450 full-time students.
Paige hopes to build on that success by
engaging more adults and transfer students from Ivy Tech Community College and other
institutions.
He already has enriched the school's
experience by pushing to integrate various aspects of student life on campus.
He proposes next to expand Holy Cross'
Center for Intergenerational Learning and add a gerontology major to the
college's current minor, which could well improve the quality of life of aging
Americans everywhere, and especially here. One initiative involves training
individuals to help the aging baby boomer population navigate medical and social services.
Paige's goal is to increase Holy Cross'
enrollment to about 700 full-time students. He believes the current facilities
can accommodate that growth.
Meanwhile, the campus overall soon will
expand into 14 acres being vacated in the relocation of St. Joseph's High
School from Indiana 933 near Angela Boulevard to downtown South Bend.
Paige, a 1968 graduate of Notre Dame,
earned two master's degrees and a doctorate elsewhere and has served in Rome as vicar general of
the Congregation of Holy Cross. We welcome him back and look forward to the
contributions he will bring our entire community through his work at Holy Cross
College.