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VOLUME III ISSUE 2
AUGUST 1974
Abbey Graduates
Class Of 1974
Governance Structure Change Announced
At graduation exercises in the
Wheeler Center on May 12, 1974,
131 graduates were awarded the
baccalaureate degree. The
following students graduated
with honors:
Summa cum laude: Virgil S.
Steele, Patricia A. Seitz, and
Jesse Michael Shipman.
Magna cum laude: Charles Ed
Janus, Daniel Keith Wilson,
Bobby E. Bradley, Jack A.
Cowan, Vernon L. Harrison,
Thomas J. Porzio, Gary Paul
Urtz, and Wade H. Messer.
Cum laude: William Ray
Smith, Douglas C. Caskey,
Henry Van Don Dillard,
Alexander Kenneth Kozak,
Timothy P. Lehan, Charles
Arthur Lober, Walter Achumba,
James R. Barrett, Henry Allen
Morris, and David A: Bowers.
Harry Creemers, who served
as president of the Student
Government 1973-74, received
the coveted “Abbeyman of the
,Year” award.
Three important an
nouncements were made at this
year’s Commencement exer
cises.
Abbot Edmund McCaffrey,
announced that he expected a
,change in the governance
structure of the College would be
completed by August. This
fundamentally important matter
in the life of the College has been
under study for a number of
years and will bring to the
governance of the College the
expertise of lay Trustees, while
at the same time assuring that
the Catholic and Benedictine
identity of the College is in no
way eroded.
The President of the College,
Father John P. Bradley, made
two announcements:
1) The Boards of Trustees of
Wake Forest University and
Belmont Abbey College have
concluded an agreement to
sponsor jointly an institute of
ecumenical affairs; Dr. Claude
U. Broach, for many years
pastor of St. John’s Baptist
Church in Charlotte, has been
appointed Director of this In
stitute and will have an office on
both campuses. (An article on
this important new development
will appear in the next issue of
CROSSROADS.)
2) Through the generosity of
Dr. Carsbie C. Adams, the
College will have a funded
professorship in the Department
of Philosophy. (An article on
this appears in this edition of
CROSSROADS.)
Honorary doctorates were
conferred on the Most Reverend
Joseph L. Bernardin, Ar
chbishop of Cincinnati, who
preached the baccalaureate
sermon at the Solemn Academic
Mass in the Abbey Cathedral,
and on Dr. Carsbie Clifton
Adams, an eminent scientist and
author, who has shown himself to
be a generous friend of the
College over the past few years.
Archbishop Bernardin, who
serves on the Board of Trustees
of the Catholic University of
America, is a native of South
Carolina and has been a close
friend of the Abbey for many
years. Recognized nationally as
a leading churchman in the
United States, Archbishop
Bernardin was recently elected
as one of the four delegates from
the National Conference of
Catholic Bishops to attend the
1974 Synod of Bishops in Rome.
Dr. Carsbie Clifton Adams, for
many years a close friend of
Father Bradley, the President of
the College, has received
numerous national honors in
cluding listings in Who’s Who In
Spa.ce, Leaders in American
Science, Who’s Who in Com
merce and Industry, and Who’s
Who in Worid Aviation. Among
his many books and scientific
papers are Careers in
Astronautics and Rocketry, and
DIVIDENDS FROM SPACE,
both co-authored by Wernher
von Braun, “NUTRITION IN
SPACE,’’ and “NUTRITIONAL
ASPECT OF SPACE FLIGHT.’’
It is intriguing to note that Dr.
Adams is also a published poet:
his Cold Days of Summer was
published by Golden Quill Press
in 1971. A man of many parts.
Dr. Adams also owns and
operates a medical center near
Washington and is the owner of a
number of oil and gas wells in
West Virginia. At the graduation
exercises he was presented with
a plaque commemorating his
establishing of a funded
professorship in philosophy at
Belmont Abbey College (see
accompanying article).
Another distinguished friend of
the college, the Honorable
Brooks Hays, who received an
honorary doctorate from
Belmont Abbey College in 1969,
delivered the graduation ad
dress. A former member of the
United States Congress for
seventeen years, Dr. Hays also
served as a special assistant to
Presidents Kennedy and
Johnson. He is a past president
of the Southern Baptist Con
vention, was a leading figure in
the establishing of an
ecumenical institute at Wake
Forest University, and served as
the first Director of the Institute.
Most recently his close
association with Belmont Abbey
College led to the discussions
which culminated in the joint
sponsorship of this Institute by
Wake Forestand Belmont Abbey
College. To the surprise of no
one who knows him and has
heard him speak. Dr. Hays’
graduation address regaled his
audience with a characteristic
blend of wit and wisdom.