October, 1976 - CROSSROADS • Page 3
Academic Mass
At 4:00 p.m. on
Thursday, September
9th, the annual Academic
Mass was celebrated on
the lawn beside O’Connell
Hall to commence
another enthusiastic year
of campus ministry at
Belmont Abbey College.
The entire college
community participated
in asking God’s blessings
throughout 1976-77.
Students, staff, ad
ministrators and faculty
enjoyed their evening
meal together on the
lawn immediately after
the Eucharistic
celebration. Father
Oscar, Director of
Campus Ministry was the
principal concelebrant
and gave a short homily
at the Mass. Father John
Bradley, President of
Belmont Abbey College,
a concelebrant, ad
dressed the community
too.
Over the weekend of
September 24-26 Abbey
men and women, some
thirty-five strong, will
enjoyed a retreat at the
Youth Hostel, Hot
Springs, N. C., which is
located along the Ap
palachian Trail. Fathers
Jeff Burton, S. J., and
Bob Judge, S.J., hosted
the retreatants and were
assisted by Jesuit
Volunteers, graduates
from other colleges who
give a year or more of
their precious youth to
the Church in working
retreats, etc. Several
monks from Belmont
Abbey, including Father
Oscar, attended. The
“Christian living
retreat” is not too in
tense. Time is measured
for delicious meals, long
hikes along the Trail,
discussion groups,
celebration of the
Eucharist, a penance
(reconciliation) celebra
tion, a movie, and
traveling. The focus is
living together as
Christians - children of
God.
Other retreats are in
the works for Our Lady of
the Hills Camp, Hen
dersonville, N. C., Holden
Beach and Nags Head, N.
C. ‘‘All should be enjoyed
this semester if money,
weather and endurance
holds out,” remarks Fr.
Oscar.
Plans are set for
groups of students to visit
weekly at Thompson’s
Orphanage in Charlotte,
N. C. and at Dallas
Correctional Unit.
Dallas, N. C. Abbey men
and women have been
visiting the orphans and
inmates regularly over
the past years, so this is a
continuation of suc
cessful programs.
Sunday afternoons the
orphans are entertained
and on Tuesday evenings
the youthful offenders
are joined for a
recreational program.
In addition the Chi Rho
House facility is already
being used for Political
Science and English
seminars, the 7:30 p.m.
Sunday Eucharistic folk
Mass celebration and
dinners for groups of
students numbering
twenty or more who
share the costs and cook
for one another ‘‘home
cooked” meals away
from home. The Chi Rho
House also offers quiet
‘‘living room” at
mosphere: a stereo,
television and quiet study
opportunities. All
students, faculty and
friends are welcome.
This facility relieves
quite a bit of ‘‘home
sickness” among frosh.
Fr. Oscar says, ‘‘The
students are so excited
and enthusiastic this year
to get things (programs)
going. They seem almost
impatient. I mention
something and they are
ready to move on it.”
Within the next couple of
weeks, with volunteer
student help, campus
ministry will, hopefully,
paint two houses of in
digent elderly persons
who are on fixed
retirement pensions and
repair the* house of a
widow — all in the
Belmont neighborhood.
‘‘Campus ministry is
growing in its programs
and is building up the
Body of Christ on the
Abbey campus. The
students and faculty are
responding; they are
becoming a responsible
Christian community in
alleviating the
lonesomeness and suf
fering of neighbor,”
Father Oscar observes.
Abbey Alumni To
Participate In Self-Study
By R. HOWARD SUGGS
The Southern
Association of Colleges
and Universities is a self-
regulatory body of
degree-granting in
stitutions whose function
is to initiate, regulate,
and examine its mem
bers through self-study
programs.
The end result of this
examination, is ac
creditation, or in the case
of Belmont Abbey,
reaccreditation as a
member in good standing
with the Southern
Association.
After an institutional
self-study generated by
the college involved, an
expert team from the
Southern Association
visits the campus to
evaluate the self-study
document and ascertain
its accuracy.
According , to Dr.
George Herndl, Chair
man of the Self-Study
Program, the chief
function of this program
‘‘...is not merely a
collection of existing data
for reportage. It is
designed to be a process
which the College uses to
examine itself, and
thereby discover facts
which might not other
wise be known.”
Herndl further said
that there were eleven
standards which the
Southern Association
suggests for its member
colleges to apply when
conducting their self-
evaluation; of these,
eight apply to Belmont
Abbey. They are: Goals
and Purposes,
Organization and Ad
ministration, Student
Development, Library,
Physical Plant, Financial
Resources, Faculty, and
Educational Programs.
Committees have been
formed to examine the
College against each of
the standards and write a
repKjrt for consideration
by the visiting team.
Mrs. Moore, of the
English Department, is
Chairman of the Goals
and Purposes Com
mittee, the first of the
standards committees to
complete its work. Mary
Wilson, Director of
Public Relations and a
member of the Goals and
Purposes Committee,
informs me that the
preliminary report of
that committee was
completed on October 15,
and that the other
departmental reports are
proceeding on schedule.
Several of the Stan
dards committees are
directed to consult
alumni to check on, for
instance, effectiveness of
educational programs.
In order to secure the
opinion of alumni on
these matters, the
Steering Committee of
the Self-Study has
decided to survey all
senior college graduates.
A questionnaire will be
mailed next week. The
Committee urges our
alumni to respond. Your
cooperation in this very
important matter will be
appreciated.
Abbey
Players
Present
Anastasia
‘‘Anastasia,” a play of
intrigue and conspiracy,
was presented by the
Abbey Players on Oc
tober 10,11, and 12, at the
Little Theatre in St. Leo’s
Hall on the campus of
Belmont Abbey College.
Starring were:
Amanda Cleveland as
Anastasia; Paul Veltri as
Prince Bounine; and
Anne Bambach as the
Empress Dowager. The
supporting cast were
Randy Dobson, Debbie
Prince, Peter
Vollkommer and Chris
Whelan. —
by Brother Simon
O’Dohohue, O.S.B., and
Rosalind Roy was the
stage manager.
Written in French by
Marcelle Maurette and
translated by Guy Bolton,
the play is set in Berlin
during the year 1926.
Supposedly, the last
Russian Czar, Nicholas
and his wife and family
were all shot. Eight
years later, three
Russian conspirators, in
an attempt to get the
money which the Czar
deposited in a foreign
account for his children,
finds a girl, Anna, in an
asylum on the verge of
suicide and trains her so
thatshe-can be passed off
as the Czar’s daughter,
Anastasia. The climax
comes when the girl
meets the Empress
Dowager, who was the
grandmother of
Anastasia.
Freshman, Amanda
Cleveland, gave an ex
cellent performance as
Anastasia, in spite of the
fact that she has had no
previous acting ex
perience. The scene
where she meets her
‘‘grandmother”, the
Empress Dowager, was
very effectively per
formed by both Amanda
and Anne Bambach.
Paul Veltri portrayed a
convincing Prince
Bounine, and performed
with his usual finesse.
The supporting cast did
an excellent job in their
respective roles.
The play was
thoroughly enjoyed by all
who attended and the
cast got a standing
ovation.
Laudrum L. Cross
New Dean
Of
Students
Landrum L. Cross
irecently began fulfilling
■his duties as the new
Dean of Students at
Belmont Abbey College.
He replaced Warren L.
Clark who is now Vice-
President for Develop
ment.
Dean Cross came to
Belmont Abbey as a
specialist in student
personnel services. He
has held administrative
posts at Virginia
Polytechnical Institute
and State University
North Carolina State, anc
Guilford College, whicl
have all been related tc
student affairs. Cross
also was coordinator for
residence management
and counsellor for
student services and
programs at V.P.I., and
assistant dean of students
at Guilford College. In
addition, the new dean
has teaching experience
from LeRoy Martin
Junior High School,
Raleigh, and Myers Park
High School, Charlotte.
Presently a doctoral
candidate in Higher
Education Ad-
ministration at V.P.I.,
Dean Cross has received
his M.Ed. from N. C.
State, majoring in
guidance and coun
selling; B.A. in
Psychology from U.N.C.
at Chapel Hill; and A.A.
from Mars Hill College in
Pre-Medicine.
CROSSROADS
Published bi-monthly
by Belmont Abbey
College, Blemont, North
Carolina
Editor:
R. HOWARD SUGGS
Contributions:
MARY COOK
FR. BRADLEY
FR. JAMES
AND STAFF
Second class postage
paid at Belmont, N. C.
28012