NCR Today

The WSJ reports that "High-school students' performance last year on the SAT college-entrance exam fell slightly, and the score gap generally widened between lower-performing minority groups and white and Asian-American students, raising questions about the effectiveness of national education reform efforts.

"It was a total surprise to me to see another world he was involved in -- the spiritual world," said Rev. Patrick Tarrant of Our Lady of Victory Church.

Tarrant, who was called to Kennedy's bedside late Tuesday as the senator was dying, said it was clear that Kennedy was ready for the journey that awaited him. He described the senator as "a man of quiet prayer" in his last hours.

"I think the whole world knows certain parts very well, but I think there's another part of his life that very few people know, and that's his deep faith. His very deep faith in God and his love for his family," Tarrant said.

Dominican Fr. Cletus Wessels died on Aug. 13. He was a pastor, theologian, author, college professor and seminary president. He made his profession as a Dominican friar in 1951, followed by his ordination as a priest in 1957. He held a doctorate in systematic theology from St. Paul University, Ottawa, Ontario.

He served for 18 years as professor of theology at Aquinas Institute of Theology in Dubuque, Iowa, and became the third president of the Institute (which is now located in St. Louis). He also taught for a time at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids as well as other centers of learning, including the Quixote Center in Hyattsville, Md., and the Weber Center in Adrian, Mich.

Wessels died of complications from Alzheimer's disease Wednesday at Providence Health Care Center in Minneapolis. He was 79.

He devoted the last years of his life to preaching and writing about the “new universe story” and its implications for Catholic theology and spirituality. He wrote two books on this subject: The Holy Web: Church and the New Universe Story (2000) and Jesus in the New Universe Story (2003).

I don’t often cry when a public figure dies. This morning, I cried when I heard the news that Senator Ted Kennedy had passed away.

I "grew up" with the Kennedy Clan. I remember how John Kennedy broke the "Catholic barrier" with his election in 1960. I remember Robert Kennedy’s prophetic words as he ran for President in 1968… his fearless embrace of the “least of these” and his opposition to the War in Vietnam. And I remember the wrenching agony of the two Kennedy assassinations.

But today feels a bit like the end of an era. Ted Kennedy, like his brothers, was a champion of civil rights, women’s rights, and the welfare of the “least of these.” He strongly and eloquently opposed the war in Iraq. Because his life (and the lives of others in his family) embraced the great Catholic social justice tradition, they have made me proud to be a Catholic.

So I guess now… the torch has been passed… to us.