After serving Dallas Catholics for the past decade, Bishop Kevin J. Farrell (also
chancellor of the University of Dallas) has been appointed by Pope Francis as the
highest-ranking American clergyman in the Vatican. Farrell will oversee the Dicastery
for Laity, Family and Life, a new department in which he will focus on the lives of
ordinary Catholics around the world.
University of Dallas President Thomas W. Keefe shared his remarks from the papal announcement:
“This morning’s announcement of Bishop Kevin J. Farrell’s appointment as prefect of the new Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life is bittersweet news for me personally and the greater University of Dallas community. While we are thankful that the church will have such a forgiving leader at this post, we will miss his ardent dedication to our institution and our mission.
“Not only has Bishop Farrell provided me with invaluable counsel, loyalty and friendship, but his unwavering support has been an integral part of the university’s transformation into one of the country’s elite Catholic universities. For this, we are eternally grateful.”
The Diocese of Dallas also shared Bishop Farrell’s remarks on his new appointment as prefect of the new Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life.
A flurry of headlines resulted from the news of Bishop Farrell’s appointment, which becomes effective Sept. 1.
On Feb. 25 and 26, seven UD students traveled to Austin with Director of Undergraduate Admissions and Enrollment Michael Probus, BA '12 MBA '15, to advocate for continuing and/or increasing Tuition Equalization Grant (TEG) money.
+ Read MoreMike Kiegerl's youngest daughter, Christine, would have graduated from UD in the Class of 1994, but just before her graduation, she was struck by an impaired truck driver and died instantly. Kiegerl and his wife, Peggy, established the Christine S. Kiegerl Memorial Scholarship in their girl's memory in 1997.
+ Read MoreUD students not only read St. Augustine's "Confessions" in Rome, traveling to Ostia to marvel at the place in which, according to Book IX, St. Augustine and his mother, St. Monica, had a joint mystical vision of God — they also travel 4.4 miles from the Irving campus to read the text with residents of South Irving.
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