O’Connell Addresses American Bishops in Baltimore, MD

University President Rev. David M. O’Connell discussed the University’s finances, campus development and the papal visit during an address to United States Catholic Bishops at their annual meeting on November 10 in Baltimore, his first appearance before the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops since 2001.
The annual national collection raised nearly $6 million, which funds financial aid and scholarships, and serves as a promotional tool for the University, he said in a Catholic News Service article.

“This past year [was] the best fundraising year in history,” said O’Connell.

The current financial crisis has hurt the University endowment, according to O’Connell. He said the endowment dropped in October from $227 million to $144 million before reaching its current total of $157 million. The University’s endowment was $38 million when O’Connell first arrived at the University in 1998. University investments shrank by $83 million, O’Connell said.

“The University is carefully monitoring this situation as well as our fundraising efforts and is taking steps necessary to face the coming year prudently, with an eye to the future,” O’Connell said in the article.

O’Connell also mentioned the opening of a new residence hall, Opus Hall in January, which will help with the University’s increasing enrollment, as well as plans to open a residence for student priests, which will accommodate 30 students this summer. He also discussed plans for a vocations discernment program.

O’Connell said 80 men and 30 women have entered a religious vocation during his tenure at the University.
O’Connell said Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the University was the highlight of his presidency.

“The Holy Father’s speech was extraordinary, as you know, but we felt a special pride in the fact that Pope Benedict chose Catholic University as his pulpit to address the church in our country on the topic of Catholic education,” said O’Connell in the article.

He said the pope’s visit was a reminder of the University’s role in the Church and academic community.

“I believe the University has moved far beyond the fits and starts of long ago in so many ways into an era of solid, forward momentum that places the national university of the Catholic Church in our country on the right trajectory and the path where it truly belongs,” said O’Connell. “The task is far from finished but those who will lead the University in the years ahead will stand on solid ground.”

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