CDU faculty members gathered on April 9th to take the Oath of Fidelity to the Catholic Church and make the Profession of Faith at the Chancery of the Diocese of Arlington. CDU Trustee Bishop Michael F. Burbidge, DD, PhD, conducted the ceremony as the local ordinary. In keeping with Canon law, the mandatum ceremony is held to ensure that faculty teach in full communion with the Church and reflects CDU’s commitment to remain faithful to the Magisterium. Pictured, from left to right: Dr. James Kruggel, Dr. Peter Brown, Bishop Michael F. Burbidge, Father Bevil Bramwell, and Dr. Matthew Bunson. Dr. Marcellino D’Ambrosio and Dr. Marie Nuar attended remotely.

Raymond Clement of Jalan Novena Utara, Singapore, works as an in-house counsel for a bank. In late 2018 he earned his MA degree in Theology. “I decided to study theology after experiencing a nagging feeling for a number of years that I was not plumbing the inexhaustible richness of the Catholic Faith,” Raymond says. “I also felt a keen awareness that in order to engage intelligently in the culture wars that are shaping the times we live in, I needed to be equipped with the right tools.” He chose CDU primarily due to its completely online teaching format. “Other universities I came across uniformly had a residency requirement that I would have found difficult to fulfill,” he says. “CDU’s faithfulness to the Magisterium and the quality of its faculty were also important considerations.” Despite working in banking—a field seemingly unrelated to theology--Raymond finds his degree useful in his work. “My knowledge of theology has helped me to see my work in a different light and shown me more opportunities to practice my faith in the workplace,” he says. Raymond took a break from volunteering at church while studying at CDU but intends to begin again now that he has completed his degree program. In the past he has led a church choir and advised churches on legal matters. “Church attendance in Singapore is high, and there is a deep hunger for God’s Word,” he says. “I hope to help in a small way to fulfil this need after having completed my studies at CDU.” What Raymond enjoyed most about his experience at CDU was the sense of belonging to a Catholic community and the passion he developed for sharing the Faith with others.

On March 7th, Professor Chris Padgett successfully defended his thesis, “The Life and Mariology of Father Juniper Carol, O.F.M,” earning his Licentiate in Sacred Theology at the Marianist Institute at the University of Dayton. Chris has been a faculty member since 2015 and will teach THEO 304 Foundations of Catholicism and THEO 640 Presenting the Faith in the Modern World: Dealing with the Hard Questions in the Summer I term. Father Juniper Carol was born in 1911 in Cardenas, Cuba, and eventually came to the United States and joined the Franciscans. He started the Mariological Research Institute and published extensively on the predestination of Mary with Jesus, The Debitum Peccati, and Mary as coredemptrix, exploring her crucial role in salvation history. He died in 1990. “I was first introduced to Carol through Mariology courses I took at Franciscan University of Steubenville,” Chris says. “I ended up having Dr. Mark Miravalle as my adviser, and I think that his love for Mary and the people he referenced had a big influence on me.” Chris and his wife, Linda, have been married for more than 25 years and have nine children--five girls and four boys--and a couple of grandchildren. They live in Central New York on a little homestead in a nine-sided, red house and travel extensively. Chris and Linda and have a non-profit ministry for Marriages and Families called Catholic Family and Marriage, Inc. www.catholicfam.org. Chris is active on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.