The STM has launched Lumen et Vita (“Light and Life”), an online journal showcasing student research and book reviews. Dean Mark Massa, S.J., worked with students to establish the journal, which is supervised by John F. Baldovin, S.J., professor of historical and liturgical theology, and hosted by the Boston College Libraries. Co-editors-in-chief Michael Magree, S.J., M.Div. ’13 (left), and Brian Himes, M.T.S. ’12, hope that Lumen et Vita’s open-access format will contribute to and encourage ongoing dialogue both in the School and in the wider academic community. To further that effort, the journal’s editorial team is organizing a fall colloquium and planning a spring symposium. Read the journal »

Andrea Vicini, S.J., M.D., Ph.D. ’00, S.T.L. ’01, has joined the faculty as associate professor in moral theology. A pediatrician, Vicini is an alumnus of Boston College and Weston Jesuit and holds a S.T.D. in moral theology from the Pontifical Faculty of Theology of Southern Italy in Naples. His research interests include fundamental moral theology, biotechnology, reproductive technology, medical ethics, genetics, and end-of-life and environmental issues. Vicini most recently served as a visiting assistant professor in the theology department at Boston College. He will teach moral theology, theological bioethics, and human sexuality at STM.

Two brothers from the Society of St. Edmund (S.S.E.)—an order that calls itself "a small band of priests and brothers with a missionary zeal to serve those most in need"—have joined members of the Jesuit, Capuchin, Redemptorist, and Assumptionist orders who are studying at STM this year in preparation for ordination. Lino Oropeza, S.S.E. (left), and Joseph Kwiatkowski, S.S.E., are pursuing master of divinity degrees. They are living with other religious and lay students at the Assumptionist Center in Brighton during their three years at the school.

Four STM students and 20 Boston College undergraduates attended Magis and World Youth Day 2011 in Portugal and Spain this August. Chelsea Echenique, Joseph Laramie, S.J., Erika Meyer, and Aaron Pidel, S.J., joined more than 3,000 students from around the globe in Azpeitia, Spain, at Magis, an Ignatian program for pilgrims from Jesuit institutions. The Boston College delegation, led by Assistant Dean for Admissions Sean Porter, gathered in the Sanctuary of Loyola, then split into small groups and traveled to sites in Portugal and Spain. The group reunited in Madrid, where they joined some two million other celebrants for World Youth Day, a five-day event that concluded with a Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI.

• The school welcomed 133 new students in September, bringing the school’s total enrollment to 405, an all-time high.
• The Weston Jesuit department is now the Ecclesiastical Faculty. The change follows last year’s renaming of the IREPM department as the Department of Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry.
• This year’s Summer Institute drew 311 students from around the world to campus for the annual program, which ran from June 27 through August 5.
• More than 200 people turned out for STM’s third annual celebration of the feast day of St. Mary Magdalene, a Mass followed by a lecture by New Testament scholar Carolyn Osiek, R.S.C.J. View Osiek’s presentation »

Rabbi Daniel L. Lehmann, president of Hebrew College, will deliver this year's lecture, “Beyond Catholic-Jewish Dialogue: A New Paradigm for the 21st Century,” on October 4. Open to the public. More information »