On March 28, 2018, Our Lady of the Angels Province Minister Provincial, the Very Reverend Fr. James McCurry, OFM Conv. and OLA Friar, Fr. Jude DeAngelo, OFM Conv. met for an hour and a half with the President of The Catholic University of America, Dr. John Garvey, who express the highest esteem for the ministry of our Friars at CUA.  Friar Jude serves as University Chaplain & Director of Campus Ministry. At the conclusion of the meeting, Friar James signed the contract renewing our Friars’ commitment for four more years.

Cool Side Note: The desk on which the signing took place, in the President’s Office, is the famous “Lincoln Desk”  – used by Abraham Lincoln at his law office in Springfield, Illinois.  The heirloom eventually became the property of President Garvey’s grandfather, who owned the Lincoln estate in Springfield.

Excerpt from a January 2013 online article referencing the desk: “During the Depression, Garvey’s grandfather (a Lincoln buff) had purchased all the land surrounding Lincoln’s childhood home in Springfield. Fast forward to the 1960s, and the U.S. Park Service condemned the land to take it over and turn the house into a museum.
(At that time, the desk had come into the Garvey family through just three previous owners since it was sold following Lincoln’s assassination.)
Garvey’s father, a lawyer, helped defend his grandfather during the condemnation proceedings so he could get a fair price on the land. He wouldn’t accept payment, of course, since it was all in the family. So instead of monetary compensation, Garvey’s grandfather gave the desk to his father. Today, Garvey still doesn’t know how he managed to beat out his seven siblings to inherit the desk, but he suspects it might be because he’s the oldest of the bunch, and he’s also a lawyer.”