Steubenville, Ohio, May 16, 2012 / 07:36 am
The Franciscan University of Steubenville has appointed author and professor Dr. Scott Hahn to an endowed chair named for the priest who pioneered the school's Catholic revival.
Hahn's reception of the “Father Michael Scanlan Chair of Biblical Theology and the New Evangelization” was announced May 12 during the school's 64th commencement ceremony by Father Terence Henry, TOR, who succeeded Fr. Scanlan as the school's president.
“Through his work at Franciscan University, his scholarly research and publications, his popular writing and countless speaking engagements, Dr. Scott Hahn has done the very thing the Fathers of Vatican II called upon Catholic scholars to do,” Fr. Henry said in his announcement.
“This new appointment will aid him in his ongoing work in teaching sacred Scripture and the New Evangelization, which is so close to his heart.”
A well-known convert from Protestantism to the Catholic Church, Hahn has taught classes on theology and Scripture at Franciscan University since 1990. He is the author of over 40 scholarly and popular books, and the founder and director of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology.
Hahn said he was “deeply grateful” and “humbled by the honor of holding an endowed chair named after Father Michael Scanlan, one of my personal heroes in the faith, as well as a spiritual father and dear friend for over 20 years.”
He praised the work of the priest, who revitalized the school formerly known as the College of Steubenville after taking over leadership during a troubled period in the 1970s. Fr. Scanlan, who retired in 2011, maintains the title of “President Emeritus” at the university.
“For over a generation,” Hahn said, “Father Mike has shown us how to combine academic study and spiritual fervor in a way that changes lives – our own and others – and thus how to advance the New Evangelization, which is at the heart of the Church’s mission.”
The endowment-supported position will allow Hahn to increase his teaching and mentoring activities on campus, and to develop online graduate courses, while continuing his schedule of speaking engagements and media appearances.