Cushing Donates $5000 to Library

Richard Cardinal Cushing has given $5000 to the Divinity School to buy a collection of books on Roman Catholicism.

The Richard Cardinal Cushing Collection, selected by the Divinity School in consultation with Cushing, will serve as the main body of reference materials for Catholic studies at the non-sectarian theological school.

Two rare volumes, one written by Johannes Eck in 1529 and the other by Johannes Cochlaeus in 1582, printed during the Reformation, are included in the collection. They describe the Catholic reaction to the reforms proposed by Martin Luther.

"For future ministers and scholars, this will provide the necessary opening to an understanding of our brothers in another faith," Dean Samuel H. Miller remarked. "It thus reflects the growing ecumenical understanding which has been nourished so ardently in this community by Cardinal Cushing."

According to Dean Miller, interest in Catholic theology at the Divinity School has been especially stimulated since the establishment in 1958 of the Charles Chauncey Stillman Guest Professorship of Roman aCtholic theological Studies.

The new Cushing Collection will be housed in the Andover-Harvard Theological Library on Francis Ave. The library is open to undergraduates.