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World-Renowned Author, Theologian Michael Novak Among Honorees At Belmont Abbey College Commencement

Templeton Prizewinning author, theologian, professor, journalist and former U.S. ambassador Michael Novak will be one of four recipients of honorary degrees at Belmont Abbey College’s Commencement exercises on May 16.

Other honorees include Archbishop J. Michael Miller, C.S.B., Archbishop of Vancouver, who will be celebrating the Abbey’s Commencement Mass and delivering the homily; Dr. Robert Preston, former president of Belmont Abbey College, and founder of the Bradley Institute for the Study of Christian Culture; and Edward C. Ruff, retired CPA, financial consultant, community leader and Trustee of Belmont Abbey College.

Michael Novak received the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion (a million-dollar purse awarded at Buckingham Palace) in 1994, an award that has also gone to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Mother Teresa. Among his many other honors are the International Prize by the Institution for World Capitalism, which he received with Milton Friedman and Vaclav Klaus, and the Anthony Fisher Prize for his book The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism. This masterpiece has been reprinted often in Latin America, and was published underground in Poland in 1984. One reviewer called it, “one of those rare books that actually changed the world.” The author of some 27 books, Mr. Novak has served as Ambassador for the U.S. Delegation to the U.N. Human Rights Commission, and he has taught at Harvard and Stanford and has held academic chairs at Syracuse University and Notre Dame. Mr. Novak currently holds the George Frederick Jewett Chair in Religion and Public Policy at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., where he is Director of Social and Political Studies.

Archbishop J. Michael Miller, C.S. B., is the Archbishop of Vancouver, British Columbia, and a distinguished  theologian, educator and Church leader. He was ordained a priest by Pope Paul VI in 1975, and in 2003, Pope John Paul II appointed him titular Archbishop of Vertara, Secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education and Vice President of the Pontifical Work of Priestly Vocations. He was named Coadjutor Archbishop of Vancouver by Pope Benedict XVI, and succeeded to the see on January 2, 2009, In 1979, Father Miller joined the faculty of the Department of Theology at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas, and subsequently served as its Chair and as Dean of the School of Theology at St. Mary’s Seminary. On July 1, 1997, he became the seventh president of the University of St. Thomas in Houston, a position he held until January 2004. Archbishop Miller is a prolific writer. A specialist on the papacy and modern papal teaching, he has published seven books and more than 100 scholarly and journalistic articles. His books include The Shepherd and the Rock: Origins, Development, and Mission of the Papacy, and The Encyclicals of John Paul II.

Dr. Robert Preston served as President of Belmont Abbey College from 1995-2001. Prior to that, he served as the Academic Dean of Bellarmine College in Louisville, Kentucky; Vice President for Academic Affairs at Loyola University in New Orleans; and Provost of Illinois Benedictine College in Lisle, Illinois. He received his B.A. degree from Belmont Abbey College in 1953, and went on to earn his M.A. and his Ph.D. in Philosophy at The Catholic University of America. Since 2001, Dr. Preston has served as the Executive Director of the Bradley Institute for the Study of Christian Culture, which he founded to honor The Rev. John Bradley, his teacher and former President of Belmont Abbey College. From 1999-2009, Preston was also in charge of organizing and leading the annual Weaver/Ingersoll Symposium and awarding the Richard M. Weaver Prize for Scholarly Letters, both under the auspices of the Bradley Institute. Past winners of the Weaver Prize include Russell Kirk, Josef Pieper, Shelby Foote, Robert P. George, Paul Johnson and Roger Scruton. Dr. Preston is the author of Ideas Have Consequences Fifty Years Later, published in Steps Toward Restoration: The Consequences of Richard Weaver’s Ideas.

Edward C. Ruff retired in March, 2000 as Chief Operating Officer of IJL Wachovia and has been actively engaged in church and community service ever since. A native of California, he graduated from the University of San Francisco in 1962. During his career, Ruff’s professional accreditations included Certified Public Accountant and Certified Management Consultant.  He was a chapter president of the Financial Executives Institute, an allied member of the New York Stock Exchange, and a contributing author of The Stock Market Handbook.  Mr. Ruff is an emeritus member of The Salvation Army’s National Advisory Board, serving since its inception in 1977 and from time to time serving as Treasurer, Executive Committee member, and chair of various Board committees. An active Catholic layman, Mr. Ruff presently serves on the Finance Council and the Investment Committee of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte.  He chairs the Finance Committee of the Belmont Abbey College Board of Trustees, has served on the board of Room At The Inn, a Catholic maternity home, and is a Knight of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre.

More About Belmont Abbey College: Named one of the top 50 “All-American Colleges” by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI), Belmont Abbey College finds its center in Jesus Christ and believes in the development of the whole person –   in mind, body and spirit.

The College’s mission statement: “Our mission is to educate students in the liberal arts and sciences so that in all things God may be glorified. In this endeavor, we are guided by the Catholic intellectual tradition and the Benedictine spirit of prayer and learning. Exemplifying Benedictine hospitality, we welcome a diverse body of students and provide them with an education that will enable them to lead lives of integrity, to succeed professionally, to become responsible citizens, and to be a blessing to themselves and to others.”

Founded in 1876, the College is home to nearly 1,500 students from 29 states and 24 countries. The campus is situated on the 650-acre picturesque monastic property of Belmont Abbey. Located just 10 miles west of Charlotte, N.C., it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. For more information, please visit the College’s website at www.belmontabbeycollege.edu.

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