This Bible was used when Abraham Lincoln was sworn in as president of the United States in 1861, and again last month for President Barack Obama. It is pictured at the Library of Congress in Washington. (CNS/Nancy Wiechec)
Before his inauguration, President Barack Obama re-created a small part of the train trip Abraham Lincoln made to the nation’s capital 148 years before. And it is not news that Obama often has invoked the words of the nation’s 16th president — from the campaign trail to the Oval Office.
Now across the country — and even around the globe — people young and old alike are preparing to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of the Great Emancipator.
Here are a couple of ways Catholic universities are participating:
– In the “Land of Lincoln,” students at Jesuit-run Loyola University Chicago have created a class project as part of “Lincoln & Citizen Journalism” in the School of Communications.
– In Washington, The Catholic University of America is sponsoring several public lectures and offering a series of courses that examine Lincoln in history, politics and culture.
As it happens the campus of Catholic University is geographically close to a place imbued with the spirit of Lincoln: the summer cottage where the president and his family spent quite a bit of time during the Civil War.
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