Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J.
Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society at Fordham University

Internationally known author and lecturer, Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., was born in Auburn, New York, August, 24, 1918, to John Foster Dulles, who negotiated the United States peace treaty with Japan ending World War II, and Janet Pomeroy Avery Dulles.  His primary and secondary education was conducted in New York City, Switzerland, and New England.  After graduating from Harvard College in 1940, he studied at Harvard Law School, served in the United States Navy, and then entered the Jesuit Order.  He was ordained to the priesthood in 1956.  He achieved his doctoral degree in Sacred Theology from the Gregorian University in Rome in 1960, and was created a Cardinal of the Catholic Church in Rome February 21, 2001.  He is the first American-born theologian to receive this honor without first being named a bishop.

 Cardinal Dulles has taught at Fordham University, the Jesuit University of New York, as the Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society, but has also served on the faculty of Woodstock College from 1960 to 1974 and The Catholic University of America from 1974 to 1988.  His publications include more than 750 articles on theological topics and 22 books.  He is the past president of both the Catholic Theological Society of America and the American Theological Society, and Professor Emeritus at The Catholic University of America.  He has served on the International Theological Commission and as a member of the United States Lutheran/Roman Catholic Dialogue.  He is presently a consultant to the Committee on Doctrine of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.

John F. Donahue
Philanthropist and Member of the AMU Board of Trustees

Mr. John F. "Jack" Donahue was born, raised, and resided in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, until 1942 when he enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps.  While serving in the Air Corps, he was accepted as a cadet into the United States Military Academy at West Point.  Four years later he graduated, was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, and remained in the service until 1950. The same year that he graduated from West Point, 1946, he married Miss Rhodora Jacob.  Mr. and Mrs. Donahue are the parents of 13 children, who in turn have presented the Donahues with 83 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

Subsequent to his retirement from the Air Corps, Donahue joined an investment firm and began his stellar career as one of America's premier investment managers.  Founding Federated Investors in 1955, he eventually became the company's chairman and chief executive officer, serving in that capacity until 1998.  Today the firm is by any calculation among the top fund management firms in the world, serving thousands of client financial entities around the globe.  Donahue remains active in the firm, even though today the organization is under the executive leadership of two of his sons.

Throughout their lives, Mr. and Mrs. Donahue have repeatedly and consistently demonstrated their commitment to the Catholic Church through philanthropic contributions and service to secondary schools, individual parishes, Catholic publications, various faith-based charitable causes, and universities.  The students, faculty, and staff of Ave Maria University are thankful that the institution is among the higher educational institutions supported through the philanthropy of the Donahue family, just as the officers and members of the Board of Trustees are proud and appreciative of Donahue's service and commitment to the university and the Catholic Church.

Joseph Scheidler
Founder and National Director of Pro-Life League

Pro-Life activist Joseph Scheidler joins Ave Maria University as the commencement speaker at AMU's 2006 ceremonies.  He has engaged in Pro-Life activities at great personal risk as evidenced in the charges brought against him by the National Organization for Women under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.  He was found guilty of trespassing because he and three other protestors went into an abortuary to announce that they would be demonstrating there on the subsequent day.  In 1986, in NOW vs. Scheidler, members of NOW took advantage of the sentence to bring him up on racketeering charges, claiming he and his fellow would-be protestors were trying to extort the abortion clinic.  On Feb. 28, 2006, the Supreme Court decided in favor of Scheidler in a unanimous decision.  This twenty-year case stands as the only case in the history of the United States that has come before the Supreme Court three times.

Scheidler is a former Benedictine monk and the national director of the Pro-Life Action League, a national pro-life education and activist organization with its headquarters in Chicago.  He and his wife Ann, the executive director of the Pro-Life Action League, have seven children and fifteen grandchildren.  He has written the book CLOSED: 99 Ways to Stop Abortion and produced the videos Meet the Abortion Providers, Abortion: The Inside Story, No Greater Joy, Face the Truth, and Action Speaks Louder Than Words.  The video No Greater Joy is the definitive video on sidewalk counseling, an activity with which AMU Students For Life members are well aquainted.  Scheidler has been a stimulating and controversial guest on more than a thousand radio and television programs including ABC News Nightline, Crossfire, Face the Nation, MacNeil/Lehrer Report, and The O'Reilly Factor, and has written guest columns for a host of newspapers such as USA Today.  He has spoken in more than a thousand towns and cities since 1980 and conducted on-site workshops and lectures in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Canada, and Italy.

Scheidler is a recognized expert on the abortion culture, sidewalk counseling, pro-life activism, fetal experimentation, working with the media, the responsibility of the Church to fight abortion, battling the courts, and the need for a return to morality.  He offers pro-life news and commentary three times a week through his Action News Hotline, which can be read online.