Harvard Divinity School leader to leave

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) -- The first Roman Catholic priest to lead the Harvard Divinity School plans to leave his post by year's end to become chief executive of Catholic Charities USA.

The Rev. Bryan Hehir, 60, who researches Catholic social ethics, public policy and international affairs, joined the Harvard faculty in 1992 and was appointed permanently to the school's top post in 1999.

Harvard credited Hehir with overseeing an $11 million fund-raising campaign to expand the Andover-Harvard Theological Library and helping establish professorships on Buddhism, Islam and religion and international conflict.

Catholic Charities, based in Baltimore, is a network of more than 1,400 agencies, offering services ranging from emergency shelter to substance abuse counseling. Hehir will succeed the Rev. Fred Kammer, who resigned after nearly 10 years on the job.

Details on a search for Hehir's successor at the Divinity School will be released after Lawrence Summers, the new Harvard University president, arrives next month.

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On the Net:

Harvard Divinity: http://www.hds.harvard.edu/

Catholic Charities: http://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/index.cfm