December 3, 1999 (Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - The following is from an Associated Press article, August 12, 1999 --

A Roman Catholic priest is taking over the leadership of Harvard’s Divinity School, replacing the dean forced to quit after pornography was found on his university-owned computer.

The Rev. J. Bryan Hehir is the first Catholic in the school’s 183-year history to assume the role in a permanent capacity. A product of the Divinity School himself, Hehir specializes in the study of Roman Catholic social teaching and has been a Harvard professor of religion and society since 1992.

He has been acting dean at Harvard since the university asked Dean Ronals F. Thiemann, an ordained Lutheran minister, to resign last fall for "conduct unbecoming." School computer technicians found thousands of pornographic sites on his personal computer at his university residence after Thiemann requested technical assistance in transferring files.

Hehir won’t actually be called dean, but will bear the title of "chair of an executive committee" for the school of about 550 students.

"Primarily, his responsibilities as a Catholic priest are to the Catholic Church. Given that, the job has been adjusted slightly in order to take advantage of his talents," said Joe Wrinn, a university spokesman.

Hehir has parish responsibilities at St. Paul’s near Harvard and at the Church of the Resurrection in Ellicott City, Maryland, outside Baltimore (Associated Press, August 12, 1999).