Mother Katharine Drexel, a Philadelphia nun who established schools for blacks and American Indians, has been beatified by Pope John Paul II.
By proclaiming Mother Drexel worthy of veneration, the Pontiff also made her eligible to be canonized as the second American-born saint. The first was Mother Elizabeth Seton, who was canonized in 1975.
Mother Drexel, who died in 1955 at the age of 96, used a multi-million-dollar inheritance to found the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People. The order presently maintains 20 schools in 12 states.
Mother Drexel also founded Xavier University of Louisiana.
Rachel J. Andresen, founder of one of the oldest and largest high-school student-exchange programs, has died at age 81.
In 1951, while a teacher in the Detroit public schools and executive director of the Ann Arbor-Washtenaw County Council of Churches, Ms. Andresen established the Youth for Understanding International Exchange.
Ms. Andresen became the program’s executive director, overseeing its growth into a network that now organizes exchanges for some 7,000 students a year in 27 countries.
Ms. Andresen was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1971. She retired in 1973.
