PEOPLE

Eduardo Villanueva, a TV evangelist popularly known as Brother Eddie, says it is God’s will that he become president to save the Philippines from the hell fires of corruption. His Web site asserts that Villanueva’s run for the presidency “is not in his plans [but] it was in God’s agenda.” Villanueva, 58, says he aims to restore “morality and righteousness” through a leadership based on “transparency” and “accountability.” Villanueva’s Jesus Is Lord movement claims 7.1 million members. Filipinos went to the polls May 10. Final results are expected in a couple weeks.

Mercy Sr. Mary E. Bendyna has been named executive director of the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate in Washington. She is the first woman and first woman religious to head the 40-year-old independent Catholic research organization, which specializes in research on Catholic life, education, ministry, organization and leadership.

Holy Cross Fr. John I. Jenkins will become the 17th president of the University of Notre Dame after Holy Cross Fr. Edward A. Malloy steps down as president at the end of his current term on June 30, 2005. Jenkins, a vice president and associate provost at Notre Dame since July 2000, was elected to a five-year term by the university’s board of trustees April 30. He is an associate professor of philosophy and has been a member of the Notre Dame faculty since 1990.

Bishop Luis Bambaren Gastelumendi officially turned over the Chimbote diocese to his successor May 2, closing a long chapter of ministry as one of Peru’s most socially active bishops. The bishop officially submitted his resignation last year, when he turned 75. Bambaren became auxiliary bishop of Lima in 1968, with responsibility for the shantytowns -- known as pueblos jovenes or “young towns” -- that were springing up around the capital. He became bishop in Chimbote in 1978.

National Catholic Reporter, May 14, 2004