Our Methodist friends are rightfully celebrating today the centennial of the founding of Southern Methodist University in 1911. Dallas is much richer for the presence of SMU and the thousands of graduates and students that have been educated there.

Dallas has never been reluctant to actively seek those entities that have made it a great city, and as SMU President Gerald Turner wrote in today’s Dallas Morning News, Dallas made a better offer than Fort Worth. The university’s first building was thus named Dallas Hall.

Our city and state have been, and continue to be, well served by the university and its nationally recognized graduate, undergraduate and research programs.

The Diocese of Dallas has maintained a Catholic presence at SMU since 1932, and many Catholics are among the faculty, students and graduates. Today the Catholic Campus Ministry serves more than 1500 Catholic students in a facility provided by the generosity of Thomas and Judy Neuhoff.

We congratulate Southern Methodist University and the United Methodist Church for the vision shown in the founding of this great university and for their significant contribution to higher education in Dallas and Texas.