Answer to a prayer

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Part I: A higher grounding

Second of three parts

YPSILANTI, Mich. -- The new face of Roman Catholic higher education looks like Sean McNally, who is majoring in European history and literature at tiny Ave Maria College here.

Mr. McNally, 19, lives in Gabriel Hall, a residence for young men considering the priesthood. He regards himself as far more conservative than most of his elders.

"I went to a Catholic high school where I had to defend my faith to my professors," he says. "My principal was a lesbian living with her partner, and the priest [at the school] was a lunatic."

And that new face of Catholic colleges also looks like Arwen Mosher, 20, who after two years at the University of Michigan gave up a $6,000 engineering scholarship to take up theology studies at Ave Maria in January.

Not the most typical student -- she married at 19 rather than cohabit with her boyfriend -- she chose Ave Maria after checking out the University of Notre Dame.