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This article addresses apparent impasses between "Mercy" and "Catholic" identities in our colleges and universities. Each of the contributors represents a unique voice arising from her or his role and experience within the university community. All are grappling with the tension generated by the university's efforts to discover, communicate, and embody what it means to be both Catholic and Mercy at this uncertain juncture in the post-Vatican II Church in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gated communities are a rapidly growing phenomenon in all areas of the country. This paper focuses on one aspect of the rise of gated communities: the motivations of status and exclusion. In gated developments from the wealthiest country clubs to the simple middle-class subdivision, gales are used to exclude outsiders and signal status and prestige. They also offer a sense of security from crime; a controlled environment that is aimed at protecting property values, and to varying degrees, a set of amenities and services that provide a managed community. At the same time, they manifest the growing reliance on privatization of formerly public services and the desire for social distance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]