While this article is not about women's colleges or exclusively women presidents, the author notes, it is women's colleges that have experienced the greatest challenges, due primarily to financial constraints and competition. As operational costs escalated and choices for students increased, many small struggling colleges with little or no endowment were forced to either close, merge, or become co-educational. Some were acquired by larger, more affluent institutions. The author states that, even more significant for Catholic higher education, has been the decline in the numbers available for leadership among remaining religious and priests, the increasingly significant role of the laity in the Church and its institutions, as well as the demand for skills more likely to be found in lay candidates. As a first lay president, she has found that her contribution and knowledge was enriched by visiting the place of origin of the founders. Her inaugural address is the ideal occasion to focus on the rich tradition that the lay president will inherit, continue, build upon, and advance with the entire academic community. This inaugural address became the foundation for Mount St. Mary's strategic plan. In it, she pledged that, as an academic community, they would formally and intentionally articulate together the central values of their mission so that each individual would serve as a catalyst for the others in keeping vibrant and fresh their contribution to the academy, to the city, and to the world. Leading a Catholic university as president calls one to be conscious of the call to stewardship to which they commit by accepting such a position. The future of Catholic higher education, as it moves to lay leadership, now includes many potential lay leaders who are eager to advance the great enterprise of Catholic higher education.