We are happy to announce the election of M. Victor Westberg, C.S.B., of Los Altos, California, to The Christian Science Board of Directors, effective August 5, 2003. Mr. Westberg has been elected to fill the vacancy that has occurred following the passing of Board Vice Chairman and Christian Science Publishing Society Manager John Lewis Selover, on August 1. John had recently appointed Mr. Westberg as Assistant Manager of the Publishing Society.
At this writing, tributes continue to flow in from around the world honoring our dear colleague John Selover and his remarkable record of service to the Casue of Christian Science. John first came to The Mother Church in 1970, to manage its community and public affairs activities, in connection with the construction of the Christian Science Plaza. Prior to his appointment as Director in 1985, John became a Christian Science practitioner and teacher—and went on to fill a number of posts for the Church, including Manager of the Department of Branches and Practitioners; Field Assistant ministering to congregations in Indonesia, India, Africa, and the United States; and the United States; and Committee on Publication for Northern California.
As Manager of the Publishing Society beginning in 1998, John fostered a period of unique growth—highlighted by the winning of a seventh Pulitzer Prize for The Christian Science Monitor, the paper's enormously successful expansion into Web publication, and ongoing efforts to keep the religious publications "abreast of the times" (Manual of The Mother Church, p. 44). Journal readers will especially remember his incisive and healing contributions to this magazine's editorial columns.
