The American Catholic Historical Association has named Benedictine Father Colman Barry president of the national group which held its 56th annual convention here this week. Father Barry, dean of the school of religious studies at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., had served the association this past year as first vice-president.

Father Barry succeeds Jesuit Father Robert I. Burns of the University of San Francisco. Named first vice-president for the group was Professor John A. Lukacs, chairman of the history department of Chestnut Hill College in Pennsylvania. Other officers named were: Dominican Father Leonard E. Boyle of Toronto, second vice-president; executive council members Professor John G. Gallagher of Southern Illinois University and Sister Karen Kennelly of the College of St. Catherine in St. Cloud, Minn. Professor Nicholas Varga of Loyola College in Baltimore will serve a three year term on the committee on nominations.

Father Barry has authored and edited a number of published works and has also served as an administrator and professor.

During the three-day convention in Atlanta, the association awarded two authors for their works on immigrant Catholic communities. Recipient of the second yearly Howard R. Marraro prize was Father Silvana M. Tomasi, C.S., of the Center for Migration Studies in Staten Island, N.Y. Father Tomasi’s book “Piety and Power: the Role of the Italian Parishes in the New York Metropolitan Area 1880-1930” received the $500 award presented annually for a distinguished scholarly work on Italian or Italo-American history.

Dr. Jay Patrick Dolan of the University of Notre Dame was named recipient of the John Gillmary Shea award of $300 for his work “The Immigrant Church: New York’s Irish and German Catholics, 1815-1865.” The award is presented to the author judged to have made the most original and significant contribution to the historiography of the Catholic Church.