AUGUSTA -- The Calumet Educational and Literary Foundation is the latest Augusta institution to change the name of a scholarship it has offered in the name of the Rev. John J. Curran.

The change, however, is not a response to allegations of sexual abuse by the late priest, foundation president Jan Michaud said.

Foundation trustees decided at a recent meeting to combine the Curran scholarship with another award offered by the foundation, she said. The scholarships' merger corresponds with the ongoing merger of the Augusta-based St. Michael Parish and the Winthrop-based St. Francis Xavier Parish.

"Now we're up to nine churches," Michaud said. "It just makes so much more sense."

The Calumet Foundation's name change came weeks after officials at the University of Maine at Augusta changed the name of a scholarship the college offered in Curran's name. That award is now called the Leadership and Service Scholarship.