University officials announced Wednesday that J. Bryan Hehir, the Divinity School's interim leader for the past eight months, will become the school's permanent head, making him the first Roman Catholic ever to hold the position at Harvard.

Search committee member Harvey G. Cox said the appointment is an indication of how much has changed at the Divinity School since it was founded in 1636 as a training ground for Protestant Puritans.

"I think this is a very major development in American religion and American theological education to have a Roman Catholic priest as head of the oldest divinity school in the country," said Cox, the Thomas Professor of Divinity. Catholics now make up 16% of the school's student body.

"This is a sign of the new ecumenical and open era in which we're living," Cox said.

Cox said faculty members at the meeting where the announcement was made on Wednesday greeted the news with a standing ovation.

Students also seemed pleased by the choice.

"I think there will be a general sense of excitement to have him as dean," said Elizabeth N. Valera, the president of the Divinity School's student body. "I know I'm happy about it. I really can't imagine a better choice."

"There are many students that expressed their opinion that they wanted him to serve as the interim head," added Andrew W. Ulman, who served on the school's Student Association Executive Council. "He's well liked by a lot of different people."

Hehir will succeed Dean Ronald F. Thiemann, who stepped down last fall after University computer technicians found pornography on his computer. Divinity School policy prohibits storing material that is "inappropriate, obscene, bigoted or abusive" on University computers and limits computer use to activities "related to the School's mission of education, research and public service."