Local News
Archdiocese To Host Annual Cardinals Dinner
Published: March 18, 2010
ATLANTA—The cardinals of the United States will be honored at a national Catholic dinner to be held in the Atlanta Archdiocese for the first time. Proceeds from the event provide scholarships for students at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.
Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles, Cardinal Francis George, OMI, of Chicago, Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, OFM Cap., of Boston and Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, Texas, who are the active cardinals in U.S. dioceses, are to be especially honored at the April 23 black-tie dinner at the Hyatt Regency in Atlanta.
Other prelates expected to attend include Cardinal Adam Maida, retired archbishop of Detroit, Cardinal William Keeler, retired archbishop of Baltimore, and Cardinal Edward Egan, retired archbishop of New York. Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl of Washington, D.C., who is chancellor of the university, and Archbishop Allen Vigneron of Detroit, chairman of the university board, are also expected to attend.
Mass for those attending the dinner will be celebrated at 4 p.m. at the Cathedral of Christ the King with the cardinals and other prelates as concelebrants. Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory will preside at the Mass. The president of The Catholic University of America, Father David M. O’Connell, CM, will be the homilist.
The American Cardinals Dinner has been held annually since 1989 in different dioceses around the United States. It is an occasion for benefactors of CUA to gather in support of the work of the university, which is the national university of the Catholic Church in the United States. More than $25 million has been raised for scholarships for academically qualified students at CUA in need of financial aid since the dinner was inaugurated.
Archbishop Gregory, a member of the board of trustees, and Father O’Connell are co-hosts for the 2010 American Cardinals Dinner, the 21st to be held and the first in Atlanta. The Hyatt Regency event includes a reception at 6 p.m. followed by the dinner and program, which includes a speaker and presentation, at 7 p.m. Some 800 people from around the country and from the Atlanta Archdiocese are expected to attend. Over 40 priests, deacons, religious brothers and sisters in the archdiocese have studied at Catholic University, as well as lay persons.
Tickets to the American Cardinals Dinner are $1,000 a person. Table sponsorships of $10,000, $12,000 and $25,000 are also available, according to Nancy Coveny, executive director of the Catholic Foundation of North Georgia, who said some sponsoring tables are inviting their pastor to join them for the dinner.
For information about the American Cardinals Dinner, including tickets and table sponsorships, contact the Catholic Foundation of North Georgia at (404) 497-9440. Information is also available at
http://cardinalsdinner.cua.edu/dinner.
