May 7, 2011
Cardinals Celebrate Mass at St. Bernard of Clairvaux Catholic Church
WASHINGTON, D.C. - America's Catholic cardinals gathered to raise scholarship funds for The Catholic University of America in Phoenix Friday, May 6, at the 22nd American Cardinals Dinner, held at the Hyatt Regency Scottsdale Resort and Spa at Gainey Ranch.
Most Rev. Thomas J. Olmsted, bishop of Phoenix, and John Garvey, President of CUA, served as co-hosts for the dinner, attended by approximately 400 guests.
Prior to the dinner, Bishop Olmsted was the principal celebrant and homilist at a 4 p.m. Mass at St. Bernard of Clairvaux Catholic Church in Scottsdale. Visiting cardinals, bishops, and clergy concelebrated the Mass, which was open to the public. Bishop Olmsted served as the homilist. Click here to read his homily.
To view photos and biographies of the cardinals and archbishops who attended the dinner along with President Garvey, click here .
The dinner featured four cardinals who currently serve as U.S. archbishops. They are: Cardinal Francis E. George, O.M.I., archbishop of Chicago; Cardinal Justin F. Rigali, archbishop of Philadelphia; Cardinal Sean Patrick O'Malley, O.F.M. Cap., archbishop of Boston; and Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, archbishop of Galveston-Houston. They also are members of CUA's Board of Trustees. Cardinal Edward M. Egan, archbishop emeritus of New York; and Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, archbishop emeritus of Los Angeles, were also present as special guests.
Also in attendance at the dinner were Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United States, and Most Rev. Allen H. Vigneron, archbishop of Detroit and chairman of the CUA Board of Trustees.
Each year a different diocese or archdiocese hosts the black-tie event; this is the first time the dinner has been held in Phoenix. In recent years the dinner has been held in such cities as Atlanta, Houston, Boston, Las Vegas, Miami, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and San Francisco. Since its inauguration, the annual event has raised more than $26 million to support scholarships for Catholic University students.
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Founded in 1887 and located in the heart of Washington, D.C., The Catholic University of America is unique as the national university of the Catholic Church in America. The only U.S. university established by the nation's Catholic bishops, CUA marked a special chapter in its distinguished history on April 17, 2008, when Pope Benedict XVI addressed Catholic educators from around the nation on campus. The university opened as a graduate research institution; undergraduate programs were introduced in 1904. Today the private and coeducational campus has approximately 6,900 undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in 12 schools of architecture and planning, arts and sciences, canon law, engineering, law, library and information science, music, nursing, philosophy, professional studies, social service, and theology and religious studies.