April 26, 2012 U.S. Cardinals to Gather in Chicago April 27 for Annual CUA Scholarship Fundraiser America's Catholic cardinals will gather in Chicago Friday, April 27, to raise money for college scholarships at the 23rd American Cardinals Dinner, to be held at the Hilton Chicago Hotel.Cardinal Francis George, O.M.I., Archbishop of Chicago, and John Garvey, President of The Catholic University of America, will serve as co-hosts for the dinner. All proceeds from the event will benefit Catholic University scholarship funds.Prior to the dinner, Cardinal George will serve as the principal celebrant and homilist at a 3:45 p.m. Mass at Holy Name Cathedral, State and Superior streets, Chicago. Visiting cardinals , bishops, and clergy will concelebrate the Mass, which will be open to the public."I'm honored to attend the dinner with the cardinals, whose support is critical to our goal of drawing the brightest students to The Catholic University of America," says President Garvey. "At Catholic University, where our dedication to the mission of Catholic education has never been stronger, our students recently performed more than 275,000 hours of service as part of our 125th anniversary celebration.""The Archdiocese of Chicago is honored to host the Cardinals Dinner during this 125th anniversary year in the history of Catholic University," says Cardinal George. "It's a joy to host the cardinals and to honor the University's significant contribution to the Church by helping to raise scholarship funding for deserving students."The dinner is expected to feature the five cardinals who currently serve as archbishops of U.S. dioceses and as members of the CUA Board of Trustees.Also expected to attend the dinner is one retired cardinal and Most Rev. Carlo Maria Viganò, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States.Each year a different diocese or archdiocese hosts the black-tie event; this is the third time the dinner has been held in Chicago (the 1992 and 2000 dinners were hosted in the Windy City). In recent years the dinner has been held in such cities as Phoenix, 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. MEDIA: For more information about the event, contact Katie Lee or Mary McCarthy in the CUA Office of Public Affairs at 202-319-5600 or Colleen Dolan, director of the Department of Communications and Public Relations, Archdiocese of Chicago, at 312-534-8289 (office) or cdolan@archchicago.org.* * * * 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.