April 30, 2012
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, will address the Class of 2012 at the 123rd Annual Commencement Ceremony of The Catholic University of America at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 12.
Catholic University's Commencement will be held outdoors on the east steps of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, located at 400 Michigan Ave., N.E.
CUA will award the President's Medal to Cardinal Dolan at Commencement.
Four other individuals will receive honorary degrees. They are Rev. Julian Carrón, leader of the lay ecclesial movement Communion and Liberation; Giuseppe Mazzotta, Sterling Professor of Humanities for Italian at Yale University; Carmen Ana Casal de Unanue, community leader and philanthropist; and Joseph A. Unanue, alumnus and former president and CEO of Goya Foods.
Cardinal Dolan was installed as Archbishop of New York by Pope Benedict XVI on Feb. 23, 2009. He became a member of the College of Cardinals on Feb. 18, 2012.
He received his bachelor's degree in philosophy from Cardinal Glennon College in St. Louis, Mo., and a license in sacred theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas in Rome. Subsequently, he studied at The Catholic University of America, earning a doctorate in American Church history.
Cardinal Dolan was ordained to the priesthood on June 19, 1976. Exactly 25 years later Pope John Paul II appointed then Father Dolan to be the auxiliary bishop of St. Louis. A little more than a year later he was installed as the Archbishop of Milwaukee, a position he held until his move to New York.
During his priestly ministry, Cardinal Dolan has served as associate pastor at a parish, secretary to the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, D.C., a seminary and university faculty member, and rector of the Pontifical North American College in Rome.
From January 2009 to November 2010 Cardinal Dolan served as chairman of Catholic Relief Services. In November 2010 he was elected by his fellow bishops to a three-year term as president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Known for his gregariousness and enthusiastic promotion of the Catholic faith, Cardinal Dolan was named earlier this month by Time Magazine to its list of "The 100 Most Influential People in the World."
Catholic University's Columbus School of Law will hold its commencement at 11 a.m. on Friday, May 25, in the Basilica. This year's law school commencement speaker will be Daniel M. Gallagher , commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Gallagher earned his law degree from the Columbus School of Law in 1999.
MEDIA: For more information or to make arrangements to cover the university's main commencement exercises, contact Katie Lee or Mary McCarthy in the Office of Public Affairs at 202-319-5600 or cua-public-affairs@cua.edu .