April 21, 2015
America's Catholic cardinals will gather in St. Louis on Friday, April 24, to raise money for college scholarships at the 26th American Cardinals Dinner. The dinner is preceded by Mass, which will be held at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, 4431 Lindell Blvd., at 4:30 p.m. that day.
Most Rev. Robert Carlson, Archbishop of St. Louis, and John Garvey, President of Catholic University, will serve as co-hosts for the dinner. All proceeds from the annual event will benefit Catholic University scholarship funds.
Archbishop Carlson, who is an alumnus of Catholic University, will serve as the principal celebrant and homilist at the Mass prior to the dinner. Visiting cardinals, bishops, and clergy will concelebrate the Mass, which will be open to the public.
Six American cardinals are expected to attend the dinner, including those who currently serve or have served as archbishops of U.S. dioceses and as members of the CUA Board of Trustees.
Current cardinal archbishops who will attend include Cardinal Sean O'Malley, O.F.M. Cap., Archbishop of Boston; Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston; Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington; and native St. Louisan, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, Archbishop of New York.
"I am very grateful to Archbishop Carlson for graciously agreeing to host this scholarship fundraiser in St. Louis for our students. As the national university of the Catholic Church, we have students and alumni from all 50 U.S. states. We host this dinner in a different city each year, to make ourselves better known, and to emphasize that we exist to serve Catholics in the American heartland, on both coasts, and everywhere in between," said President Garvey.
Each year a different diocese or archdiocese hosts the black-tie event; this will be the first time the dinner has been held in St. Louis.
"We are honored that St. Louis has been chosen as the location for the 2015 American Cardinals Dinner," said Archbishop Carlson. "St. Louis is not only a great baseball Cardinals town, but as the 'Rome of the West' it boasts a proud Catholic history, including many cardinals who have called St. Louis home. We are excited to bring this wonderful event to St. Louis in 2015."
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Drury are co-chairs of the dinner and will be honored with the Archbishop's Appreciation Award.
The 25th American Cardinals Dinner was held Friday, May 30, 2014, in New York City. Past dinners have been held in such cities as Phoenix, Atlanta, Houston, Boston, Las Vegas, Miami, Minneapolis-St. Paul, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Chicago. Since its inauguration, the annual event has raised more than $30 million to support scholarships for Catholic University students. The St. Louis announcement video, which was shown at the 2014 dinner, can be seen at archstl.org/cardinalsdinner .
The dinner is open to paid attendees only, but members of the media are invited to attend the Mass. Attending cardinals will not be available for interviews. Additional details are online at cardinalsdinner.cua.edu .
MEDIA: To cover the Mass, contact Gabe Jones, Office of Communications and Planning, Archdiocese of St. Louis, at gabejones@archstl.org or 314-792-7557, or the Office of Public Affairs, The Catholic University of America, at 202-319-5600 or cua-public-affairs@cua.edu .