Cardinals flock to Chicago

By Michelle Martin
Staff Writer

The eight cardinals who gathered for the 11th American Cardinals Dinner May 5 were in a somber mood, mourning the death of New York’s Cardinal John O’Connor just two days before the event.

But they also took comfort in one another’s company, said Cardinal George, co-host of the annual fundraiser for Catholic University of America.

Cardinal George shared host duties with Vincentian Father David O’Connell, president of the university.

It was providential, Cardinal George said, that the cardinals had the opportunity to come together. “It is good to be with great friends when you are missing a great friend,” he said before a Mass that preceded the 11th American Cardinals Dinner.

Also providential, he said, was that the processional hymn selected a year in advance was “Lift High the Cross,” one of Cardinal O’Connor’s favorites.

During the homily, Cardinal George focused on the virtue of prudence, of knowing when to intervene and when to hang back, a virtue that Cardinal O’Connor had.

“It is never prudent to be unfaithful,” Cardinal George said. “It is never prudent to be cowardly.”

Cardinal O’Connor was among the eight American cardinal-archbishops who were to be honored at the dinner for 800, held at the Chicago Hilton & Towers. About 800 people attended the event, which raised $1.2 million for scholarships to the Washington D.C.-based university, said Rosemary Harty of Catholic University.

But the evening’s biggest honor went to Casa Jesús, the archdiocese’s house of formation for Hispanic young men from Mexico and South America. The director, Father Robert Casey, received a check for $10,000 and the Cardinal’s Encouragement Award.

The award goes every year to a faith-based initiative that reflects Gospel values, Harty said, and the recipient is selected by the cardinal whose archdiocese hosts the event.

Casa Jesús creates a prayerful community where young men live for one year while they study intensive English, do pastoral work in churches and do work study while they begin a program of priestly formation. At the end of the year, the men decide whether to apply to enter the seminary.

This year’s class includes young men from Peru, Mexico and Colombia.

Next year’s American Cardinals Dinner will be in New York, Harty said.

BACK