Giving Up 67% from previous year
Braintree, MA – Cardinal Seán O’Malley announced that the 2nd Annual Priest Appreciation Dinner held on September 16, 2010 raised $1million for the benefit of the Clergy Funds. This represents a 67% increase over the previous year when the annual dinner was launched. Nearly 1,500 guests attended the dinner at the World Trade Center in Boston, MA.
The Annual Priest Appreciation Dinner provides an opportunity for the people of the Archdiocese of Boston to show their appreciation to priests for their lives of commitment and sacrifice in serving Christ and His Church. The dinner also provides support to the Clergy Funds, which provides for the retirement, medical and financial needs of our priests.
“We are grateful to all those who supported the Annual Priest Appreciation Dinner and provided such generous contributions,” said Cardinal Seán. “It is a great encouragement that so many people came forward in the midst of challenging economic times, to share their financial support, care and concern for our priests. I particularly want to thank Kathleen Driscoll and Tom Martin for their leadership as co-chairs of the dinner, they gave a great deal of their time, talent and resources to insure that the event was a success. I also want to express my thanks to John Kaneb for serving in an important leadership role helping to stabilize the clergy funds. With the assistance provided by all who contributed to the dinner, our priests can continue the ministry of Jesus Christ across the 144 communities of the Archdiocese.”
John Kaneb, chair of the Clergy Funds Board of Trustees, said, “It is a testament to the hard work and dedication of many people that we were able to raise $1million this year. It is also a reflection on the stable and mission driven leadership of the Cardinal that we are now rebuilding the base of financial support for our retired priests. Much needs to be done to accomplish this goal, but we are blessed by the willingness of so many good people to help who are concerned about the health and wellbeing of our priests.”
The Clergy Funds were established in the early 1970s. These funds provide for the healthcare and retirement needs of Senior Priests, healthcare costs of active priests, and the Senior Priest retirement home, Regina Cleri. To learn more about the clergy funds and how you can help, please visit www.careforseniorpriests.org.
The Cardinal also extended his thanks to Joe D’Arrigo, Rev. Jim Flavin and the Clergy Funds Office for doing an extraordinary job in working toward a goal of restoring the funds to health.
Please see this week’s edition of The Pilot (www.thebostonpilot.com) for full coverage of the 2nd Annual Priest Appreciation Dinner.
About the Archdiocese of Boston: The Diocese of Boston was founded on April 8, 1808 and was elevated to Archdiocese in 1875. Currently serving the needs of nearly 2 million Catholics, the Archdiocese of Boston is an ethnically diverse and spiritually enriching faith community consisting of 291 parishes, across 144 communities, educating approximately 46,000 students in its Catholic schools and 156,000 in religious education classes each year, ministering to the needs of 200,000 individuals through its pastoral and social service outreach and in support of a health care ministry that meets the needs of some 1 million patients each year. Mass is celebrated in nearly twenty different languages each week. For more information, please visit www.BostonCatholic.org.