DINNER OCT. 16 TO MARK

DUAL ANNIVERSARIES

            The 150^th anniversary of the founding of the Diocese of Brooklyn and the 95 years since The Tablet published its first issue will be celebrated at a dinner set for the New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge, 333 Jay St., Thursday, Oct. 16, beginning with a reception at 6 p.m. followed by dinner at 7.

            Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, who will be installed as the seventh Bishop of Brooklyn Oct. 3,  will participate in the program.

            The Tablet is sponsoring the dinner, at which recognition will be given to Bishop Thomas V. Daily, the Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese, and William A. McKenna, Jr., the retiring chairman of the Ridgewood Savings Bank, for their strong support of the work of the diocesan newspaper.

            “We’re looking forward to an evening whose program will intermingle music, nostalgia, a short video tribute and reflections about our history by people who know our Diocese well,” said Mrs. Dee Simpson, who is chairing the event with her husband, Matthew. Father Jamie J. Gigantiello, the pastor of Mary Queen of Heaven parish in Mill Basin, is the co-chairman.

            The speakers will be Msgr. John B. Lavin, the pastor of St. Robert Bellarmine parish in Bayside and former secretary to Bishop Daily and the late Bishop Francis J. Mugavero, and Hugh Mulligan, a correspondent for the Associated Press for half a century who attended Cathedral College in Brooklyn before embarking on a career in journalism that has taken him around the world.

            The program will also feature “Reveille,” a barbershop quartet whose tenor is Tablet reporter Roger Payne. The group recently performed in New Zealand and has given concerts in Russia, Canada and parts of the U.S.

“Our dinner music, which will be provided by the Lisa Porpora Chamber Music Ensemble, will make an interesting counterpoint to our barbershop quartet singers,” said Mrs. Simpson.

            The awards to Bishop Daily and Mr. McKenna are named for St. Francis de Sales, the patron saint of journalists.

            July 29 marked the Diocese’s l50th anniversary, a milestone that will also be observed at a Mass in Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica in Sunset Park Sunday, Nov. 16, at 3 p.m. Anthony Cardinal Bevilacqua, the retired Archbishop of Philadelphia and native son of the Diocese of Brooklyn, will preach the homily.

            The Tablet published its first issue April 4, 1908. While focusing primarily on the life of the Church in the Diocese of Brooklyn, it has subscribers in 44 States.