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DINNER WILL BENEFIT BRIGHT CHRISTMAS
The Tablet’s Bright Christmas Fund, which assists needy parishes and diocesan social service programs, will benefit from the proceeds of the Oct. 16 dinner celebrating the l50th anniversary of the Diocese of Brooklyn and The Tablet’s 95th year of publication.
More than 500 guests are expected to attend the dinner, which will take place at the New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge, 333 Adams St., beginning with a reception at 6 p.m., followed by dinner at 7. Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio and Bishop Thomas V. Daily will greet guests at the reception.
The Bright Christmas appeal, a Tablet tradition, has raised more than $1 million from readers since it was launched in l965. Last year, 38 parishes and ten agencies shared gifts totaling $111,000, the highest annual amount recorded thus far.
Father Jamie J. Gigantiello, the dinner co-chairman, said the decision to help the Bright Christmas Fund was reached last Spring and announced in May to a committee of more than a dozen pastors who agreed to serve as dinner supporters.
“Since this was not intended to be a fund-raiser, but rather a celebration, we kept the ticket cost low at $200 per person,” he said. “And because the response from parishes and individuals is so encouraging, we’re happy that any profits will help a good cause.”
At the dinner, Bishop Daily and William A. McKenna, Jr., of the Ridgewood Savings Bank will be honored for their support of the work of the diocesan newspaper. They will receive citations named for St. Francis de Sales, the patron saint of journalists.
Two talks will focus on the Diocese, The Tablet and their respective histories. One speaker will be Msgr. John B. Lavin, the respected pastor of St. Robert Bellarmine parish, Bayside, who served as secretary to Bishop Daily and the late Bishop Francis J. Mugavero. Veteran journalist, author and former Brooklyn prep seminarian Hugh A. Mulligan, who is a Tablet columnist, will give the second talk.
Bishop DiMarzio will address the gathering before giving the final blessing. Msgr. Otto L. Garcia, Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia, will deliver the invocation.
Sheila Wilkinson, wife of Ed, editor of The Tablet, will lead the singing of the National Anthem. Other performers will be the Lisa Porpora Chamber Music Ensemble and “Reveille,” a barbershop quartet whose tenor is Tablet reporter Roger Payne.
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