Province Honors Three at 5th Annual Provincial’s Dinner

Over 150 friends of the Central Province gathered at the Union League Club of Chicago on the evening of October 27th to honor three well-known Catholic leaders. Joining us from as far away as the  northern suburbs of Chicago and even St. Louis, guests enjoyed each other’s company, a wonderful meal prepared by Fenwick graduate, Michael Ponzio and the ULCC staff, and a brief video retrospective of A Word of Hope and Know Before You Go, our two long running video series. Following dinner, our Provincial, Fr. Jimmy Marchionda, OP, presented awards to the evening’s honorees.

Mary Lou Paluch Rafferty of the JS Paluch Co. accepted the Veritas Award.  Fr. Jimmy presented Great Preacher Awards to Sr. Barbara Reid, OP, President of the Catholic Theological Union on behalf of Fr. Donald Senior, CP, President Emeritus of CTU who could not join us, and His Eminence Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago. During his remarks, the Cardinal reminded all in attendance of the importance of praying for vocations, especially those in formation for the Central Province.

Following the presentations, the gathered crowd took a moment to thank Fr. Marchionda as he nears the finish of his 8 years as Prior Provincial. Fr. Jimmy then led the room in singing his well-known liturgical song, A Dominican Blessing.

We thank all of our guests and, especially, our award recipients. Here are photos of the evening’s festivities, and below is the video