by The Tablet Staff

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Diocese of Brooklyn received the newly established Queenship of Mary Award at the 36th annual Catholic Distance University gala at the St. Pope John Paul II Center in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 16.

The award was a recognition of the partnership between the Diocese of Brooklyn and Catholic Distance University, an online program to help develop lay leaders in the church.  Theodore Musco, the diocese’s secretary for evangelization and catechesis, accepted the award on behalf of the diocese.

Also at the gala, Archbishop Christopher Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States, received the CDU’s Founder’s Award.

Six people from the diocese, under the auspices of the Secretariat for Evangelization and Catechesis’ Holy Spirit Institute for Service and Leadership, were presented with a graduate certificate for Catholic education.  Jeannine Iocco, coordinator of religious education at Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament, Bayside, was present at the gala to accept her certificate.

Also attending the gala was Father Joseph Gibino, pastor of Holy Trinity Parish,  Whitestone, and a former staff member of the Secretariat.

In his remarks, Musco referred to the Spanish and English courses that are available online to those in the Holy Spirit Institute. CDU now awards a lay leadership certificate to almost 50 students from the Diocese of Brooklyn annually.  That model of collaboration with CDU is now available to other dioceses and archdioceses and was presented at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops meeting in Baltimore in November.