Photos from the 24th Annual Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio Golf Classic, July 11, at North Hills Country Club. (Photos: Allyson Escobar)
Golfing to give — that was the mission at the July 11 Bishop DiMarzio Golf Classic, held at North Hills Country Club in Manhasset, L.I.
The 24th annual event, presented by DeSales Media Group and the Diocese of Brooklyn, raised funds for Télé Lumière/Noursat, a television station based in Beirut that broadcasts satellite Christian programming throughout the Arab world and internationally.
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio attended the awards ceremony in the evening for the Golf Classic honorees, auction and prizes for charity.
“It’s a tremendous opportunity for the media today — we believe in the media in our diocese, in all of its forms, in every way we can, get the message of the Lord out to people,” Bishop DiMarzio said in his remarks at the ceremony. “We should not give up on giving the message of Christ to the world no matter how difficult it is sometimes.”
He spoke to The Tablet about the mission of Tele Lumiere/Noursat.
“We have a lot of ties to the Middle East, especially in our diocese,” Bishop DiMarzio said. “It’s the only Christian TV station in the whole Middle East, transmitting the Christian message in and out of the world. It’s very important — in the past they have been bombed out twice, so it’s a target…it’s important that we support them from afar.”
Msgr. Kieran Harrington, vicar of communications for the diocese, and Bishop Gregory John Mansour, eparch of the Marionate Eparchy of Saint Maron of Brooklyn, presented a check for $100,000, to Jacques Kallasy, executive director of Télé Lumière.
“Your contribution is an affirmation to the whole world that we as Christians in the Middle East are here to stay, as witnesses to Jesus Christ,” Kallasy said in his remarks. “We promise to use this check to continue our programming, so that one day we can harvest peace.”
Msgr. Alfred LoPinto was honored as “clergyman of the year” in the diocese. He’s president and CEO of Catholic Charities in the diocese and vicar for human resources. Edward Mafoud, president and principal of Damascus Bakeries in Dumbo and a member of the Salaam Club of New York in Bay Ridge, was named “layperson of the year.”
“I am really humbled to be here, and I keep asking the same question over and over again to myself, what more can I do, and have I done everything that I can? That is a constant rumination in my mind,” Mafoud said.
