by Christine Persichette, Currents News
MILL BASIN — For the past 125 years, the Cathedral Club of Brooklyn has given back to the community. The Catholic lay organization’s 125th-anniversary dinner, held at El Caribe on Feb. 6, was no different.
The nearly 400 attendees raised $150,000 for a scholarship program for high school students in the Diocese of Brooklyn. William Neri, the club’s president, said that because of everyone’s generosity, starting in June, the scholarships the club provides will increase from $4,000 to $7,000 per student.
The dinner honored NYPD Chief of Department John Chell and attorney Joseph Rosato for their contributions to society with their Catholic faith as their guide. Both were born and raised in Brooklyn and graduated from Xaverian High School.
Click the image below to view the full timeline from the Feb. 22 printed edition of The Tablet.
Bishop Robert Brennan, the club’s spiritual director, said celebrating its anniversary milestone was even more special because it falls on a Jubilee Year.
“On a day like this, I think back to those days at the threshold into the 20th century when a growing population of immigrants in Brooklyn came together as Catholics and said, ‘How do we support one another in the living out of our faith in the rough and rugged land of Brooklyn at those times?’ And, you know something, they pulled it off,” Bishop Brennan said to the attendees.
Father Bruno, dean of seminarians at St. Joseph Seminary and College, was the evening’s principal speaker. He told the attendees the organization’s work continues to make proud the late Cardinal George Mundelein, who founded it as a priest in 1900.
“You, its membership,” he said, “are carrying out a proud legacy of bringing what he called the ‘Catholic spirit’ to public and intellectual life, in service and leadership to the diocese, to the community, to the nation.”
How wonderful to see my father’s picture on this timeline. He (Raymond McGowan) is in the largest picture, top left.