2017 Thank-You Dinner

“I have a great desire to make sure there are enough priests for the future and I really like what the seminary is doing,” declared Saundra Gerber at Archbishop Schnurr’s Fenwick Society Dinner on May 5. She and her husband, Howard, who have been giving to the Athenaeum for over 30 years, are charter members of the Bishop Fenwick Society (BFS), comprised of key benefactors who support the Athenaeum/Mount St. Mary’s Seminary.

The Gerbers, along with 500 other BFS members and seminarians, attended the invitation only event at the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza Hotel as a thank you for their financial and spiritual support. They were able to mingle with seminarians like Deacon Andy Smith, who said, “For us it’s a real opportunity to express our gratitude face to face.”

BFS member Tom Ruthman, said part of the reason for his and wife, Audrey’s, support is in gratitude for the spiritual and academic foundation that he received growing up. Audrey added, “It’s important to level the playing field, to make a seminary education available to people who can’t afford it.”

At the evening’s close, Fr. O’Cinnsealaigh  reflected on the blessings of increasing seminary enrollment, both realized and projected, and the resultant need for an expansion of the seminary. He said we must respond to God’s blessings with generosity and courage. He invited the crowd to continue their partnership with the Athenaeum by saying, “Join us in casting our net into the deep and prepare with us for the miraculous catch that God intends to send to us.”

Photo Credit: E.L. Hubbard and Text Credit: Colleen Kammer