October 27, 2010
Hilton Riverside
New Orleans, Louisiana

The Catholic Foundation hosts its Annual Foundation Dinner each year to bring the Catholic community together for an evening of fellowship and to publicly thank and recognize those who have contributed to the success of our mission.

At the Annual Dinner, the Archbishop and the Foundation present the Pope John Paul II Award. The Award, established in 1996, recognizes the stewardship exhibited by a Catholic layperson(s) of high moral character and exemplary values, who has rendered unselfish volunteer service to the institutions and programs of the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

Please call 504-596-3044, mobrien@archdiocese-no.org for Annual Dinner Reservations or for more information.

2010 Pope John Paul II Award Recipient

Deacon Everett J. Williams

Deacon Everett Williams was born in New Orleans in the heart of the Great Depression. One of nine children, his parents' strong faith and guidance led him to St. Augustine High School in Bay St. Louis, MS. He earned his B.A. and M.A. from Xavier University. After earning his PhD from Michigan State University, he returned to New Orleans where he was selected as the first African-American Superintendent of New Orleans Parish Public Schools. He retired from New Orleans Schools and worked as Manager of Community Relations for Freeport-McMoran. He has served and continues to serve on several boards. In the Archdiocese of New Orleans he has served with: Archbishop's Community Appeal when in 1996 he served as the first African-American Chairman, Catholic Charities, Catholic Foundation, Our Lady of Holy Cross College, Xavier University, Notre Dame Seminary, Holy Rosary Academy and St. Joseph Seminary College. In the greater New Orleans community, he has volunteered with UNITY for the Homeless, Bridge House, Children's Hospital, the Medical Center of Louisiana, the Blood Center of Louisiana, the Harvard Urban Superintendent's Program Advisory Board and he is currently the chair of the Education Committee of the Patrick F. Taylor Foundation. He is a Deacon within the Archdiocese of New Orleans and ministers at St. Joan of Arc parish in New Orleans.

He has been married to Melva Borris for 55 years and together they have three children: David Anthony (deceased), Melva Maureen and Eileen Therese.

2010 Keynote Speaker

Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond

Archbishop Gregory Michael Aymond is the 14th Archbishop of New Orleans, and he holds the unique distinction of being the first New Orleans native to serve as Archbishop of New Orleans in the 216-year history of the local church.

He was born in Gentilly on November 12, 1949. After attending St. James Major Elementary School and Cor Jesu High School, he went to St. Joseph Seminary College in St. Benedict, La., where he graduated in 1971. He earned a master's degree in divinity from Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans in 1975 and was ordained as a priest of the New Orleans Archdiocese the same year.

From 1973 to 1981, he was a professor, business administrator and then rector of St. John Vianney Preparatory Seminary in New Orleans. From 1981 to 1986, he was professor of pastoral theology and homiletics and director of education at Notre Dame Seminary.

He was President-Rector of Notre Dame Seminary from 1986 until 2000, longer than any rector in the seminary's history. He also was a member of the seminary faculty for 18 years. During his tenure, Notre Dame Seminary grew to become the third-largest seminary in the country.

Bishop Aymond also served as the Executive Director of the Archdiocesan Department of Christian Formation, with responsibility for Catholic schools and religious education, and as the Archdiocesan director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith.

Mission work had a strong emphasis in his ministry. In the 1980s, Bishop Aymond and groups of Notre Dame seminarians began to visit Sotuto, Mexico, where they built housing and offered religious training.
In 1994, he began a medical mission program in Nicaragua called 'Christ the Healer,' taking volunteer teams of health care professionals to the town of Granada to offer medical help at San Juan de Dios Hospital.

He was ordained an auxiliary bishop of New Orleans in 1997 and became coadjutor bishop of Austin in 2000, succeeding to head the diocese. Archbishop Aymond has served as chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People. He also was chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Catholic Educational Association from 2000-04.

He currently serves as a member of the USCCB committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth and the Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations.

Images from the 2009 Annual Dinner