Five members of the Los Angeles Catholic community who have served both church and community for many years will be honored at the 2008 Cardinal's Award Dinner Feb. 9 at the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood and Highland in Hollywood.
This year's honorees are Richard H. Closson, Antoinette Hodgkiss, Dorothy King, Gary Krauss and Jesuit Father Robert Lawton. The 2008 honorees bring to 94 the number of men and women honored with the award since 1990.
This year's proceeds will benefit the efforts of San Miguel School in Watts to add a pre-school and to develop a specialized learning center for young students from pre-school through third grade. Since 1990, some $6 million raised from the Cardinal's Award Dinner has supported nearly 70 programs, agencies and relief efforts in all pastoral regions of the archdiocese.
The Awards dinner --- in its new location at the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood and Highland (home of the Kodak Theater) in Hollywood --- begins with a 6 p.m. reception. For reservations, call Judy DeRosa Brooks, coordinator, at (213) 637-7636.
RICHARD CLOSSON
As director of Trusts and Estates for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Dick Closson draws upon a long career in banking, a life of devoted service to his Church, and a strong commitment to family to raise the awareness of parishioners to not simply the need, but the benefit, of "planned giving," a process that offers individuals the opportunity to maximize the benefits of their charitable donations --- in particular, to parishes and schools that have provided services to them over the years.
A native of Meriden, Conn., and a former altar server at St. Monica Church in Santa Monica, Closson enjoyed a 40-year career in banking, much of it with Bank of America plus six years as president of Huntington Bank in Arcadia. He had thought he was retired when he was invited ten years ago to head up the archdiocese's new planned giving program.
He and his wife of 52 years, Rita (they met at a Santa Anita Young Peoples Club event), have been longtime members of Holy Angels Church in Arcadia, where Closson serves on the parish finance council. They have four children and eight grandchildren, in whose activities they participate and support.
On his "second career":
"I've enjoyed this very much. It is most rewarding, and a wonderful challenge, to educate parishes and ministries in planned giving. And we are making headway. It's something, frankly, that many people never think of doing. They remember the church for the good it has done in their lives, but they tend to think that everyone else is helping to provide for the church's future."
On the need for planned giving:
"Planned giving is supporting the future of the parish and church. Too often, people and parishes think in terms of a current gift to address needs of the moment. If we can get them thinking about what their parish has meant to their lives, and its needs down the road, we can open their minds to the possibility of structuring their investments and estates in a way that would benefit the church that has benefited them."
"Priests don't often like to ask their parishioners to do it. Now, however, with more laypeople coming to work in parish administration, and the need to support that financially, priests may be more inclined to speak up about the need for such giving. And in the last 10 to 15 years, more parishes have in fact made more of an effort in this area."
On what guides him in life:
"The 23rd Psalm is very meaningful to me: 'The Lord is my shepherd, my strength; He guides me in right paths.' I have always found that very comforting and inspirational."
ANTOINETTE HODGKISS
A convert to Catholicism in her early 20s, Toni Hodgkiss has never let obstacles, minor, or major, stand in the way of service. That was evident on her first time serving Communion to the sick and homebound, when she and the priest who went with her went to one home, only to find the person dead on the floor. "At first I thought, I can't do this," she recalls, shaking her head. "But I kept at it."
Thirty years later, this native Angeleno coordinates this outreach ministry at St. Brendan Church in Hancock Park, where she and her insurance-broker husband Tom have been longtime parishioners. During that time, she has assembled a solid group of parishioners who, after the 8 a.m. Mass every Sunday, disperse to homes around the area in order to bring the Body of Christ to those who cannot get to church --- and, to also spend time with these people, most of them 80 and older.
As a Dame of Malta, Toni has been instrumental in coordinating a Malta-funded, parish-based nursing program in which a professional nurse accompanies Eucharistic Ministers that serve the homebound, to take blood pressure, check on medicines and simply be present to those in need.
Hodgkiss also helped launch the Good Shepherd Center for Homeless Women in Los Angeles, and has worked with the Juniors of Social Service and the Social Service Auxiliary. She and Tom have a son, Dan (married with two sons); another son, Kevin, died at age 22 of cancer.
On becoming Catholic:
"I was in college and I wanted a more active faith life. My mom was Episcopalian, but I shopped around, went to different churches, always thinking, 'There's gotta be something else.' It was when I went to Marymount College that I first made a real connection with the Catholic faith, and once I became Catholic I was eager to do things for the church."
On serving Communion to the homebound:
"I really liked being able to connect with people who needed a connection, who maybe didn't have anyone to come see them the rest of the week. And it's become such a rewarding ministry and part of my life. I've been going to visit some of these people for 15, 16 years and made many great friends. My own family is not that large, so for me this is like an extended family, and it really keeps me going."
On her motivation:
"I think of all the different things I've done, and to me, it all fits in together. It keeps me going and motivated. People motivate me, especially those I am blessed to serve. They do so much for me."
DOROTHY KING
Having your daughter tell you, as nicely as possible, that "You're going to hell" is a wakeup call for any parent. For Dorothy King, who got that message when her daughter was in a Protestant Bible Study group in college, it was a sign that maybe she should get better acquainted with her Bible.
So she did. And then --- "filled with fire, like the burning bush," and encouraged by the late Auxiliary Bishop Carl Fisher --- she and her friend Kay Murdy, their husbands, the Office of Religious Education and Loyola Marymount University helped others do the same. Today, more than 1,200 people --- including her daughter --- have passed through the Catholic Bible Institute that Dorothy co-founded in 1993 through the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and the program annually draws some of the Church's top Scripture scholars to lead its monthly sessions at LMU.
King was born and raised in Schenectady, N.Y., where she attended St Joseph Church and School, and was baptized and married 57 years ago to her husband Bob when both worked for General Electric (she worked as a photographer of classified materials). In 1961 they moved to Whittier, and have attended St. Gregory the Great Church ever since. They are proud parents and grandparents, and all three adult children, Dorothy smiles, are involved in their parish Bible study.
On responding to her daughter's words:
"It was like God was saying, 'You need to get familiar with the Bible.' So I attended a three-week Bible Study at St. Gregory, and thought, 'Well, now I know the Bible.' But the more I learn, the more I realize how much more I need to learn."
On beginning the Catholic Bible Institute:
"I knew we needed something like this in Los Angeles. It really gnawed inside me, that fire. I think of that burning bush Moses came upon; the bush was never consumed and the fire never went out. And to see so many people on fire with the desire to learn and grow in their faith is very exciting."
On her continuing involvement with the Institute:
"That fire is in us still. There is some generational resistance in my age group to Bible study. For years, Catholics felt like this was a Protestant thing. But there is no such thing as being too old to start. And it's a nice feeling, to have a place in this local church where we can grow in our faith and increase our knowledge of Scripture. I'm so grateful that God has used me in this way."
On her own favorite Scripture:
"It's tough to narrow it to just one. For years, I quoted John 3:16 --- 'God so loved the world that he sent his only Son.' More recently, I've prayed Psalm 51 --- 'Create in me a clean heart, renew my spirit.'"
GARY KRAUSS
Who gives up a nice career and sells his nice home in a nice neighborhood to move to a much more modest house in a much more modest neighborhood, just so he can work more closely with those he serves through his nonprofit foundation?
Meet Gary Krauss, former paint company sales executive and suburban dweller, who couldn't be happier now that he lives near downtown Los Angeles. From there, he helps lead the Ascending Lights Leadership Network, a project he and fellow parishioner Thelma Forbis launched in the early 1990s to encourage and assist youth in becoming skilled Christian leaders in the community. Students recommended by their pastors attend community colleges on vocational scholarships, while receiving spiritual growth opportunities from their parishes.
The Tucson-born, West Covina-raised Krauss proudly counts three "home parishes": St. Denis in Diamond Bar, where he became Catholic in the early 1980s and began a whirlwind involvement in parish and diocesan activities; Our Lady of the Assumption in Claremont; and St. Ann north of downtown Los Angeles.
Married for nearly 30 years to his wife Marjorie, a psychiatric nurse, this former sociology major is thrilled to be "serving society" by helping parishes to identify and educate young men and women with the potential to make a difference. "God," he says, "has truly blessed our work."
On what has influenced his adult life:
"Two major events. One was my Navy experience in Vietnam, where I served on a 150-foot minesweeper for two years. You had 70 different guys, from all different backgrounds, races, religions, cultures. And you learned to get along with them all. It really gave me an appreciation for all people, especially those living in poverty.
"The other was becoming Catholic, which I attribute to my wife Marjorie, an active Catholic who I met and married in San Diego. She has supported me in everything I have done."
On serving (in the 1980s) on the archdiocesan stewardship committee:
"That was a real catalyst, because: I really began to understand what sharing time, treasure and talent meant. That's when Marjorie and I began tithing. Then in the early '90s, we decided that living in a large house with a big income and no children didn't make sense. So we downsized, and decided one of us would work while the other served in the community."
On the connection between faith and education:
"The stronger a student's faith life, the better his or her grades will be. There is a connectedness between faith and empowerment. That's why our students receive mentoring while sponsoring parishes provide spiritual growth opportunities. Our Christian faith can be so empowering, if we only seek out what Christ has to offer. I tell young people that they need to be close to Christ, to want education badly, and to be willing to ask for help. If they have all three, nothing will stop them from succeeding."
FATHER ROBERT LAWTON, SJ
An eighth grade Vocations Month assignment of researching the Jesuits at St. John Baptist de La Salle School in Chillum, Md., has evolved into a life of service devoted to education and building community for Jesuit Father Bob Lawton.
Indeed, the president of Loyola Marymount University feels exceptionally blessed that he has been able to live his desire to serve the world not from a university's ivory tower, but by engaging himself, and the students he helps form and educate, in the greater community.
"As an institution," he says, "we benefit enormously from the city and church that is in our midst, so we have an obligation to serve the city and church. Look at the city and church: What are their needs? That has been an important part of my career in Catholic education: to think about the community, and have a sense of the larger world."
With a PhD in languages from Fordham University, Father Lawton (ordained to the priesthood in 1981) has taught Scripture at Georgetown University, attended the Jesuits' Biblical Institute in Rome, and from 1989 to 1999 served as a dean at Georgetown before coming to LMU.
On deciding to be a priest:
"Until I did that school assignment, I knew nothing about the Jesuits. But I saw how they seemed to do it all, and that appealed to me. And you only have one life, and it seemed to me the priesthood was a great way to serve God and others. I figured the Jesuits would have something for me to do.
"The early 1960s were an exciting time. You had the space program booming, the Peace Corps happening, and then Vatican II which I saw like a new Pentecost. And I was raring to go. I believe many in my generation benefited from the changes the Council brought."
On working and serving in Los Angeles:
"I always wondered, what would it be like to live in Rome when it was young? Well, in Los Angeles, I have that chance to live in one of the world's great emerging cities. It is certainly the most diverse in the history of the planet, with enormous and exciting challenges that are faced by the Church that serves them. And Los Angeles is a great place for a Catholic university. This archdiocese is so different from any other, so much more alive, and a great place to work, because you have a freedom to think."
On why he enjoys the Hebrew Scriptures:
"I loved the stories, the plots, the characters I read in the Old Testament. They really spoke to me of God, of people listening to God, trying to do God's work. There was serious humanity in these stories; they weren't neat and clean, but they were trying to do their best. That's always what I've tried to do." |