| Catherine Award Dinner 2000 On Friday evening, November 3, the New York Regional Community of Mercy Sisters will host the fifth annual Catherine Award Dinner, a celebration of achievement in the spirit of Mercy foundress, Catherine McAuley. This year’s Catherine Award recipient, Sr. Camille D’Arienzo, RSM, will be joined by the Friend of Mercy honorees. Together they demonstrate the presence—and strength—of Mercy in business, in communities, and in the Church. A Woman of Mercy For those who have followed—or participated in—the public conversation on the death penalty and other social justice issues, Sr. Camille D’Arienzo, RSM is a familiar name. In recognition of her advocacy efforts to end capital punishment, and to speak out for the poor and on behalf of women, Sr. Camille is the recipient of this year’s Catherine Award. Sr. Camille has served as a Sister of Mercy for nearly 50 years. She is President of the Brooklyn Regional Community, and President of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR). Her career has traveled a path from elementary school teacher and educational television producer to college professor, media commentator, and leader of women religious. She is popularly known in the New York metropolitan area for her weekly commentaries on 1010 WINS, the all-news AM radio station, which she has done without interruption since 1973. She is also a frequent panelist on the weekly television program, “Catholic Forum.” Over the years Sr. Camille has advocated passionately for justice in war-torn El Salvador and Nicaragua; for the full participation of women in the Church; and in opposition to the arms race and capital punishment in particular. Through the Cherish Life Circle and her inauguration of the Declaration of Life, Sr. Camille is part of a national campaign opposing the death penalty. The Declaration of Life offers individuals a forum to express their wish that anyone accused of a capital crime against them would not receive the death penalty. Today more than 50,000 people throughout the United States and in parts of Europe have signed the Declaration. Because groups have also signed the pledge, a truer estimate of participants worldwide is closer to 100,000. Friend of Mercy Award 2000 The Catherine Award Dinner will also recognize individuals and institutions that have performed endless good works in support of Mercy. Allied Irish Bank The Friend of Mercy Award will recognize the business leadership of Allied Irish Bank in serving the Sisters of Mercy. In 1997 a $1 million loan from AIB enabled the community to renovate its Worcester infirmary into the licensed Our Lady of Mercy Health Care Center. Then in 1999 the bank provided construction financing for the Marian Woods facility. Joe Bova |