St. Anthony recognizes O’Brien, donates $25G to Puerto Rico relief efforts
St. Anthony Shrine dug deep last night at its second annual gala to share its fundraising dollars, with a $25,000 donation to help hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico.
“This is a very sad moment in our history. The entire island is devastated,” said the Most Rev. Roberto O. Gonzalez, the archbishop of San Juan, Puerto Rico, who was an honored guest at last night’s fete.
“I wasn’t sure I should come,” Gonzalez told the Herald about leaving the island. “But we all need each other. The donation is amazing. It’s very moving. We’ll get through this. Faith has been an anchor in this crisis.”
The Rev. Thomas E. Conway, director of the Arch Street shrine, said the donation was the friars’ way of “raising awareness” of the island’s plight.
The gala drew past and present mayors, power brokers and other devoted supporters of the Downtown Crossing shrine.
An auction included bids for a trip to Bermuda on a private jet for 10 — claimed for $22,000 — tickets to the Celtics, a trip for two to Germany, a six-course dinner by the shrine’s chef and bids to buy new pipes for the shrine.
The featured guest, developer Tom O’Brien, who sought solace at the shrine after his young daughter’s death, expressed gratitude and praised the friars for giving the bereaved and the needy a “safety net.”
“We share a connectedness to this great city,” O’Brien, the Pope Francis Award recipient, said. “All are welcome. All are interconnected.”
“The shrine is a special place. A spiritual place,” said Mayor Martin J. Walsh, who served as the auctioneer at the Seaport Hotel. “They help so many people in our city. They are incredible human beings.”
Angela Menino, the wife of the late Mayor Thomas M. Menino, praised the friars for “working with everybody for peace, for love, for food.”
Former Mayor Raymond L. Flynn, the onetime U.S. ambassador to the Vatican and an honored guest last night, said the “coalition of help” at the shrine is the country’s “most open environment in America today.”
“It’s a pleasure to be among them,” Flynn added, “and it was great to hear the Boston Herald singled out by Mayor Walsh for its commitment to the shrine and for helping the poor and needy of Boston.”
Last night’s gala at the Seaport Hotel raised $877,000.
“I am deeply grateful for the generosity of this evening’s effort,” Gonzalez said. “It is deeply moving to us.”