Whitehead School to Host Global Leadership Gala

By Linda Karten

The Whitehead School will honor Theodore Cardinal McCarrick, Archbishop Emeritus of Washington, at its Global Leadership Gala on Friday, December 1st. The Gala, which will take place at Cipriani – Wall Street in New York City, will also serve as the official kick-off of the School’s 10th anniversary in 2007.

Cardinal McCarrick, meeting youngsters in South Africa.

Honorary Chairs for the Global Leadership Gala include Archbishop Celestino Migliore, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations; Archbishop John J. Myers of Newark, and Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl of Washington.

The Global Leadership Gala honors individuals whose education, philosophy and experience embody the concept of global citizenship. In selecting His Eminence as this year’s honoree, the Whitehead School has focused on Cardinal McCarrick’s support of the Pope’s efforts on the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples, and the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. No less significant is the Cardinal’s service on the U.S. Secretary of State’s Advisory Committee on Religious Freedom Abroad and his membership on the United States Commission for International Religious Freedom.

As Archbishop of Newark and President of Seton Hall’s Boards of Regents and Trustees, Cardinal McCarrick gave his blessing to the creation of the Whitehead School of Diplomacy and International Relations in 1997.

On a visit to Sri Lanka with Catholic Relief Services, following the tsunami in 2004.

“The selection of Cardinal McCarrick as the Whitehead School’s Global Leader is, I believe, a fitting testament to His Eminence’s work and leadership throughout the years,” explains Reverend Paul A. Holmes, Vice President and Interim Dean of the Whitehead School. “Cardinal McCarrick has been a servant leader on a global scale, and our students can look to His Eminence as an inspiring model,” Father Holmes added.

  In addition to honoring a distinguished global citizen, the Gala serves to raise funds for the Whitehead School’s endowment. This endowment has enabled the School to serve as a forum in which world leaders convene to discuss critical global issues on the Seton Hall campus and thus ensure the success of such a young School.

Previous Gala honorees have included John C. Whitehead, former deputy secretary of state in the Reagan administration and the School’s namesake; J. Michael Pearson, a founding member of the School’s Board of Overseers and Director of McKinsey and Company’s New Jersey office; Dr. David Ebsworth, head of the worldwide Pharmaceutical Business Group of Bayer; Fred Hassan, Chairman and CEO of Pharmacia Corporation; and Raymond M. Pocino, vice president of the Laborers’ International Union of North America. For further information about the Global Leadership Gala, contact Linda Karten at kartenli@shu.edu.