PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CatholicPhilly
BY MATTHEW GAMBINO
Donna Farrell, the former director of communications for the archdiocese and Richard V. McCarron, the former secretary for Catholic education, both received letters dated May 8 from Archbishop Charles Chaput conveying the good news and inviting them to a formal award ceremony during the 6:30 p.m. Mass on Sunday, June 2 at the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul.
Farrell will receive the Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice (for the Church and the Pontiff), consisting of a gold medal inscribed with those words in Latin and an official scroll. Established in 1888, it is given to a Catholic who has shown distinguished service to the Church and to the papacy.
It is the first such honor given to a lay person in the Archdiocese since 2003.
The award “comes directly from the Holy See and is one of the highest honors the Holy Father can bestow on an individual,” Archbishop Chaput said in his letter. “As such, it’s an extraordinary blessing for the whole Catholic community in our region. This award is a testimony to your outstanding service to the Church in communicating her message of Christian hope under very demanding conditions.”
During Farrell’s tenure as the chief spokesperson and communications strategist for the archdiocese, the church was buffetted by numerous serious events, many unprecedented, to which the archbishop referred.
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