St. Ambrose Academy Benefit Dinner |
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All are welcome to celebrate a festive evening toasting Catholic education in the Diocese of Madison. • Saturday, Dec. 13 • 5:30 p.m. — Cocktail Hour, Cash Bar • 7 p.m. — Dinner • $75/plate, four guests at the reduced rate of $250, or table of eight at the reduced rate of $500 NOTE: Parties of less than eight may be seated with other parties. • Alliant Energy Center, 1919 Alliant Energy Center Way, Madison, WI 53713 RSVP to St. Ambrose Academy, 608-827-5863, or register online at www.ambroseacademy.org/register |
MADISON — It’s become a tradition. Each Advent season, St. Ambrose Academy in Madison welcomes apostolates, organizations, and friends from every corner of the Diocese of Madison for a fun, festive Benefit Dinner in support of Catholic education.
This year’s Benefit Dinner is Saturday, Dec. 13, at the Alliant Energy Center Exhibition Hall in Madison. The cocktail hour begins at 5:30 p.m., and the dinner itself begins at 7 p.m.
A doubly special evening
This year’s eighth annual Benefit Dinner will be a doubly special evening.
First, the event falls on the day after the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Several components of the dinner will honor Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Second, Fr. Francis “Father Rocky” Hoffman of Relevant Radio will be the keynote speaker.
Father Rocky is the executive director of Relevant Radio, the host of Go Ask Your Father, and a national speaker. His radio show, Go Ask Your Father, is often broadcast from Catholic schools across the country, including St. Ambrose Academy.
In addition, Father Rocky was the chaplain of an academy in the Chicago area. He is certainly fond of Catholic education.
Father Rocky’s keynote presentation at the banquet will focus on the need to educate young people in the Catholic faith so that they keep up the practice of the faith as adults; these young people are the future of the Church.
Father Rocky’s interest in furthering Catholic education matches up perfectly with St. Ambrose’s mission of helping students encounter Jesus Christ through their studies and experience of the sacraments.
Honoring Our Lady
Student presentations are a traditional part of each Benefit Dinner. One St. Ambrose sophomore will honor Our Lady of Guadalupe as part of his presentation.
This student traveled to Mexico City, Mexico, on pilgrimage last school year to view the tilma, the cactus fiber cloth on which the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to St. Juan Diego in the year 1531.
The young man learned about Our Lady of Guadalupe in his middle school history class at St. Ambrose a few years ago. He credits St. Ambrose with preparing him to take in the incredible mystery of Our Lady’s apparition.
“St. Ambrose forms its students to look at the Catholic faith on a deep level. This young man has learned to gaze deeply on the face of Jesus Christ and in his pilgrimage to Mexico City on the face of Our Lady of Guadalupe. I’m excited for him to share the impact of his pilgrimage with the St. Ambrose community,” said Associate Development Director Kim Donohoe.
There will be other tributes to Mary that night, but one is top-secret. The only clue is that the cocktail hour, which runs from 5:30 to 7 p.m., is a do-not-miss part of the whole event.
Removing barriers
The Benefit Dinner is St. Ambrose’s largest fundraiser of the school year. Last year, 663 guests attended the dinner and raised $100,000 in gifts and pledges.
Why this level of support? St. Ambrose strives to remove barriers for students who desire a solid religious and academic formation at St. Ambrose but who cannot afford full tuition.
Even though full tuition at St. Ambrose at $5,650 is roughly 50 percent of the average private high school tuition rate, half of school families at St. Ambrose cannot afford this amount.
St. Ambrose offered $142,000 this school year alone in tuition assistance. Rather than deny admission to students who can’t afford to pay, St. Ambrose turns to the community for help in setting up scholarships and providing tuition assistance. The Benefit Dinner is one opportunity to invest in the mission of Catholic classical education.
“It is a blessing that even those who don’t have children at St. Ambrose can invest in the mission and in doing so pass on the Catholic faith to the next generation,” said St. Ambrose President David Stiennon. “Passing on our faith in Jesus Christ is one of the most important things we do as Catholics.”
Enrollment at St. Ambrose has continued to climb with nearly 100 students in grades six to 12. The 2014 to 2015 incoming ninth grade class is the biggest ever with more than 20 students.
Dinner registration options
Of course, dinner registrations may be made by the traditional RSVP card or through a phone call to the St. Ambrose school office (608-827-5863). Online registration is available for the dinner this year at www.ambroseacademy.org/register
Find out more about the dinner and St. Ambrose at www.ambroseacademy.org