Catholic Charities to Honor Vincent D. Rougeau, President of the College of the Holy Cross, at Annual Spring Celebration Gala

Tickets and Sponsorship Opportunities Now Available for Event to be held on May 17, 2023, at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. Purchase or become a sponsor here. 

Catholic Charities Boston announced that it will host its annual Spring Celebration Gala on May 17, 2023, at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, MA. This year’s John and Virginia Kaneb Justice and Compassion Award will be presented to Vincent D. Rougeau, president of the College of the Holy Cross.

Since 2007, CCAB’s Spring Celebration Gala has raised funds for the Agency’s areas of greatest need and served as an opportunity to highlight individuals who exemplify Catholic Charities’ values of charity, compassion, and service. The award is Catholic Charities’ highest recognition and was renamed last year in honor of the late John Kaneb, beloved former Catholic Charities Boston Board member who assisted the organization until his death in August 2021, and his wife, Virginia, to commemorate their decades of generous support of the Agency.

“This year we are thrilled to honor Vincent D. Rougeau as the John and Virginia Kaneb Justice and Compassion Award recipient,” said CCAB President and CEO Kevin M. MacKenzie. “Vince is celebrated for his commitment to faith and compassion through his dedication to scholarship, justice, and exemplary leadership as the President of Holy Cross.

President Rougeau, a nationally respected expert in legal education and Catholic social thought, became the 33rd president of Holy Cross in July 2021. He previously served as Dean of the Boston College Law School and the inaugural Director of the new Boston College Forum on Racial Justice in America, a meeting place for listening, dialogue, and greater understanding of race and racism in America. Before his role at Boston College, Rougeau was a tenured law professor at Notre Dame Law School and served as their Associate Dean for Academic Affairs from 1999-2002.

Rougeau has written extensively on law and religion, releasing his book in 2008 through Oxford University Press, Christians in the American Empire: Faith and Citizenship in the New World Order. His current research and writing consider the relationships among religious identity, citizenship, and membership in highly mobile and increasingly multicultural democratic societies. He serves as a senior fellow at The Centre for Theology & Community (CTC) in London, where he researches broad-based community organizing, immigration, and citizenship in the UK as part of the Just Communities Project.

A vocal advocate for change in legal education, Rougeau writes and speaks extensively on legal education reform. He is a former president of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) and previously served as a member of the Executive Committee of AALS and chair of the AALS Deans Steering Committee. He has also served on the Council of the Boston Bar Association. Rougeau received his A.B. magna cum laude from Brown University in 1985 and his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1988, where he served as articles editor of the Harvard Human Rights Journal. President Rougeau also serves on the boards of Newton-Wellesley Hospital, GBH, and Boston Lyric Opera.

Proceeds from CCAB’s Spring Celebration Gala directly support Catholic Charities clients most in need. To register as a sponsor or purchase tickets, please visit CCAB’s Spring Celebration Gala website. For questions regarding the event, please contact Jerry Smith, Director of Annual Giving, at jerry_smith@ccab.org or 617-464-8525.

About Catholic Charities Boston

As one of Massachusetts’s largest social service organizations, Catholic Charities Boston serves our most vulnerable neighbors each year, regardless of religion, race, gender, age, disability, or ethnicity. Catholic Charities has five hub locations in Dorchester, Lynn, Brockton, Lowell, and South Boston, with 23 program locations supporting families across Eastern Massachusetts. The Agency’s four core services assist clients with Basic Needs, Family & Youth Services, Adult Education & Workforce Development, and Refugee & Immigrant Services. We help our clients move from crisis to stability to self-sufficiency.