The Pontifical College Josephinum will bestow its two highest honors on members of the clergy and laity at its annual Good Shepherd Dinner on Monday, April 20.
The dinner, held in the Jessing Center on campus, is the seminary’s signature fundraising event. Proceeds support programs for men discerning the priesthood.
This year’s Good Shepherd Award will be presented to Msgr. Frank Lane. The honor recognizes a clergy member whose life and ministry exemplify qualities of the Good Shepherd, fostering vocations and supporting the Josephinum’s mission and seminarians.
Msgr. Lane, a retired priest of the diocese, has spent nearly six decades in priestly ministry. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1967 and served as pastor at various diocesan parishes and on several boards and committees.
The priest also served as a military chaplain, earning two U.S. Army commendation medals and was later invested into the Church’s Order of the Holy Sepulchre, which supports the Christian presence in the Holy Land.
He spent 15 years on Josephinum faculty, serving as vice rector, academic dean, director of recruitment and a member of the seminary’s Board of Trustees.
“Msgr. Lane is a humble, unassuming man of many remarkable gifts,” said Father Steven Beseau, rector and president at the Josephinum. “As a pastor, scholar, professor, spiritual director and chaplain, his nearly 60 years of priesthood embody what the Good Shepherd Award is meant to honor: a life laid down in love for others.”
William Burleigh of Cincinnati will receive the seminary’s Pope Leo XIII Award. The high honor recognizes exemplary support of the Church, priesthood, vocations and the Josephinum’s mission.
Burleigh, a nationally respected leader in journalism, spent his career at The E.W. Scripps Company, one of the nation’s largest local TV broadcasters.
The Evansville, Indiana, native also served as director of the Associated Press, chairman of the American Press Institute, president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors Foundation and a Pulitzer Prize juror.
Burleigh spent nine years on the Josephinum’s Board of Trustees and remains a strong supporter of the seminary and its mission. He is active in the Order of Malta lay religious order, the Knights of Columbus and is a lay Dominican.
“Mr. Burleigh’s professional accomplishments are matched only by his fidelity to the Church and his love for the priesthood,” Father Beseau said. “His steadfast support, commitment to vocations and wise counsel have been extraordinary gifts to the Josephinum and will continue to strengthen the seminary’s mission for future generations of seminarians.”
Since the Josephinum’s founding in 1888, more than 2,000 men have received priestly formation. It remains the only seminary in the United States to hold the honor of pontifical status.
To learn more about supporting seminarians at the Josephinum and the Good Shepherd Dinner, visit www.pcj.edu/goodshepherd.