2016 Fall Dinner

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22ND ANNUAL FALL SCHOLARSHIP DINNER

November 17, 2016
White’s of Westport

Reception 5:30 p.m. ~ Dinner 6:30 p.m.

Featuring Mother Dolores Hart, O.S.B

Benedictine Nun, Abbey of Regina Laudis, Bethlehem, CT

During her seven-year career in film and on Broadway she starred in ten films, most notably opposite Elvis Presley in Loving You and King Creole, the hugely popular Where the Boys Are and Saint Francis of Assisi. 

She was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance in The Pleasure of His Company. Her radical choice to enter a cloistered Abbey at the height of her career in 1963 at first shocked and then inspired those who admired her as an actress and public figure.

Since entering the monastery Mother Dolores has played a key role in the education and formation of new community members and in developing the community’s apostolic outreach, including founding The Gary – The Olivia Theater on the Abbey grounds in collaboration with actors such as Academy Award winner Patricia Neal.

In recognition of her commitment to promote excellence in the arts and serve the Church through her profession, Mother Dolores has received three Honorary Doctorates, from Fairfield University, Loyola Marymount and Holy Family University, as well as numerous awards from the Church, including the Christopher Life Achievement Award.

She is also a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Since 1970 Mother Dolores has been the Dean of Education at Regina Laudis. In this role she has established a new expression of St. Benedict’s School of the Lord’s Service in which contemporary professional women can be awakened to the classical precepts of monastic life through an arduous process of self-knowledge and conversion of heart.

The HBO Documentary Film God is the Bigger Elvis about Mother Dolores’ remarkable story was nominated for a 2012 Academy Award in the Documentary Short category. Her acclaimed autobiography The Ear of the Heart: An Actress’ Journey from Hollywood to Holy Vows was released in 2013 and is now in its third printing.
Proceeds from this event provide “need-based” scholarships for children attending the Catholic schools of the Diocese of Fall River.