The award was conveyed at FADICA’s 2025 Annual Meeting and Symposium on March 11. This prestigious lifetime achievement award recognizes visionary leadership, outstanding philanthropic initiative, and a deep spirit of service in advancing the renewal and vitality of the Catholic Church.
The award was conveyed during a particularly meaningful time and place, during FADICA’s 2024 Pilgrimage and Retreat in Rome, Italy in November. FADICA President and CEO Alexia Kelley and Board Chair Michael Wolohan presented the award on Wednesday, November 13 at a dinner for pilgrimage attendees and guests.
In November 2024, FADICA pilgrims attended a private audience with His Holiness Pope Francis at the apostolic palace in Vatican City. The audience was a blessed beginning to FADICA’s five-day Rome pilgrimage, in which FADICA members engaged multiple leaders at the Vatican on topics like safeguarding, global human development, faith consistent investing, and education and culture.
FADICA – Catholic Philanthropy Network was thrilled to convey the St. Mary Magdalene Medal of Service to Gabriela Smith—a FADICA member, board member, and the founder and executive chair of the Crimsonbridge Foundation—at a FADICA Advent gathering in Washington, DC, on December 12, 2023.
In early May, Alicia Simon and FADICA Board Chair Mike Wolohan traveled to Seattle to present the St. Joseph of Arimathea Medal of Service to Dick Abrams.
At its national gathering in New Orleans in February, FADICA the Catholic Philanthropy Network bestowed the St. Katharine Drexel Award in Catholic Philanthropy to Terrell Richardson, the St. Joseph of Arimathea Medal of Service to Dr. Reynold Verret, and the Mary Magdalene Medal of Service to Gayle Benson.
FADICA is the leading philanthropic peer network serving as a catalyst for a vital Catholic Church, Catholic ministries, and the common good. We promote the growth and effectiveness of Catholic philanthropy inspired by the joy of the Gospel and the Catholic social tradition. FADICA supports its members through education, exchange, fellowship and faith, research, joint funding opportunities, and interaction with Catholic leadership.
