By Tom Tracy - Florida Catholic
Photographer: TOM TRACY | FC
Albert Massey III, a member of the St. Thomas More Society board of governors, right, listens as Msgr. James Dixon speaks concerning his Archbishop Edward McCarthy Award for 2017. Msgr. Dixon was unable to receive the award at last year's event.
FORT LAUDERDALE | Two local priests were honored this year by the St. Thomas More Society of South Florida following the annual Red Mass for the Broward County legal community.
The Society presented its 2018 Archbishop Edward A. McCarthy Award posthumously to the late Father Oscar G. Alonso, a Piarist priest who taught for many years at Cardinal Gibbons High School in Fort Lauderdale, while also serving in parishes throughout the area. The school’s principal, Paul D. Ott, accepted the award on behalf of Father Alonso.
The second award recipient was Msgr. James Dixon, who received the McCarthy Award for 2017 but was unable to accept it at that time for health reasons.
Msgr. Dixon retired from full time chaplaincy in the U.S. Air Force and came to St. Anthony Church, Fort Lauderdale, for six years of service until retiring as a colonel in 2016; he continues to serve part time at local parishes. His final assignment after 26 years with the Air Force was at the Pentagon, as chief of plans and programs for the Air Force chaplain service.
“He was there on September 11 of 2001, and although he was not in the Pentagon (building) at the time, he was there to see the Pentagon in flames. He lost co-workers and friends there on that fateful day,” said Albert Massey, a member of the St. Thomas More Society board of governors, who introduced Msgr. Dixon.
Photographer: TOM TRACY | FC
Albert Massey III, a member of the St. Thomas More Society board of governors, left, presents Cardinal Gibbons High School Principal Paul D. Ott with the 2018 Archbishop Edward A. McCarthy Award, posthumously given to the late Piarist Father Oscar G. Alonso, a priest who served at the school.
Founded in 1989, the St. Thomas More Society of South Florida is a Catholic association of South Florida’s legal community — including lawyers, judges, public officials and other law professionals — dedicated to the advancement of the principles of St. Thomas More.
The presentations took place at the reception and dinner that followed the Society’s annual Red Mass May 15 at St. Anthony Church. The Mass was celebrated by Archbishop Thomas Wenski along with clergy from Broward County.
Among them was Father Anthony Mulderry, who has served as board member and spiritual advisor to the St. Thomas More Society. He is marking his 50th year of priesthood and is about to retire as pastor of St. Gabriel Parish in Pompano Beach.
