Pair to be honored at Flame of Charity dinner
By Mary Beth DeLisi
Correspondent
Richard P. Diegnan, past president of the Flame of Charity Foundation, and Deacon Anthony J. Gostkowski who serves in St. Bartholomew Parish, East Brunswick, will be honored at this year’s Flame of Charity dinner Oct. 28, 6 p.m., in the Hyatt Regency Hotel, New Brunswick.
This is the 20th year of the Flame of Charity dinner, which was created by the Flame of Charity Foundation to raise funds for Middlesex and Somerset County Catholic Charities.
Diegnan, who will be honored as Humanitarian of the Year, is past president and co-owner of Atlantic Detroit Diesel Allison and currently serves as a consultant. He is the managing member of ADDA Realty LLC and is also a director of Enterprise Bank.
Diegnan is a member of numerous civic organizations. A parishioner of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish, Bernardsville, he is co-chair of the Campaign for the Heart at Morristown Memorial Hospital and is a past president of his parish council.
A graduate of St. Peter High School, New Brunswick, Diegnan earned a bachelor of arts degree and a master of arts degree from Monmouth University. He and his wife, Susan, reside in Bernardsville and have four children and six grandchildren.
Deacon Anthony J. Gostkowski, who is being honored as Community Servant of the Year, performs hospital ministry at St. Peter University Hospital, New Brunswick, and Carrier Clinic, Belle Mead.
Since his ordination May 5, 1996, Deacon Gostkowski has been serving his diaconal ministry at St. Bartholomew as a member of the parish’s RCIA team and as chaplain and member of the client service team of the parish’s St. Vincent de Paul Society Conference.
Deacon Gostkowski is also a member of the pastoral team of St. Patrick Cathedral, New York, where he has assisted at daily Mass for the past eight years. He is also a member of the St. Patrick Cathedral Council.
He is a member of the Flame of Charity Foundation Board and the diocese’s Diaconate Personnel Board. Deacon Gostkowski is a Knight of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. He served as a scout leader in the Boy Scouts of America.
Deacon Gostkowski and his wife, Elaine, have been married for 35 years and have two sons.
The Flame of Charity Foundation invites leaders of business, industry and institutions and all individuals of good will to join in the partnership of caring for those in need.
The Flame of Charity Foundation is committed to the support of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Metuchen. Through its broad program of services in 30 locations, Catholic Charities helps thousands of clients each year with shelter and housing, prevention and intervention services, foster care, adoption, prenatal and child care services, counseling and essential health care.
More than 90 percent of all funds are spent directly on programs and services.
For information on the Flame of
Charity dinner or to purchase tickets,
call
Barbara Bunag at (732) 562-1990, ext.
2436,
or e-mail bbunag@diometuchen.org.
*The attached/referenced article was originally published in The Catholic Spirit, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Metuchen, and is protected under U.S. and international copyright law