Supporters of Catholic education were urged to curb school closings in the Archdiocese of Louisville and to use their resources to create stronger schools. That plea came during the annual Salute to Catholic School Alumni held March 4 at the Galt House in Louisville.

The annual event, which drew more than 1,600 people Tuesday night, benefits the Catholic Education Foundation, which provides tuition assistance and grants for Catholic schools.

Angela Mason, one of six Catholic school alumni honored at the event, issued a spirited call to Catholics to “focus our efforts, attention and money on schools that are struggling.”

“This award symbolizes the commitment, sacrifice and faith that my family had for Catholic education,” she told the crowd. Such education created a “way of life” for her family that focused on community.

But that sense of community “is threatened by closures,” said Mason, who attended Christ the King School, Mercy Academy, Flaget High School and Bellarmine University. “We must ensure that no child is lost — regardless of socio-economic background.

“We are ... responsible for ensuring that Catholic parents in the inner city of Louisville are able to send their children to Catholic schools,” she said. “The most effective tool against crime and poverty is education. If we ignore this problem, tomorrow we will be faced with more closures.”

Mason, an entrepreneur who sold her multi-million- dollar company in 2003, has demonstrated her own commitment to Catholic schools with the establishment of a scholarship fund for West Louisville students to attend Catholic high schools, a donation of $2 million to Bellarmine and a new commitment to provide $50,000 annually to Nativity Academy at St. Boniface, a school for at-risk children in the inner city.

Another salute honoree, Douglas R. James, who accepted his award after Mason, picked up the same thread and plainly noted, “our schools are struggling.”

His alma mater, DeSales High School in South Louisville, is doing well with growing enrollment, said James, chair of the DeSales High School Foundation. But his wife’s high school, Holy Rosary Academy, closed several years ago.

“I look forward to the day when we have dialogue not about schools closing but about schools opening and that (Catholic schools) will be available to every kid who wants a Catholic education,” he said.

James, director of sales and national sales manager for Main Line Broadcasting, noted that he wasn’t raised Catholic, but he grew up “in the shadow of DeSales” located a few steps from his house. He attended public grade school. But when he started to “go astray” his dad decided to send James to DeSales.

“It was the smartest investment my parents ever made for me,” he said. James, who became Catholic, thanked the people at Catholic schools who helped shape him, including lay teachers who he said, accepted lower wages to teach at Catholic schools, and religious men and women.

In addition to Mason and James, four other Catholic school alumni were honored.

• John C. Lechleiter, newly appointed CEO of Eli Lilly and Company, attended St. Stephen Martyr School, was valedictorian of the class of 1971 at St. Xavier High School and attended Xavier University in Cincinnati.

He recently helped to establish Providence Cristo Rey Catholic High School in Indianapolis, Ind., where he resides. The school integrates a work-study program into its curriculum that enables students to earn up to 70 percent of their tuition.

Lechleiter is one of nine children and noted the great sacrifice his parents made to send all of the children to Catholic schools.

• Mary Moseley, president of the Al J. Schneider Company, attended St. Agnes School and Sacred Heart Academy.

Moseley praised her father, the late Al Schneider, who she said was deeply faithful to the Catholic Church.

“He was my mentor and hero,” she said. She also praised the schools she attended as well as those attended by family members, including Assumption High School and St. Xavier.

• Hamilton B. Simms, the County Attorney for Washington County, attended St. Dominic School in Springfield, Ky., St. Joe Prep in Bardstown, Ky., and Bellarmine University.

Simms, a father of six also sent his children to St. Dominic. His children “reaffirmed my belief in Catholic education,” he said. “There’s not a greater honor I could have than being recognized by the Catholic Education Foundation.”

• Phillip J. Stuecker, retired CFO of Thomas Industries, attended Our Lady of Lourdes School and Trinity High School. He chairs the Trinity High School Foundation.

Stuecker said the award should go to his mother and father who sacrificed to send him to Catholic schools.

He also praised his former high school and especially his former teacher, Eugene Eckert.

Eckert was also honored at the salute as recipient of this year’s Father Joseph McGee Award, presented annually to an outstanding Catholic educator in the Archdiocese of Louisville. Eckert has taught at Trinity for 42 years and has served as a volunteer at St. Joseph Children’s Home for 30 years.

Also honored during the event were brothers Joe and Michael “Rocky” Pusateri, owners of Elite Homes building company. They received the Community Service Award.

The honor acknowledges the brothers’ role in directing the construction of a home for the Patrick Hughes family for the reality TV show Extreme Makeover Home Edition.

Joe Pusateri said the project was “the highlight of our building career.”

The event’s keynote speaker, Jesuit Father Michael J. Graham applied the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola (founder of the Jesuit order) to understanding Catholic education.

Father Graham, president of Xavier University, noted five aspects of St. Ignatius’ exercises that make “Catholic education at its best worth celebrating.”

He said Catholic education is “holistic and integrative;” exacting but adaptable; ongoing; free of “inordinate attachments;” and ordered to something greater.

Catholic education “is God’s great gift to his kingdom,” said Father Graham.