In announcing the award, the NCEA cited Cardinal O'Malley's establishment, in 2005, of the 2010 Initiative, a committee of educators, clergy, civic and business leaders who developed a strategic plan based on study and research. The cardinal has attracted substantial grant funding through the Campaign for Catholic Schools to realize the initiative's recommendations. The most substantial gift--believed to be the largest gift ever made from a foundation to support systematic reform for Catholic elementary education--was $15 million by the Yawkey Foundations.

Restoration work at Boston's St. Cecilia Church honored

The Boston Preservation's Alliance has announced it will award their 2012 Preservation Achievement Award for Rehabilitation/Restoration of a Religious Property to Donham and Sweeney Architects for their work restoring St. Cecilia's Church on Belvidere Street in Boston.

During the multi-phased rehabilitation of St. Cecilia's Church, the existing parish house was demolished, but the original foundation was preserved. The lower church saw interior gut renovations, and the rectory and upper church underwent selective renovations. On the site of the former Parish House, a new, two-story glass and steel addition was constructed. Prior to this project, the parish had not undergone any restoration work since 1954.

St. Cecilia's Parish, dedicated in 1894, was built by and for the maids and coachmen who served the upper class of Back Bay at the end of the nineteenth century.