CAMARILLO : Priest Is Among 5 Feted by Archdiocese

A priest from St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo is one of five Southern California residents honored with the 1993 Cardinal’s Award from the Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese.

Father Newman C. Eberhardt is the first priest to receive the Cardinal’s Award, the highest honor bestowed on individuals by the archdiocese. The annual award, established in 1989 as the Archbishop’s Award, recognizes those whose leadership has improved the quality of life in the archdiocese and in the community.

Eberhardt, 80, has taught every ordained priest at St. John’s Seminary since 1941.

“I am only doing God’s will,” Eberhardt, explaining his devotion to the philosophy of St. Vincent de Paul, said in a statement released by the archdiocese.

Ordained in 1939, Eberhardt completed his postgraduate studies in theology at the Dominican Collegium Angelicum in Rome and began teaching at St. John’s Seminary in 1941.

Eberhardt is noted for his constant research in Doheny Library on the seminary’s grounds, phenomenal recall of students’ names, intuitive counseling and careful attention to lecture preparations, according to archdiocese officials.

“No other Vincentian priest has so touched the lives of so many priests, both spiritually and educationally, as has Father Eberhardt, and I join my brother priests in expressing appreciation for his gifts,” Cardinal Roger M. Mahony said in a statement.

Others who received the Cardinal’s Award in a ceremony Friday night were Alphonse Antezak, a San Gabriel journalist who spent 42 years with The Tidings, the official newspaper of the archdiocese; Charles F. Bannan, a Downey resident who has long supported a variety of community and Catholic educational programs; Peggy Ferry, charter member of St. Bede’s parish in La Canada Flintridge and longtime volunteer in Catholic schools, hospitals and agencies, and Anne Kenney, a Beverly Hills parishioner who has volunteered in the Catholic community for many years.