President Emeritus Marianne Evans Mount was named a Dame of the Order of St. Gregory the Great at the Catholic Distance University 40th anniversary gala Nov. 17. The award is the highest honor a layperson can receive from the Catholic Church.
Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States, presented the award to Mount at the Army Navy Country Club in Arlington. University Chancellor Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services initiated the award nomination with the Holy See.
Fewer than 10 women have received this honor since the Order of St. Gregory the Great began admitting Dames in addition to Knights in 1994. Other notable recipients of the award include Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founder of the Special Olympics; Mexican actor Ricardo Montalbán; Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson; and American publisher, philanthropist and diplomat Walter Hubert Annenberg.
Mount currently serves as a consultor to the Holy See’s Dicastery for Culture and Education.
“Dr. Marianne Mount is a jewel in the crown for Catholic education,” said trustee Susan R. Malone. “She’ll be remembered for being the first. She had a vision for the future, for Catholic education.” Malone is also a first; in 1973, she was one of the first two female FBI agents.
Cardinal Pierre presented Mount with an eight-pointed cross, suspended from a red and gold ribbon and a crown of laurel. The center of the cross bears an image of St. Gregory on the obverse, and on the reverse the motto “Pro Deo et Principe,” Latin for “For God and Ruler.”
Pope Gregory XVI established the Order of St. Gregory the Great in September 1831. It is one of five orders of knighthood of the Holy See. Admittance is bestowed upon primarily Roman Catholic men and women in recognition of their personal service to the Holy See and to the Roman Catholic Church, through their unusual labors, their support of the Holy See and their excellent examples set forth in their communities and their countries.
Mount’s “unusual labor” was the growth of CDU from a catechetical institute offering correspondence courses to an exclusively online, highly rated, accredited university that enrolls students worldwide. “This is an example of the mustard seed parable lived out magnificently,” said trustee Kelly McGinn.
During Mount’s 40-year career at CDU, she held various leadership roles, finally serving as president from 2008 to June 30, 2023. Speaking of the institution’s founding, Mount said, “We had a lot of opposition. No one really thought you could form people by correspondence. It had to be face-to-face, and we proved them wrong.”
Since offering its first accredited degree program in 1996, a master of arts in religious studies, the university has educated thousands of students, and many continue to serve the church. Alumni are employed in a wide variety of fields, including education, business, health care, medicine and law, and some have become deacons, priests and religious.
Mount, who joined CDU in 1983, is credited with being the driving force behind the university’s growth and success.
“Marianne took that football and ran to a goalpost that was far beyond what anyone expected,” said longtime CDU supporter Treena Rinaldi, who is the niece of Bishop Thomas J. Welsh, the first Bishop of Arlington who established CDU and recruited Mount as one of two initial staff members.
