NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Xavier University of Louisiana has received a $1.5 million gift from the Gayle and Tom Benson Charitable Foundation to help provide maintenance for the campus chapel and to set up a scholarship fund.
NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune reports the nation's only historically black Catholic institution will officially rename the St. Katharine Drexel Chapel sanctuary the Gayle and Tom Benson Sanctuary in a public ceremony Thursday. The chapel was named after the school's founder, the second canonized saint to be born in the nation.
According to a news release, the scholarship fund will provide yearly scholarship awards to New Orleans-area students for a maximum of $5,000 per semester.
Xavier President Reynold Verret says with the gift, the Bensons have invested in a brighter future for generations of students.
