Memorial Church Congregants Endow Gomes Lecture

Emmanuel College of Cambridge University hosted the first annual Gomes Lecture and Dinner last Thursday, in honor of Rev. Peter J. Gomes Plummer professor of Christian morals and Pusey minister in the Memorial Church.

Lamont University Professor Emeritus Amartya K. Sen, a Nobel Prize winner and professor at Cambridge University, delivered the lecture, entitled "This Cambridge and That."

"It was a substantial discussion of policy issues that Cambridge is dealing with, like affirmative action," said Gomes, who traveled to Cambridge to take part in the event.

Gomes said he had an "absolutely magnificent" evening. At the dinner, the attendees sampled champagne set aside in 1967 for the millennium, Gomes said.

Memorial Church congregants Cynthia W. Rossano and Kenneth R. Rossano endowed the Gomes Lecture and Dinner.

"It's the nicest thing anybody's ever done for me," Gomes said. "It binds the two places I love most. There will be a feast in my name forever."

Cynthia Rossano declined to comment on the gift.

"She is a woman whose modesty exceeds her generosity, and her generosity is great indeed," Gomes said.