Figures... I come home from a week in Vegas (work sent me for a conference) the day before this event. Had I known, I would have stuck around another day, if only to see what Cardinals were attending.

There could be a number of reasons for choosing Vegas. Cost is always a major factor (on average, the cheapest place to travel to in the world). That's why there's so many conferences and trade shows there.
Timmay! | 04.28.07 - 9:55 am | #

Did you know that Las Vegas has More than 500 churches and synagogues?

Must be all that praying going on there.
Jeff Miller | Homepage | 04.28.07 - 1:08 pm | #

Should they actually succeed in Evangelizing Las Vegas then what happens there will no longer stay there.
sister mary martha | Homepage | 04.28.07 - 8:17 pm | #

Wow, I guess Catholics in Las Vegas next year will not be voting for you in the blog competition.

You Evil Las Vegas Catholics
lol
JH
Louisiana
JH | 04.28.07 - 10:33 pm | #

Am I misunderstanding things here, or are the "Cardinals" mentioned in this article a reference to the athletic mascot of Catholic University, the Cardinals, and not the U.S. Princes of the Church?
InPhoenix | 04.28.07 - 10:37 pm | #

As of a few years ago, one parish had perpetual adoration there. It's a little Hispanic parish in the slums. It was daylight, but I felt more comfortable there than I did on the Strip.
Chris from St. Mary's | Homepage | 04.28.07 - 10:38 pm | #

They're going for the $0.99 all-you-can-eat shrimp cocktail.
craig | 04.29.07 - 9:11 am | #

Las Vegas has a bad reputation but the area is not just the Strip. The area has experienced a population boom in recent years and the parishes have also experienced a boom of new families. One parish, only a little over 3 years old, has over 3200 families. Another parish has over 9000 families.
With other dioceses closing churches, this diocese is trying to raise money to buy land (which is at a premium) to start three new parishes because current ones are bursting at the seams.
There are many faithful Catholics here trying to live their faith which is very counter-cultural to the "world" around them.
FYI, the Cathedral is actually on the Strip (north of the Wynn Hotel) and if I remember my Las Vegas diocese history correctly it was paid for largely by the casinos so their workers would still be able to go to mass on Sunday, even if they had to work. (It wasn't meant to be the Cathedral when it was built because the Las Vegas diocese was still part of the Reno diocese at the time.)
Philothea | 04.30.07 - 2:30 pm | #

Philothea stole my thunder -- there is a Church in the middle of the strip, and it's prominently placed so that one cannot drive by without seeing a modern art rendition of our Lord's Resurrection. I haven't been inside, but I wanted to just to escape the Las Vegas atmosphere of greed & sex.
Megan | Homepage | 04.30.07 - 4:54 pm | #

If the cardinals hear confessions, maybe what happens in Vegas really will stay in Vegas.
Niall Mor | Homepage | 04.30.07 - 5:18 pm | #

Bishop Joseph Pepe of Las Vegas, a board member of Catholic University of America, offered to host the event which raises money for scholarships for CUA. The event travels around the country, and it's hard to get places willing to give their local donors up to CUA in this tight money era. I went to the dinner, and it was very inspiring to hear the students speak of their CUA experience. Las Vegas needs the New Evangelization - big time!
Dan Kidd | 05.01.07 - 8:58 am | #

Dan - I'm very glad to hear it. I would have liked the mainpage of the cardinals dinner to have been a bit more explanatory, however. Public propriety is a concern, especially for events and patrons like this!
AmericanPapist | Homepage | 05.02.07 - 7:09 pm | #