John Notaro works with students in Catholic schools in Brooklyn and Queens. He’s not a teacher but his focus is all about student success. For his efforts raising funds for families to afford the tuition at those academies, Notaro was a co-honoree at the fifth annual gala dinner for the Brooklyn Diocesan Missionary House of Formation Redemptoris Mater, held on Sunday, May 31, at Terrace On The Park in Corona.

Notaro is the executive director of the Diocese of Brooklyn’s Catholic Foundation and Futures in Education organizations.

More than 550 people attended the Sunday evening event, which was the largest turnout the dinner has had in its five years.
Attendees at the Brooklyn Diocesan Missionary House of Formation Redemptoris Mater gala dinner. Photo by Michael Rizzo

The Queens Village seminary prepares young men for missionary work as priests. Also honored was Msgr. Joseph Grimaldi, the Vicar General of the diocese, who assists Bishop Robert J. Brennan in administrative and pastoral governance duties.

“There are 4,000 students who are sitting in seats in the Catholic schools that they want to go to because of the donors who contribute to our organizations,” Notaro said in an interview before receiving his award, calling those kinds of results the reason “why I get up in the morning.”

Honoree John Notaro (left) speaks with well-wishers at the Brooklyn Diocesan Missionary House of Formation Redemptoris Mater gala dinner. Photo by Michael Rizzo

Fr. Julio César Sánchez, the seminary’s rector, explained in an interview as the event was setting up why Notaro was honored.

“Mr. Notaro is someone who, for many years, has become an instrument in our society, to show the grace of God, to help our young Catholics to find the truth in their discipline, in their academics.”

Getting donations to help with scholarships and resources that Catholic schools and parishes need is the challenge Notaro said he faces every day.

“We’re forming citizens for this world. We’re forming young people who are understanding the importance of service, and what it means to serve, to be a part of a community,” Notaro said in defending the need for Catholic schools, “and what makes us stand out is that there is a faith component that goes above and beyond just teaching the academics.”

John Notaro speaks to attendees at the Brooklyn Diocesan Missionary House of Formation Redemptoris Mater gala dinner. Photo by Michael Rizzo

“Being connected to a church that is there to help people, to give people community, to give people peace. It’s something that people so easily connect with,” he said in describing why donors make their contributions.

The 50-year-old Middle Village resident was joined at the event by his wife, Ludmila, and their three children, Nicholas, Benjamin and Isabella. Notaro previously worked at IBM in global finance before beginning his current job in 2010.

Gregory Haufe, a donor to Futures in Education and former chair of the St. Matthias Catholic Academy in Ridgewood, which closed in 2024, purchased a $200 ticket for the event. The 35-year-old, who is a vice president of cybersecurity with a major U.S. retail firm, said his work with Notaro fostered hope among residents in the parish.

“Many of them were immigrants or first generation who wanted to give their children a better education than they received,” he said. “It was through Futures in Education that they were able to receive tuition assistance that gave them the leg up.”

Haufe said continuing that financial support would help in recruiting families to Catholic schools to keep them open.

In presenting Notaro the seminary’s Maria Porta Caeli award, which is Latin for “Mary the Door to Heaven,” referring to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, Fr. Miguel Ángel Cervantes, the seminary’s vice rector, said that Notaro’s work raises $20 million a year for
his organizations.

“I receive this honor tonight with gratitude and with humility,” Notaro said in remarks to the guests. “I ask you all to keep in mind the future of this church is not something to be feared, it is something to be formed, and tonight we’ve seen it in action.”

Photo by Michael Rizzo

Then Notaro drew applause by raising his young daughter Isabella to the microphone, who spoke the final words of his speech with an emphatic “thank you.”