This Friday I will be receiving the Sapientia et Doctrina Award at Fordham, my alma mater and where I also received my Master’s. I really love Fordham and the Rose Hill Campus and I’m extremely honored by the award being bestowed on me by the Graduate School of Religion.

The awards dinner is an opportunity for the school to give out four awards. The first is the Founder’s Award, given to someone who has provided service to the school. Fr. Joseph A. O’Hare, SJ who was President when I was an undergrad will receive this award along with William H. Sadlier, Inc. the prestigious religious education book company that has really given countless amounts of support to the University and specifically to the Graduate School of Religion.

The second is the Gaudium et Spes Award which goes to someone high profile, essentially. Past winners include Sr. Helen Prejean and Fr. Jim Martin, SJ. And this year’s winner is Fr. Greg Boyle, SJ, author of Tatoos of the Heart and founder of Homeboy Industries, a ministry to gang members in LA. If you haven’t read the book, it’s amazing. I’m so excited to meet him.

The Fitzpatrick Award for Service to the Hispanic Community is given this year to a longtime supporter of the hispanic community in Newark, Carmen Ana Casal De Unanue. The Resource Foundation, an organization committed to increasing the self-reliance and living standards of the disadvantaged throughout Latin America has been gifted with her support as a board member for years.

The last award is the Sapientia et Doctrina award which goes to several individuals or groups who have given service to the church in the world as ministry professionals.
Besides myself several other wonderful ministers are getting this award and you can read all about them at this link.

While I’m touched that they are honoring me for my work in Young Adult and Campus Ministry, I also was the chair of the dinner for several years. So I think the fix was in (he said humbly). I also know that the dinner is a great event and that it is produced with love by alumni who love their school and who have treasured memories of their time in graduate school at Fordham.

As do I.

If you’d like to attend you can do so this Friday by registering here. The cost is $100pp or $900pp for a group of 10. It’s held at Fordham’s Rose Hill Campus in the McGinely Center Ballroom.