Trustee Dinner Honorees - List

2008

The University of Notre Dame’s Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, will receive Catholic Theological Union’s 2008 “Blessed are the Peacemakers Award”. Inspired by the vision of the legendary President Emeritus of Notre Dame, Fr. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., and funded in 1986 through a generous gift from Mrs. Joan B. Kroc, this unique institute conducts research, education, and outreach programs on the causes of violence and the conditions for sustainable peace. Recognized as one of the foremost centers for peace studies in the world, the Institute's research agenda focuses on the religious and ethnic dimensions of conflict and peacebuilding. The Institute’s Master of Arts program attracts students from around the world and equips scholar-practitioners with theoretical and practical skills needed for diverse careers in peacebuilding.

There is a deep affinity between the mission of the Kroc Institute and that of Catholic Theological Union. Inspired by the reconciling spirit of the late Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, Catholic Theological Union’s Bernardin Center for Theology and Ministry has made peacemaking and reconciliation the heart of its mission. Through programs of interreligious dialogue with the Jewish and Muslim communities, work with victims of torture, the Peacebuilder’s program for high school students and the Luce intern program for outstanding lay students from across the country, the Bernardin Center of Theology and Ministry is a strong ally of the Kroc Institute and the institutions are close collaborators.

2007

Senator John C. Danforth has had an exemplary career as a distinguished United States Senator, as a special Presidential envoy to Darfur to help settle the 19-year civil war between the northern and southern Sudanese, and as Ambassador to the United Nations. Senator Danforth is an ordained Episcopalian priest, a deeply religious man, and a noted author whose most recent book Faith and Politics: How the "Moral Values" Debate Divides America and How to Move Forward Together deals with the issue of religion and public life. We at Catholic Theological Union are pleased to celebrate Senator Danforth’s strong personal commitment to end violence and division and his call to people of faith in our country and abroad to be a source of unity and justice. We are honored to present him with our “Blessed are the Peacemakers" Award for 2007.  

2006

Mr. Jean Vanier founder of the L'Arche communities. Jean Vanier returned to France after teaching at St. Michael's College, University of Toronto. Upset and concerned by the scandalous conditions he saw in institutions, in 1964 Jean Vanier invited two men with developmental disabilities, Raphael Simi and Philippe Seux, to live with him in a small house in the French village of Trosly-Breuil. He named their house "L'Arche," after Noah's Ark in the French village of Trosly Breuil. L'Arche grew quickly as this new way of sharing life together in community with people who would otherwise be shut away in institutions attracted many young people. And Vanier himself began traveling and speaking about his own life-changing experience of coming to know people with developmental disabilities. Today, there are 130 L'Arche communities in 30 countries on six continents. 

2005

OneVoice Initiative, founder Daniel Luzbetzky, and Middle East director Mohammad Darawshe. The OneVoice Initiative is "a global undertaking designed to amplify the voice of the people and to empower Israelis and Palestinian on the ground to achieve a consensus on core issues that can form a roadmap for conflict resolution."

2004

The Council of Religious Leaders of Metropolitan Chicago 

2003

Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation
Steven Spielberg, founder 

2002

Cardinal Walter Kasper, President of the Pontifical Council for the
Promotion of Christian Unity and the Commission for Religious Relationships with Judaism 

2001

Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan 

2000

John Hume, Nobel Laureate of Northern Ireland 

1999

Lea Rabin, widow of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin 

1998

Father Theodore M. Hesburgh, CSC, President Emeritus
University of Notre Dame 

1997

Bishop Raymond E. Goedert, Vicar General
Archdiocese of Chicago 

1996

Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Founder, The Special Olympics
Sargent Shriver, Founding Director, The Peace Corps 

1995

Monsignor Michel Sabbah, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem 

1994

Kenneth Woodward, Senior Religious Editor
Newsweek Magazine 

1993

Sister Rosemary Connelly, RSM, Executive Director
Misericordia Home 

1992

Margaret Roach, Catholic Social Action Leader 

1991

Michael Glazier, Publisher