Past Recipients of the Isaac Hecker Award
Dorothy
|
for her selfless commitment to people who are homeless, jobless, and powerless
Dorothy Day received the first Isaac Hecker Award for Social Justice. She co-founded the Catholic Worker, a movement dedicated to nonviolent activism and living in solidarity with poor people. More than 60 Houses of Hospitality nationally serve people in need. The inspiration of Dorothy's life, including her speaking, writing, and teaching, sustains the Worker movement for peace, economic and racial justice. |
Bishop Thomas Gumbleton1975 |
for his inspiring vision of a world free of poverty and hunger, war and repression, and the global devaluation of human life
Bishop Thomas Gumbleton's his embrace of love and nonviolence grounds his opposition to war. Rejecting the Christian doctrine of just war, he was among the first Church leaders in America to call for unconditional amnesty for those who resisted the Vietnam draft. He co-drafted the pastoral letter Challenge of Peace (1983). Auxiliary Bishop of Detroit, he was also founding president of Pax Christi USA. |
Cesar
|
for fostering nonviolent organizing for just wages, working conditions, and dignified living
Cesar Chavez accepted the Hecker Award on behalf of the United Farm Workers of America, a union of farm workers he founded with support from other unions, church groups, and individuals. He inspired the 1960-70's activism that demanded change through nonviolent marches, rallies, boycotts, and fasts. His legacy remains a defining force of the national labor and civil rights movements. |
Sister Marie Augusta Neal1977 |
for calling the Church to educate and act on the Gospel mandate to build a just society
Sister Marie Augusta Neal, SND, spurred many Christian churches to address the justice themes of the Gospels. Through the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, her call for justice reform revitalized religious orders of women. A professor of Sociology at Emmanuel College, she authored The Socio-Theology of Letting Go.. |
Tom
|
for bearing witness to economic justice as an integral part of faith
Tom Corrigan, a neighborhood organizer, founded Massachusetts Fair-Share, a citizen action group that promotes economic justice for all people as "guaranteed by our Commonwealth's constitution and recognition of basic human dignity." |
Kip
|
for placing people's dignity and self-esteem at the heart of our standard for meeting basic human needs
Kip Tiernan founded Rosie's Place in Boston on Easter Sunday 1974. It serves as a refuge where homeless women can maintain their dignity, seek opportunity, and find security in their lives. She also founded the Greater Boston Food Bank, Community Works, Health Care for the Homeless and other activist organizations, including the Poor People's United Fund, a funding source for fighting homelessness, hunger, and injustice. |
Paul
|
for his deep respect and compassion in caring for homeless people
Paul Sullivan directed the Pine Street Inn providing shelter and resources to homeless people. Knowing firsthand the pain and shame faced everyday by the men around him, he encouraged his guests to believe in themselves again and take those first steps out of the street towards their journey home. |
Sara
|
for her tireless efforts over 50 years to abolish the death penalty in America
Sara Ehrmann challenged people to recognize the dignity of each human being, including prisoners. She became involved in the issue of capital punishment in 1927 as a result of her husband Herbert's work as counsel for Sacco and Vanzetti, and served as Director of the American League to Abolish the Death Penalty. |
Sister Carol Coston1982 |
ffor her work as founder and leader of NETWORK, the first Catholic lobbying group in Washington, DC.
Sister Carol Coston, OP, founded NETWORK to distribute information and politically empower people as citizens to shape legislation that is more responsive to human needs. She was inspired by Call to Action, Pope Paul VI's challenge to create more effective and systematic ways to offset the "network of domination and oppression" within global politics. |
Sister Barbara Scanlan
|
for providing the individual attention and care so painfully missing from the perilous lives of homeless youth and runaways
Sister Barbara Whelan, CSJ, and Sister Barbara Scanlan, CSJ, founded Bridge Over Trouble Waters in 1970 when they befriended and earned the trust of many alienated young people living in the streets of Boston. They sheltered, clothed, and fed over 1,000 youths their first summer. Bridge gradually added innovative new services, such as the Free Medical Van, Family Life program and GED tutoring. Their call for public agencies to provide adequate youth services is tireless. |
Bishop Leroy Matthiesen1984 |
for his ministry of peace and public opposition to nuclear arms
Bishop Leroy T. Matthiesen of Amarillo offered counseling to workers at Pantex, the final assembly point for nuclear weapons in the US, and financial support to those willing to leave their jobs. As a member of the Catholic Press Association and columnist for the West Texas Catholic, he challenged our own complicity in the arms race. |
Sister Rose
|
for her embrace of Central American immigrants and refugees with boundless energy and compassion
Sister Rose Marie Cummins, OP, established Centro Presente to offer emergency food and shelter, medical assistance, ESL courses, counseling, and legal services to Central American immigrants, especially Salvadoran and Guatemalan refugees. Its educational programs also draw attention to the struggles and concerns of refugees and newcomers. |
Joe
|
for his impassioned call to empower laity as leadership structures evolve both within and outside the Church
Joe Holland has written on a variety of subjects, including the stages of industrial capitalism and Catholic strategies for evangelization. As a respected Catholic theologian, author, and lay activist, he was instrumental in the formation of a national coalition between religious social activists and the American labor movement, the Religion and Labor Conference. |
Larry
|
for his courageous leadership and compassion for people affected by AIDS and HIV
Larry Kessler, an inspiring advocate for people ostracized and marginalized by our society, founded Boston's AIDS Action Committee in 1983 to provide housing, counseling, and support to people with AIDS and HIV. In 1973, Larry initiated the Isaac Hecker Award for Social Justice while serving as the Paulist Center's Social Justice Minister. |
Mary Hunt
|
for being catalysts of women's religious speech and creativity
Mary Hunt and Diann Neu co-founded the Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual. Based in Maryland, WATER is a feminist educational center offering women the resources to develop their spiritual nature and assume leadership roles in their faith communities. |
Jim
|
for his personal commitment to the plight of the homeless and their health care needs
Jim O'Connell, MD, began working with the homeless at Boston's Pine Street Inn soon after completing his medical residency. His leadership of the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Project, a program begun in 1984 to explore delivery of health care services to homeless people, has since brought ongoing health services to those living on the streets of Boston. |
Pauline
|
for their fortitude in seeking just treatment for prisoners, victims, and families
Pauline and Charles Sullivan co-founded Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants, calling us to look not only at the injustice of the death penalty, but also the need for humane prisons, genuine rehabilitation efforts, and victim compensation. Their lobbying efforts in Washington, DC, have drawn attention to the compassionate need for prison reform. |
Sister Carole Rossi1991 |
for her unifying vision in building community among disenfranchised immigrant groups
Sister Carole Rossi, OP, founded the East Boston Ecumenical Community Council in 1978 to empower immigrants through community organizing that respects the values and differences in cultural and religious traditions. A founding member of Boston Catholic Women, Sister Carole led the early development of Womancenter, a retreat house in southeastern Massachusetts. |
Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen1992 |
for encouraging all who work within the Church to expand its commitment to justice and peace
Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen of Seattle was recognized not only as an activist for peace and nuclear disarmament, but also for his respect for the rights of the poor, women, homosexuals, and other oppressed groups. His visionary leadership was rooted in the teachings of Vatican II and encouraged greater lay participation and leadership in the Church. |
John
|
for bringing the abled and disabled together to experience unconditional love as they encounter one another in God
John Keck started Handicapped Encounter Christ in 1974 after a spinal cord injury confined him to a wheelchair for two years. He began to include disabled teenagers in the retreats he organized, overcoming objections by some who feared that non-disabled teens would be "frightened". HEC brings mutual empowerment and enlightenment through youth and adult retreat programs worldwide. |
Sister Helen Prejean1994 |
for her inspiring ministry of reconciliation with death row inmates and the families of their victims
Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ, accepted the Hecker Award by describing the road to social justice as a physical journey with Christ as much as a spiritual calling. In her book Dead Man Walking she cast the death penalty in unstintingly human terms. Her impassioned call for an end to capital punishment reached around the world. |
Sister Jeannine Gramick
|
for their bold ministry to gay and lesbian Catholics, their families and friends
Sister Jeannine Gramick, SSND, and Father Robert Nugent, SDS, dispelled myths and promoted understanding of lesbian and gay Catholics through writing, counseling, retreats and workshops. Their prolific writings include Building Bridges: Gay/Lesbian Reality and the Catholic Church published in 1992. They co-founded New Ways Ministry in 1977, a national reconciliation ministry that continues under lay leadership. |
Sister Lena
|
for her outreach to all immigrant groups and her work to combat the accompanying racism
Sister Lena Deevy, LSA, expanded Boston's Irish Immigration Center to include ministry to all nationalities, races, and religions after its founding in the late 1980s as a confidential hotline for undocumented Irish. Her inclusive vision drew attention to the historic interrelationship between Boston's immigrant groups, in particular those of Irish and African roots. |
Kay Doherty1997 |
for her inspiring journey toward justice for all whose lives are bound by racism and poverty
Kay Doherty read in 1972 that a struggling Mississippi farm cooperative was about to lose federal funding. Compelled by this injustice, she decided to walk the ten-mile round trip to Good Friday church services and get sponsors for each mile. Since then the Good Friday Walk has raised millions of dollars for relief projects funded by Sharing, Inc, founded by Kay in 1975. |
25th Year
|
A commemoration of the Award's 25th year honored all past recipients with a day long retreat examining how spirituality sustains commitment to social justice action. Past recipients returning to the Paulist Center included Tom Corrigan, Sister Carol Coston, Sister Rose Marie Cummins, Sister Lena Deevy, Kay Doherty, Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, Joe Holland, Mary Hunt & Diann Neu, John Keck, Larry Kessler, Jim O'Connell, Sister Carole Rossi, Kip Tiernan, and Sister Barbara Scanlan. |
Father Roy Bourgeois1999 |
for his heroic voice on behalf of people oppressed by US military policy
Father Roy Bourgeois, MM, was recognized for his efforts to close the US Army School of the Americas, a military training school that has often been linked to human rights offenses around the world, especially in Latin America. He founded SOA Watch in 1990 to mobilize a nationwide grassroots movement demanding the closure of the Fort Benning, GA, facility. As a media outlet, SOA Watch also educates people about the school's activities and its political implications for oppressed people around the world. |
Sister Margaret Leonard2000 |
for her leadership that places mutual care and respect at the heart of a community's resolve to end family homelessness
Sister Margaret Leonard, LSA, received the Hecker Award after 15 years as Executive Director of Project Hope, a community based multi-service organization. Her leadership distinguished the agency with its challenge to systems that threaten basic human rights and its efforts to create new structures that promote dignity, self-reliance and interdependence as the means to empower homeless women and children. |
Carol Prejean
|
for her faithfulness to the advancement of civil rights through community organizing, educating youth through leadership, and artistic expression
Carol Prejean Zippert is founder of the Twenty-first Century Youth Leadership Movement. Through civil rights leadership, community activism and inspiring poetry, she has promoted the empowerment of young people building a model of leadership in service to others. In addition to advocating education reforms, she has organized cooperatives and championed efforts to overcome racial and economic injustices. An author and newspaper publisher, she sustains others' journey and work for social justice with weekly poetry contributions. |
Mary Murphy,
|
for empowering our immigrant brothers and sisters with the respect and dignity that flows from a sustainable and holistic approach to education
Mary Murphy is a veteran educator whose wisdom, dedication to social justice, and energetic leadership led to the founding of the Notre Dame Education Center in 1996. Located in the immigrant gateway of Lawrence, MA, the Center's ministry brings economic opportunities within reach through its education, employment training, and English language programs. Mary is an ardent advocate for services that create job opportunities, support family life, and encourage community participation. |
Thomas Doyle, O.P.2003 |
for his compassionate support and unwavering efforts to bring justice to victims of clergy sexual abuse
|
Fred Enman,
|
For envisioning and creating Matthew 25, a model which draws on the resources of the community to provide an end to homelessness for those struggling with poverty. Fr. Enman has an uncommon ability to envision and create low-income housing to Massachusetts families. Matthew 25 raises money, purchases abandoned houses and renovates them, renting them to people in need. The organization draws on the resources of the community, bringing together not only high school and college students but local professionals as well. Fr. Fred’s work is an example of ministry that coordinates the talents of many people and helps create communities both by reaching out to help those in need and by helping members of the community participate in work for justice. |
Dr. Paul Farmer2005 |
For envisioning and creating Partners In Health whose mission is to provide a preferential option for the poor in health care By establishing long-term relationships with sister organizations based in settings of poverty, Dr. Farmer's organization Partners in Health strives to achieve two overarching goals: to bring the benefits of modern medical science to those most in need and to serve as an antidote to dispair. They draw on the resources of the world’s elite medical and academic institutions and on the lived experience of the world’s poorest and sickest communities. |