The Catholic peace group Pax Christi USA has announced that it will honor the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) with its Eileen Egan Peacemaker Award during Pax Chrisit's national conference in Chicago July 18.
In announcing the honor, Pax Christi head Dave Robinson said, “Everyone in Pax Christi USA knows and recognizes that women religious are the backbone of the Catholic peace and justice movement."
“These strong, prophetic and compassionate women are always on the frontlines where the weak and most vulnerable suffer at the hands of violent and unjust power. For everything these women do, from their visionary leadership to their personal integrity, we felt this moment to be the opportune time to honor them,” Robinson said.
The Eileen Egan Peacemaker Award is bestowed periodically to honor a group or individual who has made a strong and extraordinary prophetic witness for peace in a time or situation of devastating violence or injustice. The award is named for Eileen Egan, one of the co-founders of Pax Christi USA, a long-time executive with Catholic Relief Services and friend to both Dorothy Day and Mother Teresa.
Past recipients of the award were Camilo Mejia, the first U.S. soldier to publicly refuse to fight in the Iraq War; and Rev. Vien The Nguyen, pastor of Mary Queen of Viet Nam Church in New Orleans, for his and his community’s perseverance during and after Hurricane Katrina.
Pax Christi's national conference will run July 16-18 in Chicago, click here for details.