Members of CNEWA’s Board of Trustees gathered on 15 April with a large gathering of friends, donors and partners at the Kolbe Hotel, adjacent to Rome’s historic Forum, to present its inaugural Timothy Michael Cardinal Dolan International Leadership Award to the archbishop emeritus of New York and past chair of CNEWA, Timothy Michael Cardinal Dolan.
Speaking on behalf of the board, Trustee Amanda Caroline Bowman thanked the cardinal for the gift of his priestly and episcopal ministry, noting how this year marks the 25th anniversary of his episcopal ordination and the 50th anniversary of his ordination as priest.
But she paid particular attention to his longterm service to CNEWA, which began long before he assumed the mantle of this agency of healing and hope as its chair in 2009, and how his vision and exercise of leadership opened the opportunity for members of the laity, such as herself and Marina C. Perna, to join the ranks of its international board of trustees, which had been limited to members of the episcopacy.
In accepting the award, the cardinal thanked Ms. Bowman and Mrs. Perna and the entire board for their commitment and enthusiastic service.
He highlighted, too, the leadership of Msgr. Peter I. Vaccari as its president, noting how Msgr. Vaccari has deftly positioned CNEWA — now marking its centennial — in forging partnerships as it meets the growing needs of the peoples served by the Eastern churches in areas of heightened conflict, listing the countries where CNEWA is privileged to serve:
“Gaza, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Ethiopia, India, Ukraine, Armenia … sound familiar folks?
“CNEWA is there, on the ground,” and one with the church and the people, he said, noting its presence in the midst of conflict, poverty and persecution.
The cardinal recalled his introduction to CNEWA dated to his years serving Pio Cardinal Laghi, who from 1984 to 1990 served as the Holy See’s pro-nuncio to the United States in Washington, D.C., “who loved, loved, loved CNEWA, knowing its work well in the Holy Land when he served there as the Holy Father’s delegate in Jerusalem.
“Now at that time,” the cardinal added, “CNEWA was led by a character Msgr. John Gavin Nolan … and when I tell you he was a character, you know what I mean by a character …
“Now when the U.S. hostages in Tehran were being freed, who was the first person to be there to see them and to be with them? CNEWA’s own John Gavin Nolan,” he said, emphasizing the quiet but effective role CNEWA has played in the life of the church throughout the Middle East, Northeast Africa, India and Eastern Europe.
Among the distinguished guests attending the reception and dinner, which concluded with the cutting of the cake to celebrate CNEWA’s 100th, were the prince and grand master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, Fra John T. Dunlap; Sister Raffaella Petrini, FSE, the president of the Pontifical Commission for and governorate of the Vatican City State; the Armenian Catholic patriarch of Cilicia, Raphael Bedros XXI Minassian; the U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See, Brian F. Burch, and his wife Sara; the supreme knight of the Knights of Columbus, Patrick E. Kelly, and his wife Vanessa; Cardinals Raymond Leo Burke, James Michael Harvey and Edwin F. O’Brien; and the secretary for the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches, Archbishop Michel Jalakh, O.A.M.