Event celebrates black Catholic leaders

Sister of Social Service Eva Marie Lumas spoke at the African-American Catholic Leadership Awards Dinner March 10 about what it means to live a life of service. Robert “Steve” DeSha, left, one of the recipients of the African-American Catholic Leadership Awards, looked on. (Record Photo by Ruby Thomas)

By Ruby Thomas, Record Staff Writer

Six adults and 12 young people were honored at the 31st annual African-American Catholic Leadership Awards Dinner the evening of March 10 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Phillips Lane.

Sister of Social Service Eva Marie Lumas spoke at the event about what it means to live a life of service. Sister Lumas serves as the interim co-director of the Institute for Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University of Louisiana.

A person’s identity is based on who God made that individual to be and on the community God “entrusted” that person to, Sister Lumas told her listeners at the awards dinner.

“I am because we are and we are because I am,” she said. “I’m raised by your faith, by your value and by your integrity.”

In the same way, one must use the best of one’s self to lift others up, she said.

Sister Lumas said the evening’s event “celebrates what is best, true and enduring” about the African-American people. It celebrated too, she said, “what is best and true and enduring about us as a faith community.”

In the Gospel of John, Jesus tells his followers that “ ‘they will know you are my disciples by your love for one another,’ ” noted Sister Lumas. This means, “That if somebody has a dollar, 10 people have a dime; that if somebody has a burden, somebody lifts a hand; that if somebody has a sorrow, somebody wipes a tear; and if somebody has a victory, everybody celebrates.”

“This is a wonderful event for us to claim, by virtue of our birth and our baptism, that God made us, us. We embrace ourselves and we place it at the service of everybody who needs the gifts that are ours to share,” said Sister Lumas.

She invited those gathered, whether black or not, to explore the Institute for Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University, so they may learn about “the blackness of God.”

Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz, who delivered the closing remarks and prayer, said he looks forward to attending the African-American Catholic Leadership Awards Dinner. He likes hearing the speeches presented by the young honorees and he always leaves inspired, he said.

Every award recipient that evening, noted the archbishop, spoke about “faith in

God, appreciation for family, friends and a good education. That’s the recipe for leadership,” said the archbishop. “We need your involvement in the life of the church. You see the results. This is what happens when a church family takes interest.”

Six adults and 12 young people were honored for leadership in their church and school communities.

The Genevieve Boone Award, the banquet’s highest honor, was presented to Adriene R. Taylor-Mitchell, a member of St. Martin de Porres Church.

The award is named after Genevieve Boone, who “represented the model of a master catechist,” said M. Annette Mandley-Turner, executive director of the Archdiocese of Louisville’s Office of Multicultural Ministry.Boone, she said, loved her faith and had a passion for education.

Boone “believed every child in every parish needed to be exposed to formation,” and this year’s winner, Taylor-Mitchell, feels the same way, said Mandley-Turner.

Five others received African-American Catholic Leadership Awards. They are: Charlene “Toni” Bowman of Christ the King Church; Robert “Steve” DeSha and Shirley Ann Gardner of St. Augustine Church; and Rita Johnson and Dianna Walker of St. Martin de Porres Church.

The 12 young honorees, — two eighth-graders and 10 high school seniors — received Rodriq McCravy Awards.

The eighth-graders are Samantha Payne of St. Monica Church in Bardstown, Ky., and JaBriah Robinson of Immaculate Heart of Mary Church.

The high school award recipients are Angela Billups and Marshall Washington of Christ the King; Charles Churchill of St. Augustine; Brandon Eugene of Immaculate Heart of Mary Church; Shaquan Hays, MaAliyah Hodge and Patricia Payne of St. Monica; Destine Irabaruta of St. Thomas More Church;  and Alonna Roberson and Shantel Walton of St. Martin de Porres.

All proceeds from the evening will provide scholarships to the young honorees for secondary and post-secondary education.

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