The Archdiocese of Louisville’s Office of Multicultural Ministry hosted its 37th annual African American Catholic Leadership Awards Dinner on May 17 at the Hyatt Regency Louisville.
Eight young people received Rodriq McCravy Scholarship Awards and nine adults were honored for their leadership during the event.
Following the presentation of the awards, M. Annette Mandley-Turner, executive director of the ministry office, urged the young honorees to invest in themselves in their faith.
“Whatever you do, invest in you. Invest in your faith,” she said. “It means to give just a little bit more of your free time. It means not using that iPhone for 12 hours.”
Mandley-Turner also asked them to remember where they came from and to engage with the church.
“We’re all standing on somebody’s shoulders,” she said, noting that young people have a responsibility to the church. “If the church isn’t what you want it to be, roll up your sleeves and go to work. It’s your church, and the church needs you now.”
To the parents and other adults present, Mandley-Turner said all Catholics need to “engage” in their parishes and their children’s schools.
She thanked the parents for investing time in their children. She thanked, in particular, the parents of Alexis Cammack — an alumna of Nativity Academy at St. Boniface and Presentation Academy. She graduated this year from the University of Louisville’s Brandeis School of Law. Mandley-Turner told the gathering that when Cammack was a teenager, her parents brought her to the Catholic Enrichment Center, where she participated in the educational and cultural enrichment activities the center offers.
Cammack, a member of St. Augustine Church, was one of six individuals who received the Deacon James and Mrs. M. Annette Turner Leadership Award.
Archbishop Shelton J. Fabre provided closing remarks, reflecting on hope.
The archbishop said one doesn’t need to travel to Rome to find hope during the Jubilee Year of Hope declared by the late Pope Francis.
“We can find hope wherever we are. These young people tonight fill us with hope,” the adult recipients, too, he said. “There’s a unique grace to be found in Rome, but here and now, there are opportunities to cling to hope.”
Hope, he said, is found in Jesus, no matter an individual’s circumstances or challenges.
“Thank you for being a wonderful example of hope in the Jubilee Year,” he said.
The honorees are:
Rodriq McCravy Award: Malia King of St. Dominic Church in Springfield, Ky.; James Davis Jr. of St. Augustine Church; Sophia Griffin of Our Lady of Lourdes Church; Mina Nyalwal of St. Albert the Great Church; and Remii Foshay, Armonte Snodgrass, Ka’Myah Porter and Sophie Muzomwe of St. Martin de Porres Church.
The Acacia Award, the highest honor, recognizes individuals for their service to the community: J. Vincent Johnson of the Diocese of Memphis and Rita Ward of St. William Church.
The Genevieve Boone Award for extraordinary commitment to faith and community: Maria Arlene Spalding Pasley of Holy Rosary Church in Springfield, Ky.Deacon James & M. Annette Mandley-Turner Leadership Award for having a significant impact on the community: Rashida Walker, Susan Yocum Smith and Alexis Cammack of St. Augustine Church; Kelvin Brooks of Immaculate Heart of Mary Church; Dr. Beverly Johnson of St. Bartholomew Church; and David Msia of St. Martin de Porres Church.
