Four Catholic pioneers
honored for their work
By NADIA POZO
CS&T Staff Writer
“They put a lumpy Irishman up there with a nun who has 40 honorary degrees, a priest that started his own order and a woman who is running a hospital. … It just shows God’s diversity,” said Jim Murray, the Philadelphia Eagles’ former general manager who was among the honorees at the sixth annual Catholic Leadership Institute’s award ceremony Friday, Nov. 4.
The leadership award was in recognition of Murray’s work with Ronald McDonald House.
Murray said he felt humbled in the company of the other honorees, who included Sister Mary Rose McGeady, Pat DeAngelis and Father Frank Pavone.
Murray co-founded the first Ronald McDonald House and helped start the successful Eagles “Fly for Leukemia” campaign.
“The turning point in my life was when I was approached by a doctor at St. Christopher’s Hospital to build a place of refuge for families with critically ill children,” Murray said.
“Ideas are easy — It’s the actions that are hard,” he said. “Yet I watched so many leaders come together to lend their gifts and make the dream a reality.”
The first Ronald McDonald House in the world opened in Philadelphia, with its goal to provide temporary shelter and services for families of children undergoing treatment for serious illnesses at nearby hospitals.
There is now a network of 243 Ronald McDonald Houses in 25 countries throughout the world.
Daughters of Charity Sister Mary Rose McGeady, “the nun with the 40 honorary degrees,” is known for her work with Covenant House, the largest privately funded childcare agency in the U.S. for homeless and runaway youth.
Under Sister Mary Rose’s leadership, Covenant House expanded from 12 cities to 21 cities, including facilities in Mexico, Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala.
Because of her vision, Sister Mary Rose, who has been a sister for 60 years, has helped countless youths find a second chance at life when no one else believed in them — not even themselves.
“Those of us blessed with a happy home and family have an obligation to share that happiness,” Sister Mary Rose said.
In addition to her work at Covenant House, Sister Mary Rose has served as provincial of her community, overseeing its work in nine hospitals, 17 schools and five child care agencies throughout 11 states.
Sister Mary Rose said she was grateful for the award, and impressed by the way the Leadership Institute brought people together: “It is so impressive to see so many wonderful people gathered together, interested in doing what the Church is doing and supporting its efforts, especially in these difficult times.”
Pat DeAngelis, president and CEO of Nazareth Hospital in Philadelphia, said she was “absolutely humbled beyond belief” to receive the award.
DeAngelis, who has twice survived cancer and is the mother of two, has transformed Nazareth Hospital.
Under her leadership, Nazareth has been rated number one for stroke-care in Pennsylvania three years in a row by the Health Grades ranking service, and its intensive-care unit is ranked in the top 100 units in the nation by the Solucient Leadership Institute.
DeAngelis has remained faithful to the charism of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth while running the hospital — her number-one goal, she said, is to bring Christ’s healing power to all.
“We may not be able to cure everyone, but we can heal every single human being that comes through our door,” DeAngelis said. She begins each meeting with prayer and prays throughout her day.
“Prayer helps to center us and to remind us that the critical work we are doing is of God,” she said.
Father Frank Pavone, the national director of Priests for Life, said he considered the awards night a special encouragement.
“I see this award as a stimulus and an encouragement to continue, together with everyone here, the work that still needs to be accomplished,” he said.
Father Pavone, who is about to celebrate his 25th year in the priesthood, has been named one of the top 100 Catholics of the Century by the Daily Catholic for his unceasing and extensive work promoting the culture of life throughout the United States and the world.
He also founded a new community of priests dedicated to full-time pro-life work, the Missionaries of the Gospel of Life. Based in the Diocese of Amarillo, Tex., under the direction of Bishop John Yanta, the community is open to priests, deacons and lay missionaries. Its associate program will allow those already working in the pro-life movement to unit their efforts with the Missionaries through the spirituality and training community offers.
The society’s vision and mission are a response to Pope John Paul II’s encyclical on the Gospel of Life, and the influence of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, with whom Father Pavone spent much time.
“Our mission is not to fight abortion or just to speak about it, or lower the number of abortions — but to end abortion and make it unthinkable as well as illegal,” he said.
The award dinner raised $190,000 for the Institute’s Good Leaders, Good Shepherds Program. That program provides a curriculum designed to help Catholic priests minimize the frustration and energy they spend in their administrative roles, and to maximize the joy and time they spend on their pastoral duties.
The Good Leaders, Good Shepherd Program is one of CLI’s many training efforts. DeAngelis said of the Institute’s work: “I think it is the most important work that is being done in the Catholic Church today for the lay and the religious.”
Bishop Robert Maginnis, the honorary chairman of CLI noted that the Institute, “reminds us of the good we can do for the Church and the world when we are focused on the vision and mission which God gives us.”
For a complete list of all CLI programs and events, visit www.catholicleaders.org or call (610) 251-3750.
CS&T staff writer Nadia Pozo can be reached at npozo@adphila.org or (215) 732-5344.