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THE PATH TO PEACE AWARD RECIPIENTS

2011- His Most Eminent Highness

Frà Matthew Festing

The Path to Peace Foundation, established to support the activities of the Holy See Mission to the United Nations, bestowed its 2011 Path to Peace Award on His Most Eminent Highness Frà Matthew Festing, the Prince and Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta. During the nineteenth annual Gala Dinner, which on Tuesday evening drew its largest crowd ever, Archbishop Francis Chullikatt, the President of the Foundation and the Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, bestowed the Award on Frà Festing’s representative, His Excellency Frà Gherardo Hercolani, Grand Commander of the Order. Every year the Foundation honors distinguished personalities for their contributions to the promotion of peace, justice and solidarity on the international and national levels. Previous recipients of the Path to Peace Award include Mary Ann Glendon, the former U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See, Lech Walesa, the former President of Poland, and Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the Secretary General of the United Nations from 1992-1996.

The Gala Dinner also recognizes distinguished individuals for their religious and humanitarian services through an award called Servitor Pacis (Servant of Peace), which this year was given to Sr. Eugenia Bonetti, M.C., a longtime missionary in Kenya, an activist against human trafficking and defender of dignity of women, Sr. Rachele Fassera C.M.S., known for her engagement in the humanitarian crisis in East Africa and for her courage to free the kidnapped girls from the LRA in Uganda, and Mrs. Karen Clifton, Executive Director of the Catholic Mobilizing Network to End the Death Penalty. His Eminence Cardinal Renato Martino, the first President of the Path to Peace Foundation and former Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the U.N., presented the Servitor Pacis Awards to the honorees. In his remarks before the award ceremony the Cardinal proudly announced that he was happy to have been present for each and every Gala Dinner, especially so this year when the Path to Peace Foundation celebrates its twentieth anniversary.

Both Archbishop Chullikatt and Cardinal Martino regaled the capacity crowd with stories of their personal visits with Pope John Paul II, whose recent beatification and numerous pastoral visits to New York City and the United Nations were memorialized in a video slideshow. Two days after his second address to the U.N. General Assembly in October 1995, Blessed John Paul II visited and blessed the building that houses the Path to Peace Foundation and the Holy See Mission to the United Nations.

Former members of the Board of Directors of the Foundation were paid tribute: Mr. James Mulholland, II, and Mr. John P. Reiner. Four new members of the Board were introduced: Rev. Msgr. Thomas E. Gilleece, Pastor of The Church of Saint John & Saint Mary in Chappaqua, NY, Baroness Maria Zerilli Marimó of Manhattan, Mr. John M. Klink, President of the International Catholic Migration Commission, and Mr. Peter McGuire, President & CEO of Xchange Benefits, LLC.

The invocation was delivered by His Excellency The Most Reverend William Murphy, Bishop of Rockville Centre. The Very Reverend John P. McGuire, O.P., Pastor of The Church of St. Joseph in Greenwich Village, offered the benediction. Ms. Lauren Green, Religion Correspondent for FOX News Channel, was the Mistress of Ceremonies for the Gala Dinner, which took place in the New York Athletic Club.

For more information about the Path to Peace Foundation and the annual Gala Dinner, please e-mail mail@thepathtopeacefoundation.org or call (212) 370-9614.

 New York, June 2011