The Catholic Theological Society of America, a venerable association of
leading theologians in the United States, whose membership includes the
outspoken Rev. Charles Curran, named Rev. Virgilio Elizondo of the
University of Notre Dame its 2007 John Courtney Murray Award Winner for
his distinguished work in theology. R&L proudly publishes several works
by Fr. Elizondo, including The Treasure of Guadalupe (2006), A God of
Incredible Surprises (2004), and Way of the Cross (2002).
The CTSA's commendation for Fr. Elizondo reads as follows:
* John Courtney Murray Award 2007:
Virgilio Elizondo *
The person who will receive the John Courtney Murray award tonight
embodies many of the contending forces and identities that characterize
our world today, and he does so with grace and humor. One commentator
has described our honoree as someone committed to the basic message
“that God cherishes, esteems, values, respects, treasures, forgives, and
loves every one of us.” Another has described this person as bringing
out the best in others, but our colleague would be more inclined to say
that the first proclamation of the Gospel occurs when we are willing to
learn from everyone, even the most inconspicuous of people.
Our honoree has reported that as a child, “the parish was the only
institution where we felt fully at home” and yet today seems “at home”
in a variety of nations and cultures.
Our colleague has written on topics as diverse as poverty, preaching,
modern culture and Christian faith, creativity, ritual, and catechesis.
He served twenty years on the editorial board of Concilium. Among the
places he has taught are UC Santa Barbara, Union Seminary, Boston
College, and the Claremont School of Theology.
He studied on three continents, doing his doctoral work at the Institut
Catholique in Paris. He has served as faculty member, director of
religious education, academic dean, and president. He has received
several honorary doctorates and has been honored with awards from
various universities, the National Conference of Christians and Jews,
and the National Federation of Priests Councils.
His stature has been recognized beyond academe. He has appeared on the MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour and Ted Koppel’s Nightline. Time magazine
recognized him as one of the leading spiritual innovators in the US. In
addition, I would venture to guess that he is the only member of the
CTSA who has had a city plaza named in his honor.
When our honoree decided to enter the seminary, he didn’t even have to
leave his home parish. In fact, although he is an internationally
renowned author and speaker, he has lived in the same neighborhood most
of his life. Like the Israelites of old, our honoree is no
individualist: his theological vision is fundamentally shaped by his
belonging to a people, a minority culture in the United States. And of
course, it is precisely those who know multiple cultures who can show us
how to break down the divisive barriers between peoples.
His own experience of straddling boundaries has given him great empathy
for those who must struggle to live in the present without feeling torn
apart (or as he puts it, without feeling “disintegrated”) in their
encounters with marginalization and injustice. For him, this very search
for meaning is decisive to the experience of faith and the proclamation
of the Gospel. And yet in spite of the injustices, he has also said that
“the totality of life is reflected in celebration . . . which is not an
escape from the world of problems but a bringing of the whole day into
the recognition that life is a gift. Life is to be lived, appreciated,
and celebrated.”
Our honoree tonight was born in 1935, was ordained a diocesan priest in
1963, and served as the rector of the Cathedral for twelve years. He has
spoken often of the two conquests that the indigenous peoples of the
region have endured: the Spanish conquest of a continent and a half and
the U.S. conquest of what is now the Southwest. Thus it is out of the
experience of this history that he founded a series of liturgical
rituals, including the re-enactment at Christmas of the journey of Mary
and Joseph, with the couple being turned away at city hall, the
courthouse, and hotels, before finding shelter at the cathedral.
Our honoree founded the Mexican American Cultural Center in 1972 and was
its first president. He was the executive producer, chief liturgist, and
frequent celebrant of the only internationally televised live Mass in
the Americas. His books include The Human Quest: A Search for Meaning
through Life and Death; A God of Incredible Surprises: Jesus of
Galilee; Galilean Journey: The Mexican-American Promise; Guadalupe:
Mother of the New Creation; and Way of the Cross: The Passion of
Christ in the Americas. He is currently Professor of Pastoral and
Hispanic Theology at the University of Notre Dame.
This colleague of ours is widely recognized in the religious and
academic world as “the father of U.S. Latino religious thought.” He has
not only written extensively in this field but has been a mentor and
even a father figure for many of our colleagues in Hispanic, Latino, and
Latina theology. In fact, the highest award given by ACHTUS, the Academy
of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States is named in his
honor. But he has also helped innumerable of us Anglos in the North to
understand the insights that arise from Hispanic faith and theology in
the South
For all these reasons, the Catholic Theological Society of America
tonight presents the John Courtney Murray Award, its highest honor for
distinguished achievement in theology, to Fr. Virgilio Elizondo.
Freedom’s Journal: The First African-American
Newspaper, by Jacqueline
Bacon, received an Honorable Mention from the 2007 Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book
Award. This award commends works
published in a given year which extend our understanding of the root causes of
bigotry and the range of options we as humans have in constructing alternative
ways to share power. For more information about Freedom's Journal, please visit our website http://www.rowmanlittlefield.com/ISBN/0739118935.
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