Fr. Wall Receives "Rerum Novarum" Award from Loyola
Archbishop of Chicago Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I., presented Fr. Jack Wall, President of Catholic Extension and long-time pastor of Old St. Patrick's Church in Chicago, with the 2008 Rerum Novarum Award on Oct. 28. at the 18th Annual "Seminary Salute" at St. Joseph Seminary, Loyola University. The Rerum Novarum Award honors women and men in labor and business who have demonstrated outstanding support of the following ideals: respect for the dignity of the human being and human labor, the right to organize, and the right to a living wage. "Fr. Jack Wall has embodied the spirit of the Award throughout his time spent building helping programs and encouraging faith and volunteering," said St. Joseph Seminary rector, Fr. James Presta. Also honored were William Quinlan of Quinlan & Carroll, Ltd. representing the business sector and Patrick Flynn of the Teamsters Local 710.
In March of 2007, the Holy See appointed Fr. Wall as President of the Catholic Church Extension Society. In the past year, Catholic Extension has distributed more than $18 million to over 80 mission dioceses in the United States for church building, seminarian education for priests to serve in the missions, religious education programs, campus ministry, and subsidies for hard-working missioners.
"We are deeply gratified by the support and outreach of Catholics across the country who do their part in helping their brothers and sisters in need," Father Wall said. "Their generosity has enabled those gifted with a missionary spirit to bring care and healing to places in our country where there simply is no one else doing it. We will continue our efforts at Catholic Extension to make more people aware of the thousands of Americans who struggle to live their faith in isolated and under-resourced mission areas."