Envoy Institute of Belmont Abbey College Names Cardinal Francis George the 2010 Envoy of the Year

Cardinal George has been called the leading intellectual in the American Catholic hierarchy. He is the author of the recent bestseller, The Difference God Makes: A Catholic Vision of Faith, Communion, and Culture.

BELMONT, NC (Catholic Online) - The Envoy Institute of Belmont Abbey College announced Monday that it will be honoring Cardinal Francis George, O.M.I., Archbishop of the archdiocese of Chicago and President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, as the 2010 Envoy of the Year at a gala dinner to be held in Chicago on September 17, 2010.

More details about the event will be released at a later date. To receive email updates about the event, please CLICK HERE. The 2009 Envoy of the Year was Archbishop Charles J. Chaput , O.F.M. Cap., Archbishop of the archdiocese of Denver.

"As a priest, as an Archbishop, as President of the USCCB, and as an author, Cardinal George has been a shining example of what it means to serve as an envoy, or ambassador, for Jesus Christ, bringing His light and love to a dark and hurting world," said Patrick Madrid, Director of the Envoy Institute of Belmont Abbey College and publisher of Envoy Magazine. "We are thrilled and very honored to be able to publicly recognize and thank his Eminence with our 2010 Envoy of the Year award." Cardinal George has been called the leading intellectual in the American Catholic hierarchy. He is the author of the recent bestseller, The Difference God Makes: A Catholic Vision of Faith, Communion, and Culture, which has been hailed as "a luminous Catholic vision of communion, illustrating the Church´s relation to numerous religions as well as the secular world... [George] demonstrates how to recognize the self-giving, liberating God who provides freedom from the competitive, oppressive gods of secular modernity... [T]his volume will inspire Christians everywhere while also offering non-Christians a renewed understanding of what a Christian lifestyle means for political and personal life today." (Barnes & Noble)
 
More about Cardinal Francis George:

On April 8, 1997, Pope John Paul II appointed Archbishop George the eighth Archbishop of Chicago, to fill a vacancy left by the death of Cardinal Joseph Bernardin. He is the first native Chicagoan to become Archbishop of the city. Archbishop George was elevated to the College of Cardinals by Pope John Paul II in 1998. George previously served as Bishop of Yakima, Washington, from 1990-1996, and then as the Archbishop of Portland, Oregon, from 1996-1997. After attending Saint Paschal Grade School in Chicago and the Saint Henry Minor Seminary, Illinois, George entered the Congregation of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate on 14 August 1957. He studied theology at the University of Ottawa in Canada and was ordained a priest by Bishop Raymond P. Hilliger on 21 December 1963. Father George pursued undergraduate studies in philosophy at the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C. and then doctoral studies in philosophy at Tulane University. He taught philosophy at the Seminary of the Oblates in Pass Christian, Mississippi (1964-69), at Tulane University, (1968), and at Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska (1969-73). Upon his departure from Creighton, Father George served as Provincial Superior of the Midwestern Province for the Oblates in St. Paul, Minnesota for a year. He was then elected Vicar General of the Oblates and served in Rome through 1986. It was in Rome that Father George obtained his Doctorate in Sacred Theology in ecclesiology from the Pontifical Urban University in 1988. He has been a consultor for the National Conference of Catholic Bishops on the following commissions: Science and Human Values, Hispanic Affairs, Evangelization. He was also President of the NCCB´s Commission for Bishops and Scholars.
 
Since 1990 he has been the Episcopal Moderator and member of the Council of the National Catholic Office for Persons with Disabilities. He brings personal experience to this work, since at the age of thirteen he was stricken for five months with poliomyelitis which caused irreparable damage to his legs. Cardinal George publishes a well-read column weekly in the Chicago archdiocesan newspaper, The Catholic New World, called The Cardinal's Column. He has published at least two pastoral letters, including a major discourse on the sinful and destructive nature of racism. His Eminence is also known for his pastoral work with young people in the Church, specifically, by addressing the  archdiocese's annual Theology on Tap gathering in 1997. In his invitation to the event, he wrote to Catholic young adults, "You are very important members of the Church. Your energy, talent and faith will give me much help as together we build up our local Church to be a vital presence in the Chicago area. Together we can continue the mission of Jesus Christ to bring the Gospel of love, forgiveness and holiness to all the places where we live and encounter others." In addition to his native English, Cardinal George also speaks French, Italian, Latin, Spanish, and German.

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