News

Paul Myers, director of the University of Portland’s Health Center, is among the first recipients of The Spirit of Holy Cross award.

The Congregation of Holy Cross, Indiana Province, announced the award recipients to seven lay collaborators and one Bishop who serve with the Congregation in eight different locations throughout the world. The award was created to acknowledge the critical importance that lay collaborators of Holy Cross play in living out the vision of Holy Cross founder, Blessed Basil Anthony Moreau, C.S.C., to make God known, loved and served in education, parish and mission settings.

The award will be given each year on September 15, the solemnity of Our Lady of Sorrows, the feast day of the Congregation. The inaugural year for the award coincides with the one-year anniversary of the beatification of Blessed Basil Moreau in Le Mans, France on September 15, 2007.

Myers was cited for his deep passion for the mission of the University and Congregation of Holy Cross. He has participated in several Holy Cross programs in Le Mans, France, the birthplace of Holy Cross. In 2005 Myers co-chaired Living the Mission; an international conference on Holy Cross in Higher Education. Myers says that over the years working with Holy Cross, he has been able to discover new avenues and depths to his faith life, and has found ways to integrate his faith more directly into his daily work life at the University. This has helped him to educate the hearts as well as the minds of thousands of students at the University of Portland.

“Thousands of lay collaborators assist in fulfilling the important work in each of our Holy Cross apostolates each year,” said Rev. David T. Tyson, C.S.C., Provincial Superior, Congregation of Holy Cross, Indiana Province. “The Spirit of Holy Cross Award has been created to provide a special opportunity to recognize extraordinary effort in living out the mission set forth by our founder over 170 years ago. We thank these lay collaborators and all who are helping to make a difference on behalf of Holy Cross each day in communities throughout the world.”

Other recipients for the 2008 Spirit of Holy Cross Award serve in education, parish and mission settings:

• Patricia O’Hara, Dean, Notre Dame Law School, Notre Dame, Ind.
• Janell Bunten, St. Ignatius Martyr Church, Austin, Tex,
• Nick Colarelli, Sacred Heart Parish, Colorado Springs, Colo.
• Michael McQuaid, André House, Phoenix, Ariz.
• Bishop Joseph Willigers, M.H.M., Jinja, East Africa
• Isabel Donoso, Santiago, Chile
• Rosalinda Sanchez Garcia, Nuevo Leon, Mexico

Recipients will be recognized by the local communities of the Congregation of Holy Cross and will receive a proclamation of gratitude signed by the Provincial Superior on behalf of the entire Indiana Province.