For three days in early June, the Roundtable Board met in Washington DC to plan for the next year’s events and beyond.

The Roundtable Board selected Center of Concern staffmembers Fr. Jim Hug, Jane Deren, and Sr. Katherine Feely, for their work on the Education for Justice Web Project, as the 2011 Harry A. Fagan Awardees. They will be recognized for the website which contains a multitude of timely and engaging resources designed to promote greater knowledge of Catholic social teaching. Additionally, the board selected Tom Allio, former diocesan social action director in Cleveland, as the Roundtable’s second-ever Servant of Justice award winner. Tom, who retired in March of this year, was nominated because of the role he has played as mentor and inspiration to many Roundtable members, and for his work on many issues including payday lending, earned income tax credit, legislative advocacy, and more.

Looking towards February, the Board also selected a theme for the 2011 Symposium: “Fear Not:  Addressing a culture of fear with prayerful conversation.” This symposium will recognize our baptismal call to bring hope and light to the fears of the world that affect the church. Participants will explore these realities of the U.S. Church throughout history, and will also be trained in a dialogical process they can take back to their home communities.

This Symposium theme was selected by the Roundtable membership, after a first-ever online survey showed that more than 60% of the participating membership was interested in this topic of dialogue and facilitating conversations. The Symposium sessions will be led by keynote speakers Dr. Chester Gillis of Georgetown University and Sr. Deborah Lorentz, SSS, trained in mediation.

Board members also met with the staff of the Department of Justice, Peace, and Human Development at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to discuss areas of common interest, including how to support the work of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development and the work of the domestic and international policy offices.

The Roundtable also made some leadership changes. After three tireless years of service, Barbara Budde completed her time as Chair of the board and Vice-Chair Scott Cooper was elected Chair. Rob Shelledy was elected Vice-Chair and Cori Thibodeau was elected Secretary/Treasurer. This new position was created to reflect the additional responsibilities of the board as the Roundtable becomes an independent organization. Jennifer Svetlik was also hired as Coordinator beyond her initial interim coordinator contract.

The board also discussed the creation of a new mentorship program by Roundtable members for new diocesan directors. More information is available on the Roundtable website. If you are, or know of a diocesan social action director that was hired in the last year who might be interested in receiving a mentor, please contact us.

Tags: 2011 Symposium, board, CCHD, Center of Concern, dialogical process, Diocese of Cleveland, Dr. Chester Gillis, Education for Justice, facilitated conversations, fear, Fr. Jim Hug, Georgetown University, Harry A. Fagan Award, Jane Deren, leadership, legislative advocacy, mediation, mentorship program, online survey, payday lending, Servant of Justice Award, Sr. Deborah Lorentz, Sr. Katherine Feely, Tom Allio, USCCB, website

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