Darst Center to Honor Bishop Casey with Justice in Action Award
Most Rev. Robert G. Casey, Episcopal Vicar, Archdiocese of Chicago
The Board of Directors of Chicago’s Br. David Darst Center has unanimously selected Most Rev. Robert G. Casey, Episcopal Vicar, Archdiocese of Chicago to receive the Center’s 2019 Br. Denis Murphy Justice in Action Award.
Given annually, this award recognizes an individual, organization, or foundation with a strong dedication to social justice and outstanding community service.
Bishop Casey’s strong commitment to Catholic social teaching has taken many forms over his years as a parish priest, pastor, and now auxiliary bishop in Chicago. As pastor of Our Lady of Tepeyac Parish (2003-2009) he collaborated with two Sisters of St. Joseph to assess and respond to the needs of the Little Village community where the parish is located. The result was the creation of Taller de Jose, a social service accompaniment ministry designed to “connect people to services and services to people.” Celebrating its 10th year, Taller serves over 1,000 individuals each year in collaboration with nearly 150 partner organizations. An important partner agency for the Darst Center, Taller de Jose helps the Center fulfil its mission of providing transformative urban immersion experiences and educational programs for young people.
Currently, Bishop Casey’s service of marginalized communities finds expression in his role as a member of the Priest Steering Committee for Renew My Church, the Archdiocese of Chicago’s multi-year effort to realign parishes and create more vibrant faith communities. Appointed an Auxiliary Bishop for the Archdiocese in 2018, Bishop Casey now has responsibility for Vicariate III, an area of Chicago which includes both Taller de Jose and the Darst Center.
The Br. David Darst Center will confer its Br. Denis Murphy Justice in Action upon bishop Casey at its annual “A Night at the Races” event, to be held at DeLaSalle Institute on Saturday evening, March 2nd, 2019. The event is open to the public; for ticket information, visit www.darstcenter.org.
About the Award
One of the co-founders and first Directors of the Br. David Darst Center, Br. Denis Murphy, FSC, was an exceptional individual who strove relentlessly to create a more just society. Seeing the need to ground social action in faith and the teachings of Jesus, he envisioned the Darst Center as a Lasallian social justice ministry designed to educate young people on the burning issues of our time in the context of Gospel values.
The Br. Denis Murphy Justice in Action Award brings recognition and appreciation to its recipients because of their significant contribution to the promotion of education, social justice, social inclusion, and/or community development.