Pave the Way
Foundation Honors Outstanding Contributions to
World Peace Efforts with First Annual Awards
New York, NY (---) November 17, 2004
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At its first annual awards banquet at New York City's Harmonie Club,
more than 200 guests representing a wide variety of diplomatic,
religious and secular interests including representatives from
Jewish, Catholic and other religions paid tribute to the work of the
Pave the Way Foundation and four distinguished honorees for their
individual records of working to improve the lives of others. The
award winners include Bishop Ignatius Catanello, Angelica Berrie
and, posthumously, the late Russell Berrie, Honorable C. Raymond
Radigan and Rabbi Jack Bemporad. CBS News Correspondent Magee Hickey
served as the Mistress of Ceremonies.
Among the evening's distinguished
guests were HE Ambassador Oded Ben-hur, Israeli ambassador to
the Holy See; H.Em. William Cardinal Keeler, Archbishop of
Baltimore; HE Archbishop Celestino Migliore, permanent
observer to the United Nations for the Holy See; HE Ambassador
Arye Mekel, Consul General for Israel; Fr. David Jaeger,
spokesperson and legal representative for the Franciscan Custody in
the Holy Land.
"Each of our awardees has
demonstrated truly exceptional levels of contribution toward making
the world a better place. We gather to recognize these achievements
and to celebrate a year of unprecedented progress toward attaining
the goals of Pave the Way Foundation," said Gary Krupp,
President and Founder of the foundation.
"The Pave the Way Foundation supports
efforts to increase understanding and cooperation between diverse
religious groups. Through the example of these fine individuals, we
can all learn to strengthen our own altruistic efforts. We're very
pleased to shine the light on their accomplishments."
The award for philanthropy went to
Angelica Berrie and, posthumously, the late Russell Berrie
in recognition of their stellar contributions over many years in all
the areas which benefit mankind.
HE Bishop Ignatius Catanello
received the award for ecumenism in consideration of his unflagging
efforts toward increasing mutual respect and understanding among
religions.
For his many years of dispensing
justice with faith, fairness and compassion, the award for
humanitarianism was given to the Honorable C. Raymond Radigan,
former Surrogate of Nassau County, New York.
The award for promoting and improving
inter-religious dialogue, was bestowed upon Rabbi Jack Bemporad,
director of the Center for Interreligious Understanding, who has
uniquely embodied Pave the Way Foundation's guiding principle of
"embracing our similarities while savoring our differences."
The awards ceremony, chaired by
Monsignor James Lisante and Rabbi Barry Dov Schwartz, was
established to acknowledge the good work of those individuals who
are helping to "pave the way" to peace and to improve communication
and cooperative action among the world's religions and people of
good will. Actress Miss Marisa Berenson added sparkle to the
evening.
About Pave the Way Foundation
Pave the Way has a simple yet monumental goal - to enable all world
religions to achieve their goals by embracing their similarities and
savoring their differences. In today's world, some try to achieve
their goals through violence, in the name of religion. To silently
allow this to happen defames every faith. Our vision is that the
unified voice of the world's great religious leaders condemning
violence and promoting trust will pave the way to peace.
