RE: Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award -The Dalai Lama

DATE: March 14, 2019
FROM: Deacon David Montgomery
PHONE: 563-888-4222 Diocese of Davenport
[email protected]

RE: Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award
CONTACT: Kent Ferris PHONE: 563-888-4211
Director of Social Action and Catholic Charities
[email protected]

Pacem in Terris award celebration Tuesday, April 9, 2019 7:00 p.m.
Rogalski Center, St. Ambrose University
518 W. Locust Street, Davenport, Iowa
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

In a Buddhist temple in the foothills of the Himalayas, more than 7,200 miles from Davenport, Iowa, the Dalai Lama received the Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award from Bishop Thomas Zinkula. A local celebration of that ceremony will be held April 9 at 7 p.m. in the Rogalski Center on the St. Ambrose University Campus in Davenport. All are welcome.

During that celebration, Bishop Zinkula will reflect on the award presentation he made to the Dalai Lama on March 4 at the Buddhist monk’s residence in northern India. The bishop agreed to deliver the award in person to the Dalai Lama, the Nobel Peace Prize recipient of 1989, because he is 83 and has curtailed his travels in recent years.

“I was willing to travel halfway across the world to present the Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award to him because he is the Dalai Lama. He has been promoting inner peace and world peace his entire life,” Bishop Zinkula said. When the Dalai Lama received the Nobel Peace Prize, a statement was made that “It would be natural to compare him with Mahatma Gandhi, one of this century’s greatest protagonists of peace.”
During their 10-minute audience the Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, greeted Bishop Zinkula with a handshake and broad smile. He expressed appreciation for the award and for the interfaith composition of the coalition that nominates award recipients. Martin Luther King, Jr., Desmond Tutu and Dorothy Day are among the internationally known recipients of the award.

The Dalai Lama accepted his award with humility, stating that it recognizes his “little contribution” to world peace as did the Nobel Peace Prize. He has lived in exile in Dharamsala, India, for 60 years, after being forced to flee his homeland in 1959 following the brutal suppression of the Tibetan national uprising in Lhasa by Chinese troops. He has spent his adult life advocating nonviolently and steadfastly on behalf of the Tibetan people for preservation of their culture, language, religion and well-being.

While it is important “to have world leaders accept the award in person so that they can share their message face to face with the people, “we needed to take the opportunity to go to India to honor him,” said Kent Ferris, who leads the Pacem in Terris Coalition.

The award honors St. John XXIII and commemorates his 1963 encyclical letter Pacem in Terris, which called on all people to secure peace among all nations. Coalition members are the Diocese of Davenport; The Catholic Messenger;St. Ambrose University; The Presidential Center for Faith and Learning at Augustana College; Churches United of the Quad City Area; Islamic Center of Quad Cities; Quad Cities Interfaith, Jewish Federation of the Quad Cities; Muslim Community of the Quad Cities; Congregation of the Humility of Mary; Sisters of St. Benedict; Sisters of St. Francis (Dubuque, Iowa); Sisters of St. Francis (Clinton).

For more information about the Pacem in Terris Award, go to https://www.davenportdiocese.org/pacem-in-terris

Press Release PDF | 2019 Event Flyer
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