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DAVENPORT — Chad Pregracke might have delivered the most humorous acceptance speech in the 60-year history of the Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award ceremony but concluded with a powerful message for St. Ambrose University students in the audience. “We’re all counting on you. Find out what you want to do and do great things for the world,” he said during the Dec. 3 ceremony in the university’s Rogalski Center.

DAVENPORT — For her efforts in sharing her gifts and her passion for justice, peace and integrity of creation, the Pacem in Terris Award Committee honored Barb Arland-Fye with the One Among Us award Dec. 3 at St. Ambrose University. She received the award during the ceremony honoring Chad Pregracke as Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award recipient for his work in environmental justice.

Chad Pregracke, a Quad-Citian recognized worldwide for energizing people to join him cleaning up rivers and planting trees, will receive the Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award. He is the first recipient in the interfaith award’s 60-year-history receiving recognition for work on environmental justice and care for creation. Bishop Dennis Walsh, the new bishop of the Diocese of Davenport, will present the award Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. at St. Ambrose University in Davenport.

By Barb Arland-Fye The Catholic Messenger Their journeys began from different starting points but the three Iowa women featured in this story share a common passion for accompanying refugees striving to rebuild their lives in Iowa. We share their stories to raise awareness about National Migration Week, Sept. 23-29, which culminates with the World Day of Migrants and Refugees (WDMR) on Sept. 29. Some 43.4 million refugees are among 120 million people forcibly displaced as of May 2024, USA for the UN Refugee Agency reports.

A month-long commemoration of prayer and action that begins Sept. 1 unites Christians worldwide to care for their common home. Here in the Diocese of Davenport, the Season of Creation opens with Vespers at 4 p.m. at St. Anthony Church in downtown Davenport, featuring Evening Prayer and an exploration of this year’s theme, “Hope and Act with Creation.” “The Season of Creation is a time of grace that the Church, in ecumenical dialogue, offers to humanity to renew its relationship with the Creator and with creation, through celebration, conversion and commitment,” the organizers said. They are the diocesan Social Action Office and Pope St. John XXIII Fraternity of the Secular Fran­ciscan Order. The season continues through Oct. 4, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology whose life and ministry more than 800 years ago resonates with Christians of various denominations today.

By Barb Arland-Fye The Catholic Messenger Vanessa Torres accepted a position as administrative assistant with the Diocese of Davenport’s Immi­gration Office unaware that the office had assisted her family two decades ago. Her mother told her about it after Torres began working for the diocese last year. In gratitude, Torres, a recent Drake University graduate, shared her family’s story as part of the diocese’s application to nominate the Immigration Office for Catholic Extension Society’s Lumen Christi Award.

By Barb Arland-Fye The Catholic Messenger DAVENPORT — Dan Ebener was a college sophomore when he witnessed Catholic Worker co-founder Dorothy Day, now on the path toward sainthood, accept the Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award in 1972 in Davenport. On Sept. 13, Ebener emceed the ceremony during which Atiya Aftab and Sheryl Olitzky, co-founders of the Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom, an international movement that builds relationships between Muslim and Jewish women, received the Pacem in Terris award. Gail Karp and Lisa Killinger, who co-founded a local chapter of Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom, received the One Among Us Justice Award. The event took place at St. Ambrose University.

Gail Karp, who is Jewish, called her longtime friend Lisa Killinger, who is Muslim, to talk about the possibility of forming a local chapter of Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom, which builds relationships between Muslim and Jewish women. Lisa loved the idea. “Salaam” is the Arabic word for peace and “Shalom” is the Hebrew word for peace.

Project Renewal plans to build a new, two-story house in keeping with the neighborhood atmosphere. The first floor will contain a gym/fitness center and an area for arts, such as culinary, visual

Desiring a bright and abundant future for her grandchildren and all humanity, Jean Simpson prayed, listened to God and found guidance in “Laudato Si’” (subtitled “On Care for Our Common Home), an encyclical by Pope Francis. The Holy Father called for restoring relationships between people and God, people and each other and all of God’s creation.