At our national gathering, Revolutionizing Community, CVN recognized three people and one organization for their commitment to a faith-based service that is committed to community.

The Bishop Joseph A. Francis Award recognizes former volunteers that have demonstrated exemplary service to their local communities.

Olga Segura receives the Bishop Francis Award and is surrounded by the CVN Team

Olga Segura is a podcaster, opinion editor at National Catholic Reporter, and author of the 2021 book, Birth of A Movement: Black Lives Matter and the Catholic Church.  She is also an organizer, activist and abolitionist based in her community in the Bronx. Olga Marina Segura exemplifies the award criteria with a dedication to the tenets of community, spiritual growth, social justice and simple living.

We recognized Olga Marina Segura during the opening of the gathering after she helped to re-frame our work with a lens towards liberation and freedom. We pushed our own guidelines aside to recognize her work and commitment and to encourage her to continue to serve as an important voice on racial equity within the Catholic Church and Christianity at large.

Caitlin Morneau shows off her Bishop Francis Award

Caitlin Morneau is a proud alumni of Catholic Charities Project SERVE in Baltimore, Nazareth Farm and Bethlehem Farm in West Virginia and later joined CVN’s national team as a recruiter, program assistant and grant writer. Caitlin is a graduate of CVN partner and campus champion, Eastern Mennonite University and is a current Bernardin Scholar at CVN partner, campus champion, and conference sponsor, Catholic Theological Union. For the last six years, Caitlin has served as Director of Restorative Justice at Catholic Mobilizing Network, based in Washington, DC.

We are thrilled to honor Caitlin and all those she has learned from and taught. We pray that her community organizing, compelling writing, and graceful process facilitation may continue to grow opportunities for individual and organizational healing and wholeness. With Caitlin Morneau’s leadership, there is hope for, not only an end to the death penalty, but this radical vision for society to embrace healing responses to harm and violence in our criminal justice system and beyond.

Join us in congratulating Olga, Caitlin, and countless others, as a new era of Catholic abolitionist imagination unfolds.

The Fr. George Mader Award honors organizations and individuals that encourage lay men and women to serve others in the United States and abroad.

L-R: Cecilia Flores (ED), Kelli Nelson, From Mission to Mission ED, Kate Daly (Incoming Board Chair), and Tom King (Most recent Board Chair)

We are pleased to honor the organization From Mission to Mission with the 2023 Mader Award. For more than 40 years, From Mission to Mission has assisted people in their preparation and processing of their cross-cultural, ministerial, and life transitions to continue their Christian call to mission. From Mission to Mission has provided a critical service to returning volunteers of CVN member programs. Kelli Nelson, FMTM Executive Director received the award.

Connected to CVN for the past 20 years, serving on the Board for the last 7, and just finishing his an Interim term as Board Chair, Tom King oversaw the development of a new board manual and orientation process, a review and update of bylaws and personnel policy, the hiring and advisement of a wonderful interim executive director, Liz Buckley, the hiring of our fabulous new executive director, Cecilia Flores.

An award that’s given to someone who encourages lay people to serve others? You cannot help but think of Tom King..

Tom is a 2 time JV before spending 14 years advising overseeing 10 student organizations and advising students about post-grad service at LMU. TK to his students, Tom guided, listened, challenged and invited students into the world of post grad service. And if advising wasn’t enough, he started his own post-grad service organization at LMU, the Ignatian Service Corps.

CONGRATULATIONS to Olga, Caitlin, From Mission to Mission and Tom King! Your commitment to faith-based service inspires us to seek out ways to be the revolution in our own communities.