Concern America John O'Donohue Integrity Award

“The ‘real priests and priestesses of a culture,’ those who celebrate the Eucharist that matters, are the ones who keep the humane tissue of a society alive; and these are the people who care for the hungry, look after the poor, and who stand on the frontiers that no one even wants to acknowledge are there."
~ John O'Donohue

The "Concern America John O'Donohue Integrity Award" was inaugurated on February 6, 2010, both to honor John O'Donohue and his legacy and to highlight John's regard for the mission and values of Concern America, knowing that his presence is still with us in a unique way and believing that his yet unpublished writings have yet to grace our world.  

A quote of John's, when he was discussing the huge imbalance and disparities that exist in our world, remains etched in our hearts, "I do know that we are privileged and that the duty of privilege is absolute integrity."  The purpose of the "Concern America John O'Donohue Integrity Award" is to highlight and honor the life of a public figure who lives life with "absolute integrity."

As a person with strong links both to Concern America and to John O'Donohue and as a public person of integrity respected by both John and Concern America, Sister Edith Prendergast, RSC, was selected as the first recipient of this prestigious award.  Sister Edith holds a Doctorate in Ministry from the Claremont School of Theology and is the Director of Religious Education for the Los Angeles Archdiocese.  For ten years in a row (since 1999) she invited and welcomed John O' Donohue to speak and to provide many workshops at the annual Religious Education Congress which usually has 40,000 in attendance over its four days.

John O' Donohue was a brilliant philosopher and gifted poet whose fifty-two short years of life ended January 4, 2008. Another extraordinary poet, writer and speaker, David Whyte, whom John described as "his brother at these frontiers" (of poetic thought and expression), spoke of John as "a love letter to humanity." On that January day, Concern America lost a very dear, fiercely loyal and steadfast friend. John was the featured speaker at many Concern America events. With his extraordinary command of language, his name on the program was always a major attraction, that brought people out, and raised substantial support for the organization's work. John never benefited (directly or indirectly) from such generosity. Within weeks of his passing, Concern America announced the establishment of this award bearing his name.