NEW YORK —Fordham University’s Global Outreach was honored as one of the nation’s most exemplary campus ministry programs during the fall 2005 meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 13.
“This is the second time in the past three years that Fordham’s Global Outreach program has been recognized nationally as a model service and immersion experience for university students,” said Joseph Currie, S.J., director of the University’s Office of Campus Ministry. “Respecting and appreciating the way other peoples and cultures live is often an eye-opening experience and, we believe, an increasingly essential part of any education in the 21st century.”
Global Outreach, a volunteer program comprised of more than 250 Fordham students and alumni, received one of seven national awards presented by the Catholic Campus Ministry Association (CCMA), National Association of Diocesan Directors of Campus Ministry (NADDCM) and the National Catholic Student Coalition (NCSC).
The 2005 honorees were chosen from a pool of winners from the past six years. Fordham’s Global Outreach program first received a national award in 2002.
“We are extremely grateful and humbled to be recognized by the CCMA, NADDCM and NCSC,“ said Michael Kravatz, coordinator of the Global Outreach program. “For the past 16 years, thousands of Fordham students have traveled throughout our country and beyond to encounter the unjust realities that exist throughout our world. In forming relationships with the poor, the hungry and the oppressed, Global Outreach participants are opened to the possibilities of change within themselves and around the world.”
Global Outreach, modeled on the Jesuit tradition of service and the importance of working toward social justice for all people, offers more than 27 projects a year. Its mission is exemplified by those who serve a variety of communities around the country and abroad. This year, students have worked in Tennessee and Mississippi, and undertaken missions in India, Mexico, Guatemala and Thailand.
