Sister Cecilia Bush Award Winners Announced

The 2009 Sister Cecilia Bush award recipients and nominees were honored at a dinner Friday May 8 at Mount St. Mary Convent. The annual award was established by Dear Neighbor Ministries in 2007 to honor those who exemplify the wishes of the founder of the Congregation of St. Joseph...”to serve the dear neighbor with the same devotion as Joseph had for Jesus and Mary”.

This year’s recipients were selected from 15 nominees. They are: Dr. Louis Agnese, Jr., Sister Lory Schaff, CSJ, Sister Kathleen Bahlinger, CSJ, Sister Clara Pfeifer, CSJ and Donald Kent.

Louis Agnese, Jr. is the president of the University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) in San Antonio, TX; he was unable to attend the award ceremony due to UIW’s commencement. Dr. Agnese was nominated for his tenure, leadership and commitment to minority education in Texas. UIW is now the fourth largest private university in Texas and has a focus on minority education.   Dr. Agnese is a graduate of the former St. Mary of the Plains College in Dodge City, KS and became president of UIW in 1985.

Sisters Lory Schaff,CSJ and Kathleen Bahlinger, CSJ live and work in New Orleans, LA. They were nominated for their lifetime of work with the poor and undereducated in Louisiana. Following the destruction of Hurricane Katrina, they both moved from Baton Rouge to New Orleans to help adults recover from the impact of the storm. Today they work at St. Vincent DePaul Adult Learning Center, where Sister Lory is the director.

Donald Kent, also a graduate of St. Mary’s of the Plains College, lives in Brooklyn, NY. He has spent 36 years as a teacher and basketball coach devoting his life to inner-city teens. Coach Kent has received almost every honor possible for his work in Catholic education in New York. He was joined at the awards dinner by some of his college classmates and friends.
Sister Clara Pfeifer, CSJ was selected for her years as a member of the pastoral staff at St. Vincent de Paul parish in Andover. Her work as a catechist in adult education, RCIA, Bible studies, book clubs and faith formation is well known throughout the archdiocese.

The award is named after Sister Cecilia Bush, CSJ, who is known for her career in education throughout the Diocese of Wichita, her years as editor of the Catholic Advance and her work with young seminarians and priests.

Dear Neighbor Ministries is one of 35 sponsored ministries of the Congregation of St. Joseph and was founded in 2001.