WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 2023 | 6:30 PM ET
Ellie Hidalgo
ROBERT M. HOLSTEIN FAITH DOING JUSTICE AWARD
Ellie Hidalgo is co-director of Discerning Deacons, a project that engages Catholics in the active discernment of our Church about women and the diaconate. Discerning Deacons is deeply engaged in the global synod process, helping to animate over 350 sessions that reached 9,000 people in the listening phase, and Ellie is committed to serving this bold, prophetic vision of a synodal Church that walks together as the people of God, in our faith-filled struggles for justice, dignity, and peace.
She brings 12 years of parish ministry experience at Dolores Mission, a Jesuit parish in the Mexican/Central American immigrant community of East Los Angeles, California where she served as a pastoral associate. This small church with a giant heart is known for its advocacy of immigrants, restorative justice ministries and faith-based community organizing, and for being the home parish of Homeboy Industries.
Ellie was commissioned as a pastoral associate for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in 2013; she preached for Catholic Women Preach in 2020 and in 2018 and helped to facilitate national prayer services in 2020 and 2021 to commemorate St. Phoebe, one of the early Church’s female deacons. Previously, Ellie served as a staff writer for The Tidings Catholic Newspaper writing news and feature stories about Hispanic ministry, restorative justice, youth ministry, and immigration reform. Her articles frequently appeared in Catholic News Service. She graduated with a masters in pastoral theology from Loyola Marymount University and received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Ellie is the first of five children born to Cuban parents and a proud aunt to eight nieces and nephews and numerous godchildren. She returned to Miami, Florida in 2020 to live closer to family.
About the Robert M. Holstein Faith Doing Justice Award
The Holstein Award is given by the Ignatian Solidarity Network (ISN) each year to individuals who have demonstrated a significant commitment to leadership for social justice grounded in the spirituality of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits).
About Robert M. Holstein
The late Robert (Bob) M. Holstein, a former Jesuit of the California province, a labor lawyer, and a fierce advocate for social justice, was one of the founders of the Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice (IFTJ). From the late 1990s through 2009, the IFTJ was held in conjunction with the annual gathering in Columbus, Georgia, to protest the former U.S. Army School of the Americas (now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation-WHINSEC) at Ft. Benning. Nineteen of the twenty-six Salvadoran soldiers who committed the murders of the Jesuit martyrs of El Salvador and their companions received training at the former School of the Americas during the 1980s. The Ignatian Family Teach-In and protest/vigil in Georgia began to remember the Jesuit martyrs and call for the close of the school/institute. In organizing the Teach-in, Holstein laid the foundation for what would become the Ignatian Solidarity Network, which began in 2004.
On January 5, 2003, Holstein passed away. In a homily remembering Bob at his funeral mass Rev. John Baumann, S.J., described Holstein as a man who “was passionate about justice and fairness for all peoples, particularly the poor and disenfranchised.” The Robert M. Holstein Faith Doing Justice Award honors this commitment to justice by recognizing individuals each year who are connected with the Ignatian Family and have demonstrated a significant commitment to leadership for social justice.
Previous Recipients
Jack Raslowsky
ROBERT M. HOLSTEIN FAITH DOING JUSTICE AWARD
John R. (Jack) Raslowsky II is a committed Catholic educator and administrator with thirty-five-years of experience, who embodies a deep commitment to Jesuit secondary education. Jack has served in a variety of teaching and administrative roles at Catholic and public institutions. He began his career as a teacher at St. Anthony High School, and then served as a teacher, coach, and principal at Saint Peter’s Preparatory In 2009, Jack began his tenure as the 33rd president of Xavier High School in Manhattan, New York. He also supported the work of other Jesuit educators and administrators throughout New York and New Jersey as a provincial assistant for secondary education for several years.
In every role Jack has served, he has found ways to integrate the critical concept of Jesuit Catholic education, a lived “faith that does justice”—from the fabric of his classrooms and curriculum early in his career to the experiences of students and colleagues as an administrator. Today, this takes on the form of the institutional culture of Xavier High School, known locally and nationally for its robust faith and justice formation opportunities for students, families, and alumni. Under Jack’s leadership, Xavier provides a safe space for a diverse community of students and faculty to feel valued as unique and critical members of their Catholic school community.
Jack also brings this passion for Catholic faith and the work of justice to the many boards on which he has served, including Nativity Mission Center, St. Ignatius School, Cristo Rey School New York, Brooklyn Jesuit Preparatory, and the Ignatian Solidarity Network.
About the Robert M. Holstein Faith Doing Justice Award
The Holstein Award is given by the Ignatian Solidarity Network (ISN) each year to individuals who have demonstrated a significant commitment to leadership for social justice grounded in the spirituality of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits).
About Robert M. Holstein
The late Robert (Bob) M. Holstein, a former Jesuit of the California province, a labor lawyer, and a fierce advocate for social justice, was one of the founders of the Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice (IFTJ). From the late 1990s through 2009, the IFTJ was held in conjunction with the annual gathering in Columbus, Georgia, to protest the former U.S. Army School of the Americas (now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation-WHINSEC) at Ft. Benning. Nineteen of the twenty-six Salvadoran soldiers who committed the murders of the Jesuit martyrs of El Salvador and their companions received training at the former School of the Americas during the 1980s. The Ignatian Family Teach-In and protest/vigil in Georgia began to remember the Jesuit martyrs and call for the close of the school/institute. In organizing the Teach-in, Holstein laid the foundation for what would become the Ignatian Solidarity Network, which began in 2004.
On January 5, 2003, Holstein passed away. In a homily remembering Bob at his funeral mass Rev. John Baumann, S.J., described Holstein as a man who “was passionate about justice and fairness for all peoples, particularly the poor and disenfranchised.” The Robert M. Holstein Faith Doing Justice Award honors this commitment to justice by recognizing individuals each year who are connected with the Ignatian Family and have demonstrated a significant commitment to leadership for social justice.
Previous Recipients
LEGACY OF THE MARTYRS AWARD
Catholic Mobilizing Network is a national organization that mobilizes Catholics and all people of goodwill to value life over death, to end the use of the death penalty, to transform the U.S. criminal justice system from punitive to restorative, and to build capacity in U.S. society to engage in restorative practices. Through education, advocacy, and prayer, and based on the Gospel value that every human is created in the image and likeness of God, CMN expresses the fundamental belief that all those who have caused or been impacted by crime should be treated with dignity.
CMN works in close collaboration with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and is a founding member of the Congregation of St. Joseph Mission Network.
About the Legacy of the Martyrs Award
November 16, 2022, marks thirty-three years since Ignacio Ellacuría, S.J., Ignacio Martín-Baró, S.J., Segundo Montes, S.J., Juan Ramón Moreno, S.J., Joaquín López y López, S.J., Amando López, S.J., and their housekeeper Elba Ramos and her 15-year-old daughter Celina Ramos were murdered at the University of Central America in San Salvador, El Salvador.
The legacy of the Jesuit martyrs significantly influenced the Church and the Jesuit community around the world. Across the Ignatian network of Jesuits and lay collaborators, new ways of working for justice, grounded in Christian faith, have developed over the course of these thirty years.
The Ignatian Solidarity Network is a direct product of the martyrs’ legacy. The deaths of 70,000 innocent individuals over the course of El Salvador’s 12-year civil war, many killed by Salvadoran soldiers who received U.S. military training at the former U.S. Army School of the Americas, gave ISN founders like Robert Holstein and Fr. Charlie Currie, S.J., the impetus to invite the Jesuit network to be part of working to bring attention to U.S. involvement in Central America. From 1996 to 2009, the Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice took place in conjunction with SOAWatch’s vigil at the gates of Ft. Benning, the location of the former School of the Americas before it was renamed in 2001. While the Teach-In moved to Washington, D.C., in 2010, the legacy of the martyrs remains at the core of ISN’s social justice education and advocacy efforts.
The Legacy of the Martyrs award is bestowed on individuals and organizations who have made significant contributions to sustaining the witness and legacy of the Jesuit martyrs and their companions.
Previous Award Recipients
MOIRA O’DONNELL EMERGING LEADERS AWARD
Michael Libunao-Macalintal, M.Div. is currently the liturgical minister of Marquand Chapel at Yale Divinity School. He is the oldest of three children born to Filipino parents, and a proud New Jersey native. A theologian, lay minister, and preacher, Libunao-Macalintal has spent his career helping form students to be storytellers, prophets, and leaders in their own church communities and contexts. He is a 2015 graduate of Fordham University, where he received a B.A. in theology. From 2015-2017, he worked as a high school youth minister for St. Mary’s Parish, a Franciscan-led community in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey before pursuing graduate studies at Yale Divinity School. Throughout his graduate studies, he began to develop a vision of lay leadership within the Catholic Church, articulated through his preaching and ministry with young people.
In 2020, Libunao-Macalintal graduated from Yale Divinity School with a Master of Divinity, and moved to Washington, D.C., to work in campus ministry with Gonzaga College High School. In 2021, his desire to continue stretching the definition of Catholic lay leadership led him to return to his alma mater and facilitate daily worship in Marquand Chapel. He continues to put his passion for equity and justice in the ecumenical liturgies he develops with students, faculty, and staff alike, casting new visions of belonging, building new and creative ways of worship, telling new and re-telling forgotten stories, all with the hopes of bringing forth the beloved community we are called to create with one another.
Teresa Marie Cariño Petersen is an educator and activist living and working in the Bay Area. Her work focuses on ethics, spirituality, and embodiment with a special concentration on racial justice. Her graduate work at the Jesuit School of Theology culminated in her capstone thesis, “Embodied Spiritual Repair: The Case for Somatic Discernment in the Work of Justice,” pioneered a burgeoning practice of somatic discernment. She has since presented her work at the Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice and for individuals and small groups.
Cariño Petersen is an alumna of St. Ignatius College Preparatory in San Francisco, CA. She went on to study theology and religious studies with a double minor in Catholic thought and social teaching and Philippine studies at the University of San Francisco. While at USF, Cariño Petersen worked in the university ministry office, served as a student leader, and participated in several immersion programs. She had the privilege of studying in the Philippines with the Casa Bayanihan program—arguably one of the most foundational experiences of her life. Upon graduating, Cariño Petersen moved to New York City where she served as a Jesuit Volunteer community organizer. After falling in love with New York, Cariño Petersen stayed in the city and worked as a pastoral associate at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola. She eventually moved back to her beloved Bay Area where she resides with her husband and dog just steps from Golden Gate Park.
Cariño Petersen loves to write and to preach. Her work can be found on ISN’s Rise Up series, National Catholic Reporter, and Catholic Women Preach. Some recordings of her preaching can be found through St. Ignatius Church, San Francisco. One of her homilies will be featured in the upcoming publication of Catholic Women Preach: Raising Voices, Renewing the Church: Cycle B from Orbis Books. She also serves on the board of directors for the National Catholic Reporter. You can follow her on Instagram @teresacarinopetersen and on substack.
About the Moira O’Donnell Emerging Leaders Award
The O’Donnell Award, given yearly, will honor one to three individuals ages 23-33 who have 1) received an undergraduate degree from a U.S. Jesuit university, and 2) demonstrated significant social justice leadership in their communities.
About Moira O’Donnell
Moira Erin O’Donnell, the late daughter of Bob and Jackie O’Donnell, and sister of Aimee and Matt, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on October 9, 2005. Moira was truly a loving and gifted young woman who lived her life with brilliance, generosity, compassion, and a commitment to social justice.
She graduated magna cum laude from Santa Clara University in 1994 with a B.A. in English and was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Sigma Nu societies. While at Santa Clara she earned a full scholarship to study at Oxford University for a year. Following Oxford she continued her studies at Boston College (M.A., English, 1996), and the University of London (M.A., Intellectual and Cultural History, 2002).
Moira spent a year following her college graduation as a member of the Vincentian Service Corps working as a teacher at St. Aloysius School in New York City. She then went to work for Catholic Charities of San Francisco at St. Joseph’s Village, a shelter for homeless families. From 1998 to 2004, Moira worked for Hamilton Family Center, another family shelter in San Francisco. In 2005, Moira accepted an offer to become the executive director of the Ignatian Solidarity Network and quickly began establishing ISN’s roots as a national social justice network inspired by the spirituality of St. Ignatius of Loyola.
Previous Recipients
