With their good works, Lumen Christi Award finalists radiate Christ's love, Extension says

CHICAGO (OSV News) -- The Catholic Extension Society has announced seven finalists for its 2024-2025 Lumen Christi Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Chicago-based nonprofit, which since 1905 has supported Catholic faith communities in the nation's poorest regions.

The finalists receive $10,000 for their ministries. The Lumen Christi Award recipient will ultimately be selected in the fall from among these finalists and will be given a $25,000 grant, along with an additional $25,000 grant for the nominating diocese.

Taking its name from the Latin words for "light of Christ," the Lumen Christi Award affirms those who radiate and reveal Christ's love where they serve.

The group of finalists includes a 40-member parish in Birmingham, Alabama, that feeds more than 800 people a month with its food pantry; a religious sister with a medical degree whose mobile clinic provides health care for the sick and uninsured in the Tennessee mountains; an 82-year-old priest who drives hundreds of miles every month to service six different Native American Catholic missions in Southern California; and a lifelong Kentuckian who heads a mission center that helps repair homes in Appalachia.

This year 37 dioceses submitted nominations for the award. "Each nomination celebrates the humble heroes offering their hearts and hands to serve God's children," Extension said in a news release.

"This year's Lumen Christi Award finalists have each found a way to play their part in making a difference in the lives of others," Father Jack Wall, Extension's president, said in a statement. "They are helping to build up a better nation, where people care for one another, and where the pain of others does not fall on deaf ears. They feel called to be a blessing in places where there is no shortage of trouble and tribulation."

The seven finalists area:

-- Deacon Stephen Sellers, Diocese of Beaumont, Texas. He teaches prisoners that hope must start somewhere. When he first visited death row at a Texas prison in 2017, he wasn't sure he could handle returning. "I went back out in the parking lot and prayed that God would never send me back there again," he recalled. But he did continue in prison ministry and "has since found the beauty of a ministry that offers light and hope in a place that so desperately needs it," Extension said. Deacon Sellers works with inmates who will one day be released after doing their time, those sentenced to life and those awaiting execution. He travels about 400 miles a week in his truck "to help prisoners discover God's unconditional love in a ministry that benefits these men as well as the larger society."

-- Holy Rosary Catholic Church, Diocese of Birmingham, Alabama. The parish serves one of the poorest neighborhoods in Birmingham -- known as Gate City -- where many families live on fixed incomes. The 40-member parish offers a food pantry that feeds more than 800 people a month, and it also runs a youth soccer program. "Holy Rosary demonstrates how a faith community can transform an entire town or neighborhood," Extension said. "They feed the hungry in body and spirit."

-- Benedictine Sister Lisa Maurer, Diocese of Duluth, Minnesota. A member of the Benedictine sisters' St. Scholastica Monastery in Duluth, she coaches college players on football and faith at the College of St. Scholastica, next to the monastery. In addition to the football program, Sister Lisa is committed to all the student athletes in the college's 22 athletic programs. Her role as a coach opens pathways for discussions on the struggles of real life, she said, adding that coaching can be used as a "real-life application of how we live as people."

-- Sister Mary Lisa Renfer, a Religious Sister of Mercy, Diocese of Knoxville, Tennessee. Sister Mary Lisa, earned her doctor of osteopathic medicine degree from Michigan State University. Having a medical degree and a religious vocation prepared Sister Mary Lisa to become the medical director of St. Mary's Legacy Clinic, a mobile clinic that serves the poor in eastern Kentucky. Last year it traveled over 11,000 miles to 10 sites. This year it will see over 1,500 patients with the help of a network of 100 health care professionals. Seventy-two percent of patients live in extreme poverty and lack insurance and basic health care. Sister Mary Lisa attends to the spiritual needs of her patients alongside their physical ailments. "She never separates the healing of the body from the ministry to the soul," Extension said.

-- Eddie Michael, Diocese of Lexington, Kentucky. A lifelong resident of Louisa, Kentucky, he is the executive director of the Father Beiting Appalachian Mission Center. An outreach ministry of the Diocese of Lexington, the center welcomes volunteer groups from around the U.S. who donate thousands of hours conducting home repairs in Appalachia. Michael leads an average of 200 home visits per year to assess the social service needs of the family as well as the condition of their home. The Home Repair Program completes an average of 50 home repair projects annually, with projects ranging from handicap-accessible ramp installments to roofing repairs.

-- Sarah Alley, Diocese of Memphis, Tennessee. A former athlete and teacher who was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in 2015 has not let her condition stop her from serving God and her community. She is unable to use her hands to type due to her illness, so she uses her eyes to create words to blog about her experience with ALS and her journey to spread God's love to others. Additionally, she is the race director for "Autumn Walk for ALS"; works with Matthew 25:40, a local outreach ministry that assists in feeding 700 people per month; and runs three separate weekly Bible studies with people from different Christian denominations. "As long as I'm living, I will use my brain to help others in need. I love my city, and I love the Lord," she said.

-- Father Earl Henley, Diocese of San Bernardino, California. The 82-year-old priest, a Missionary of the Sacred Heart, drives hundreds of miles every month working among six different Native American Catholic communities in Southern California. "Presence" is key in his ministry, he said. Father Henley "believes that allowing the richness of our Catholic faith (to) speak to the beauty of the Native American culture results in a vibrant spirituality which enhances all who participate," Extension said.