Thomas Merton Award
Encyclopedia
The Thomas Merton Award has been awarded since 1972 by the Thomas Merton Center for Peace and Social Justice
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
, USA. It is named after Thomas Merton
and is given annually to "national and international individuals struggling for justice."
Thomas Merton Center (Pittsburgh)
Thomas Merton Center, a Pittsburgh peace and social justice center, is an organization concerned with issues such as social justice, poverty, workers' rights, racial discrimination, ecology and peace. It serves as an organizing center for most of the city's left-leaning and liberal social movement...
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, USA. It is named after Thomas Merton
Thomas Merton
Thomas Merton, O.C.S.O. was a 20th century Anglo-American Catholic writer and mystic. A Trappist monk of the Abbey of Gethsemani, Kentucky, he was a poet, social activist, and student of comparative religion...
and is given annually to "national and international individuals struggling for justice."
Award recipients
- 1972: James P. CarrollJames P. CarrollJames Carroll is a noted author, historian and journalist and Roman Catholic dissident.-Youth, education, and service as a priest:...
- 1973: Dorothy DayDorothy DayDorothy Day was an American journalist, social activist and devout Catholic convert; she advocated the Catholic economic theory of Distributism. She was also considered to be an anarchist, and did not hesitate to use the term...
- 1974: Dick GregoryDick GregoryRichard Claxton "Dick" Gregory is an American comedian, social activist, social critic, writer, and entrepreneur....
- 1975: Joan BaezJoan BaezJoan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....
- 1976: Dom Hélder CâmaraHélder CâmaraDom Hélder Pessoa Câmara was Roman Catholic Archbishop of Olinda and Recife.He was known as the 'Bishop of Corum' and took a clear position with the urban poor....
- 1977: Dick HughesDick HughesRichard Henry Hughes is a retired professional baseball player who played 3 seasons for the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball...
- 1978: Bishop John Harris Burt & Bishop James MaloneJames MaloneJames or Jim Malone may refer to:*James F. Malone, Allegheny County District Attorney in the 1950's for Pittsburgh.*James E. Malone, Jr., member of the Maryland House of Delegates...
- 1979: Helen CaldicottHelen CaldicottHelen Mary Caldicott is an Australian physician, author, and anti-nuclear advocate who has founded several associations dedicated to opposing the use of nuclear power, depleted uranium munitions, nuclear weapons, nuclear weapons proliferation, war and military action in general. She hosts a...
- 1980: William Winpisinger
- 1981: The people of PolandPolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
- 1982: Archbishop Raymond HunthausenRaymond HunthausenRaymond Gerhardt Hunthausen is a retired American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Helena from 1962 to 1975 and as Archbishop of Seattle from 1975 to 1991.-Early life and education:...
- 1983: not awarded
- 1984: Bernice Johnson ReagonBernice Johnson ReagonBernice Johnson Reagon is a singer, composer, scholar, and social activist, who founded the a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock in 1973.-Early life and education:...
- 1985: Henri NouwenHenri NouwenHenri Jozef Machiel Nouwen , was a Dutch-born Catholic priest and writer who authored 40 books about spirituality.- Writing :...
- 1986: Allan BoesakAllan BoesakReverend Allan Aubrey Boesak is a South African Dutch Reformed Church cleric and politician and anti-apartheid activist...
- 1987: Miguel D'EscotoMiguel d'EscotoMiguel d’Escoto Brockmann, born in Los Angeles on February 5, 1933, is a Nicaraguan diplomat, politician and former Catholic priest of the Maryknoll congregation of priests. He was recently nominated as Libyan Representative to the UN, a request which is currently pending...
- 1988: Daniel BerriganDaniel BerriganDaniel Berrigan, SJ is an American Catholic priest, peace activist, and poet. Daniel and his brother Philip were for a time on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list for their involvement in antiwar protests during the Vietnam war....
- 1989: Comrades of El Salvador & Elizabeth Linder
- 1990: Marian Wright EdelmanMarian Wright EdelmanMarian Wright Edelman is an American activist for the rights of children. She is president and founder of the Children's Defense Fund.-Early years:...
- 1991: Howard ZinnHoward ZinnHoward Zinn was an American historian, academic, author, playwright, and social activist. Before and during his tenure as a political science professor at Boston University from 1964-88 he wrote more than 20 books, which included his best-selling and influential A People's History of the United...
- 1992: Molly Rush
- 1993: Reverend Lucius WalkerLucius WalkerThe Reverend Lucius Walker was an American Baptist minister who served as executive director of the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization in the 1960s and was a persistent advocate for ending the United States embargo against Cuba...
- 1994: Richard RohrRichard RohrRichard Rohr, O.F.M. is a Franciscan friar ordained to the priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church in 1970. He is an internationally known inspirational speaker and has published numerous recorded talks and books....
OFM - 1995: Marian Kramer
- 1996: Winona LaDukeWinona LaDukeWinona LaDuke is a Native American activist, environmentalist, economist, and writer. In 1996 and 2000, she ran for vice president as the nominee of the United States Green Party, on a ticket headed by Ralph Nader. In the 2004 election, however, she endorsed one of Nader's opponents, Democratic...
- 1997: Ron Chisom
- 1998: Studs TerkelStuds TerkelLouis "Studs" Terkel was an American author, historian, actor, and broadcaster. He received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1985 for The Good War, and is best remembered for his oral histories of common Americans, and for hosting a long-running radio show in Chicago.-Early...
- 1999: Wendell BerryWendell BerryWendell Berry is an American man of letters, academic, cultural and economic critic, and farmer. He is a prolific author of novels, short stories, poems, and essays...
- 2000: Ronald V. Dellums
- 2001: Sister Joan ChittisterJoan ChittisterSister Joan D. Chittister, O.S.B., is a Benedictine nun, author and speaker.She is a member of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, Pennsylvania, where she served as prioress for 12 years. Sister Chittister writes a web column for the National Catholic Reporter, "From Where I Stand"...
- 2002: Bishop Leontine T. KellyLeontine T. KellyLeontine Turpeau Current Kelly is a retired American Bishop of the United Methodist Church. She was born 5 March 1920 in Washington, D.C., one of eight children. Her father, David D. Turpeau, Sr., was a prominent Methodist minister, who later served four terms in the Ohio House of Representatives...
- 2003: Voices in the WildernessVoices in the WildernessMasada Anniversary Edition Volume 2: Voices in the Wilderness is the second album in a series of five releases celebrating the 10th anniversary of John Zorn's Masada songbook project....
- 2004: Amy GoodmanAmy GoodmanAmy Goodman is an American progressive broadcast journalist, syndicated columnist, investigative reporter and author. Goodman is the host of Democracy Now!, an independent global news program broadcast daily on radio, television and the internet.-Early life:Goodman was born in Bay Shore, New York...
- 2005: Reverend Roy BourgeoisRoy BourgeoisRoy Bourgeois is an American activist. He was ordained a priest in the Maryknoll order of the Roman Catholic Church and is founder of the human rights group SOA Watch or the School of the Americas Watch....
- 2006: Angela DavisAngela DavisAngela Davis is an American political activist, scholar, and author. Davis was most politically active during the late 1960s through the 1970s and was associated with the Communist Party USA, the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Panther Party...
- 2007: Cindy SheehanCindy SheehanCindy Lee Miller Sheehan is an American anti-war activist whose son, U.S. Army Specialist Casey Sheehan, was killed by enemy action during the Iraq War. She attracted national and international media attention in August 2005 for her extended anti-war protest at a makeshift camp outside President...
- 2008: Malik RahimMalik RahimMalik Rahim is a former Black Panther, and a long-time housing and prison activist in the U.S. state of Louisiana. He gained publicity as a community organizer in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina....
- 2009: Dennis KucinichDennis KucinichDennis John Kucinich is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1997. He was furthermore a candidate for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in the 2004 and 2008 presidential elections....
- 2010: Noam ChomskyNoam ChomskyAvram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...
- 2011: Vandana ShivaVandana ShivaVandana Shiva , is a philosopher, environmental activist, and eco feminist. Shiva, currently based in Delhi, has authored more than 20 books and over 500 papers in leading scientific and technical journals. She was trained as a physicist and received her Ph.D...