Rector’s Awards Presented at the Pontifical North American College
During the 31st Annual Rector’s Dinner of the Pontifical North American College in Rome, held on Thursday evening, April 16, Monsignor Thomas W. Powers, presented the Rector’s Awards to the President of the Governorate of Vatican City State, Sr. Raffaella Petrini, and to the American couple Curtis and Michaelann Martin.
Curtis Martin is the founder of the FOCUS movement on college campuses throughout the United States. In 1998, recognizing the significant impact that the college years have on a young person’s future—and encouraged by the call of Saint John Paul II for a new evangelization—he established FOCUS as the Fellowship of Catholic University Students. What began as a small movement on university campuses quickly developed into a mission.
Since then, FOCUS missionaries have spread the Gospel message to hundreds of thousands of university students through campus outreach, Bible studies, mission trips, national conferences, and more.
As for the Rector’s Dinner, the fundraising event takes place every year in Rome, at the Janiculum hill campus of the Pontifical North American College, with the aim of supporting its mission and further enhancing the formative experience of seminarians and priests.
The event is attended by alumni, guests from the United States of America, members of the Diplomatic Corps, and the Roman Curia. The Rector’s Dinner was first proposed by Thomas Patrick Melady, who served as U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See from 1989 to 1993, and was launched in 1991 by Cardinal Edwin Frederick O’Brien, former Rector of the Pontifical College.
During the gathering, the Rector’s Award is also presented as a sign of recognition and gratitude to those who play an important role in the life of the Pontifical College and are committed to advancing its mission.
