The 2015/16 Lumen Christi Award (Light of Christ) was given to Fr. Fredy Angel of the Savannah, Georgia Diocese. We had our conference there last spring; it’s a beautiful diocese.  This is truly and inspirational story about how the Holy Spirit moves us and especially timely with so much news about what divides us racially.  The Holy Spirit, through Fr. Fredy, shows us what racial diversity can accomplish.

Fr. Fredy has been the pastor to Queen of Peach Parish and its mission parishes (covering 3 counties) for eight years. All were small and struggling and all with different ethnic backgrounds.  Fr. Angel has worked for eight years to unite the people and build one stong, multi-racial parish.

His efforts have been so successful that there is need for a larger parish building.  They will build a new St. Anthony of Padua parish to accommodate the vibrant community.

Here is a link to the Catholic Extension article which includes a short video. Catholic Extension has helped fund the new parish project.

You can also read in more detail about the background and the project itself in the Michigan Catholic and/or the Catholic News article.