Glenmarian Receives 2001 Call to Brotherhood Award

Brother Curt Kedley’s Ministry of Racial Healing Cited as 
Example of Gospel Commitment

Brother Curt Kedley

CINCINNATI (July 11, 2001)—Glenmary Brother Curt Kedley is one of three recipients of the 2001 Call to Brotherhood Award from the Chicago-based Religious Brothers Conference. This award, given annually to three brothers whose lives reflect gospel commitment, was presented at RCB’s 30th annual gathering in Tampa, Fla., June 23-26.

Brother Curt, a Glenmary brother for 35 years, was recognized for his work in Hancock County, Ga., the state’s second poorest county, where he dedicates himself to building bridges between black and white communities. (A feature story about Brother Curt’s work, “Chipping Away the Walls of Separation,” appeared in the Summer 2000 Glenmary Challenge. Curt, a native of Cascade, Iowa, is a 1971 graduate of Xavier University in Cincinnati.

“Everyday religious brothers work quietly and heroically,” said the RBC board’s statement in making the awards. “These brothers stand with the powerless, the dispossessed, the young and the elderly. By their very presence they bring life, hope and rebirth.”

The other 2001 award recipients were Christian Brother Louis Welker and Holy Cross Brother Ronald Gilbert Whelan.

Brother Curt is described as “a person who listens to the pain of the people, tries to articulate it and respond to it.” His ministry of presence in Hancock County, Ga., began eight years ago when he took a job in a pants factory to support himself and to build connections to the working poor. According to his nominators, he is “legendary in his community for his extremely simple lifestyle backed by disciplined exercise and prayerful meditation.”

Glenmary Home Missioners, a society of priests and brothers, along with coworkers, serve the spiritual and material needs of rural and small-town America. They serve in areas where the population is less than one percent Catholic, over 40 per cent is unchurched and the poverty rate is twice the national average. Headquartered in Cincinnati, Glenmary staffs over 60 missions is Appalachia, the South and Southwest.