The Avery Cardinal Dulles Award for Apostolic Activity honors Catholic leaders who embody the hopes of Cardinal Dulles’s teaching and thereby further the apostolic vision of the Church. 

Recipients of these two awards will be bishops, ordained ministers, religious, and members of the lay faithful who exhibit apostolic zeal for the Great Commission and fruitfulness in living it out.These leaders are recovering the great apostolic evangelical tradition of the Church, especially seen in the early Church and in so many movements of renewal throughout its history. The Ad Intra Award will be given to someone working with in the structures of the Church to advance an apostolic mission. The Ad Extra Award will be given to a lay faithful who is living their apostolate in the world with zeal as they participate in the Great Commission.

Both awards will be presented to the recipients at the Avery Cardinal Dulles Awards Banquet taking place on Wednesday, January 22, 2025 at the Priests for an Apostolic Age conference in San Antonio, TX.

Nominator's Information

Nominations will be accepted Oct. 1-Nov. 1, 2024.  A selection committee will determine the recipients by November 15, 2024.

About the Nominee

  • The Church needs models of lay apostolic zeal. The world needs witnesses and disciple makers in the world who build natural friendships, sacrificially love those around them, are on the look-out for the least of these, and deftly share the Good News as the Spirit leads. These lay people have not been called to ad intra apostolates. Their personal apostolates are ad extra, bound to the secular. They passionately love the world. They lead with mercy and conversation. They generously accompany people closer and closer to the heart of Jesus and make disciples. Recipients of this award will not be bishops, priests, lay ministry professionals, or leaders of Catholic organizations. These will be apostolic lay people with active, intentional personal apostolates outside the walls of their parish.

  • This award is given to anyone who is bringing apostolic leadership within the Church. The Great Commission is to make disciples (Matthew 28:19). The essential mission of the Church is evangelization (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 14). St. Pope John Paul II said, “I sense that the moment has come to commit all of the Church's energies to a new evangelization” (Redemptoris Missio, 3). Who is bringing innovative, exemplary leadership to shift the paradigm of the Church to indeed commit all of its energies to making disciples of all nations? These nominees could be ordained, religious, or lay leaders that help the Church send disciple makers into the world.

TERMS & CONDITIONS
By submitting this nomination form, I understand that the selection committee may contact me or my nominee for further information. There will be one award winner selected for each category, Ad Intra and Ad Extra.

Meet our 2023 Avery Cardinal Dulles Award for Apostolic Activity Winners

Fr. John Riccardo, ACTS XXIX - Ad Intra Award Winner

Fr. John Riccardo discerned God’s call and was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Detroit in 1996. In 2019, after 23 years in parish ministry, Fr. John was released from the Archdiocese to found and lead Acts XXIX, a Catholic non-profit missionary apostolate. God’s great love story for the humanity he created is at the center of Acts XXIX evangelization work, powered by the Holy Spirit who guided the disciples of the early Church and is active today.

The Acts XXIX ministry exists to help get God’s world back by equipping clergy and lay leaders for the apostolic age in which we live. Since the ministry’s founding, more than 2,000 priests and bishops have been ministered to during retreats, clergy convocations, workshops, and other accompaniment activities. Recently the team felt called to introduce The Rescue Project to reach a world hungering for God. It is the team’s belief that the most urgent evangelistic task today is the compelling proclamation of the gospel whereby people are overwhelmed by the Good News and decide to entrust themselves to Jesus Christ.

Fr. John has extensive parish experience serving 15 years as pastor, most recently at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Plymouth, Michigan, as well as at St. Anastasia in Troy. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan, the Gregorian University in Rome, and the Pope John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family.

Joe LaRussa, Convene - Ad Extra Award Winner

Joe LaRussa is an active Catholic and native San Diegan. He and his wife of 43 years have three adult daughters and four grandsons. He has a unique calling in the intersection of faith and business, working with Christian business owners and CEOs as an executive coach and peer advisory group chair.

Joe helps others build excellent, God-honoring businesses based on Biblical values. He apprentices young business owners deeper into discipleship in the context of mentoring them into Christian business leadership. Degrees from the University of San Diego in Business Administration and Practical Theology, and six decades of life experience, have prepared him for the role of coaching others to integrate their faith into all aspects of their lives.

An active parishioner of Saint Brigid Parish in San Diego, Joe facilitates a Connection to Christ group, a “Whiskey and the Word” men’s group, and has served as rector for a Men’s Cursillo in Christianity weekend. Joe’s personal trials and lessons in life and business, with the understanding that his identity as a Catholic Christian must permeate all his roles, motivate him to be a servant leader.

The Evangelical Catholic and Catholic Leadership Institute are excited to announce the Priests for an Apostolic Age Conference taking place in San Antonio, TX.

Priests for an Apostolic Age Conference  January 21-24, 2025

As a priest or bishop, you are invited to recharge your ministry and activate apostolic laity in your community!  If you are a priest or bishop, join us in San Antonio, TX January 21-24 to learn the tools to create a culture of lay evangelization in your community.

  • Uncover your mission and identity as an apostolic priest in a secular age and what you need to be equipped to lead the laity to live out the Great Commission.
  • Learn how to take proactive measures to respond to the hurdles presented by our current cultural landscapes, and help thefaithful navigate their journey as disciples with joyful hope. 
  • Learn how to leverage your influence to inspire and activate a movement of evangelization and personal apostolate in your community.
  • Gather in fellowship with priests and bishops who share the same convictions and goals.

With these tools, your parishioners will reach every corner of your community with the gospel and make disciples of their neighbors, co-workers, friends, and family. 

Register Now!

Not a priest or bishop? Please share this with the priests in your parish and community. 

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