One organization will receive $1 million Nov. 14; two finalists
to receive $100,000 each
Three finalists have been chosen for the Opus Prize 2024, hosted
at Santa Clara University. The finalists are faith-driven leaders
of organizations working to welcome and support refugees to
Romania; educate and support current and former prisoners in the
U.S; and improve the safety and equitable treatment of Nigerian
women.
The Opus Prize is given annually to recognize unsung heroes of
any faith tradition, anywhere in the world, solving today’s most
persistent social problems. The organizations represented by the
finalists will receive $1.2 million—$1 million for the Opus Prize
laureate and $100,000 each for two finalists. Collectively, the
Opus Prize represents one of the world’s largest faith-based,
humanitarian awards for social innovation.
“The opportunity to host the Opus Prize has been a humbling and
profound experience for our campus,” said Santa Clara University
President Julie Sullivan. “The finalists identified through
this confidential and rigorous process are inspired by their faiths
to make a broad and lasting impact among populations experiencing
great need. They model for our students the power and richness of a
life of faith-inspired, impactful service. “
The finalists are:
Cătălin and Bianca Albu General Manager and Senior
Manager for Programs Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Bucharest,
Romania
JRS-Romania is a nonprofit organization that assists the growing
number of people arriving in Romania from Europe, the Middle East
and Asia to integrate into life in Romania. Managed by General
Manager Cătălin Albu and together with his wife, Senior Manager for
Programs Bianca Albu, JRS-Romania meets the needs of displaced
people with a commitment to “seamless integration” and services
such as legal guidance for migrants irrespective of their legal
status, accommodation for destitute people, mental health care, and
other services such as language acquisition, skill development,
tangible support, and integration into larger communities.
Now the largest church-based responder to the Ukrainian crisis
in the country, JRS-Romania has quadrupled the number of people
served since the war started, aiding 39,616 people in 2023.
JRS-Romania's work accompanying and serving asylum seekers,
refugees and temporary protection holders has set the standard for
this type of work throughout the country and generated significant
international support.
Cătălin earned a bachelor of law from Ecological University of
Bucharest. Bianca earned a bachelor of law from Faculty of Law,
University of Bucharest and a bachelor of law from Collège
Juridique Franco-Roumain d’Études Européennes of Pantheon Sorbonne
University Paris I.
“It is striking and impressive the diversity of services that
JRS-Romania makes available to such a large and diverse population
of displaced people,” said Duane Voigt, Santa Clara
University registrar who was one of 16 University members who
served as ambassadors for site visits to finalists. Praising the
couple’s skill at enlisting support from the Romanian community and
helping the displaced migrants use their skills to help one
another, he added, “It is clear that this service would not be
possible if it were not for Cătălin and Bianca’s faith in goodness,
in love, and the compassion they show to those who show up at their
door.”
Fr. Zachariah Presutti, S.J., M.Div. ’21 Founder and
Executive Director of Thrive for Life Prison Project New York and
Wisconsin
Thrive for Life (TFL) was founded in 2017 by Jesuit Father
Zachariah Presutti with the mission to transform lives both behind
and beyond prison walls. Behind the walls, TFL offers thousands of
incarcerated men and women in New York and Wisconsin retreats and
spiritual guidance rooted in the classical reflective and
meditative resources for an examined life handed down to the Church
through the example and legacy of St Ignatius of Loyola, founder of
the Society of Jesus. Beyond the prison walls, TFL provides
assistance through a growing network of houses of study for
returning citizens to live in community while receiving holistic
support services with a particular focus on education, employment,
and permanent affordable housing.
Current TFL participants are pursuing college degrees at partner
institutions including New York University, Columbia University,
and the City University of New York (CUNY) system, while others
pursue GED and vocational training through TFL’s onsite education
classes. TFL currently operates two houses of studies for more than
45 justice-impacted men, Ignacio House in East Harlem and Abraham
House in the south Bronx, with plans to expand offerings with the
opening of its Milwaukee House in the fall of 2024 and a women’s
house in Queens, NY in 2025.
Currently living in New York City, Presutti was born and raised
in Belmont, New York, and holds a bachelor’s degree from Canisius
College, a master’s degree in clinical social work from Saint Louis
University, and a Master of Divinity from Jesuit School of Theology
of Santa Clara University. In addition to Thrive, Presutti serves
as a chaplain in the New York City Department of Corrections at
Rikers Island and also serves on the board of Brooklyn Jesuit
Prep.
“Father Zach is a great leader who brings ideologically opposed
people together, to humanize and help provide a voice for people
behind bars,” said ambassador Akash Ravani ’25, an economics
major. “I am confident if more people got to hear Father Zach
speak, their perceptions and stereotypes about the incarcerated and
formerly incarcerated would drastically begin to shift.”
Sr. Francisca Ngozi Uti, HHCJ Founder and Executive
Director, Centre for Women Studies and Intervention Abuja,
Nigeria
The Centre for Women Studies and Intervention (CWSI) is an
initiative of the Congregation of the Handmaids of the Holy Child
Jesus (HHCJ), an order of Catholic Sisters founded in 1931 by
Mother Mary Charles Magdalen Walker, RSC. CWSI works to empower
women and other vulnerable persons in Nigeria to be liberated and
active in the creation of a better world. CWSI’s mission is to
uphold the dignity of women and other vulnerable people through
capacity-building, advocacy, awareness-raising, research, and
documentation of pressing issues.
Uti holds a Ph.D. in gender and women’s studies from University
of Bradford in England; an MBA from University of Wales Institute
of Science and Technology; and a B.S. in institutional management
from University College, Cardiff, in Wales. She is currently vicar
general of her HHCJ congregation, and has been provincial superior
in two provinces. She founded CWSI to research, advocate for
solutions, and alleviate issues like marginalization, oppression,
and violence against women and girls.
CWSI’s work helps women become politically aware, socially
responsible, and economically independent for greater autonomy and
parity with men. CWSI also advocates for the inclusion of women in
government roles and for laws that combat gender-based violence in
five Nigerian states.
“It was an honor to meet Sister Ngozi and the other members of
CWSI,” said ambassador Sharmila Lodhia, chair and associate
professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies at Santa Clara. “What
struck me was the multifaceted nature of the organization’s work
and their commitment to a sustainable and capacity-building
approach to their legal advocacy and education interventions amidst
tremendous constraints. We have much to learn from their ethical,
intentional, and community-centered mode of activism, which is
rooted in faith and hope for a more just and equitable world.”
Choosing the Finalists
Unique to this award, the Opus Prize Foundation partners with a
different Catholic university each year to carry out the selection
process and host the award ceremony on campus. Santa Clara
University was announced as the 2024 host last December.
To select the three finalists, the University convened more than
30 experts who confidentially identified and researched potential
nominees; 13 leaders from the realms of business, government,
athletics, and nonprofits served as jurors, choosing three
finalists; and 16 campus members, serving as ambassadors, helped
the Opus Prize Foundation conduct due-diligence visits of the
finalists before they were announced.
“The organizations discovered by our partner Santa Clara
University are doing wondrous work, grounded in faith and the
dignity of all persons,” said Daniel McGinty, executive
director of the Opus Prize Foundation. “They are a devout and
effective group, and a fitting tribute to the nearly 20 years of
Opus Prize Foundation seeking to identify unsung heroes, who see
problems and can’t look away.”
The 2024 Opus Prize laureate—and recipient of a $1 million
prize—will be announced at an awards ceremony on Santa Clara’s
campus November 14. The two other finalists will each receive
$100,000. The awards ceremony will cap a week of activities on
SCU’s campus celebrating the finalists and the goals of the Opus
Prize.
About The Opus Prize Foundation
The Opus Prize Foundation, established in 1994, was originally
related to the Opus Corporation and today is a private and
independent nonprofit foundation. Awarded annually, the Opus Prize
includes a $1 million prize and two $100,000 prizes given to
individuals or organizations—anywhere in the world—whose
faith-based, entrepreneurial leadership helps address persisting
social problems within their communities. Each year the Foundation
partners with a different Catholic university to use a confidential
nomination process to identify and select finalists for that year’s
Opus Prize awards. The Opus Prize is given to not only further the
humanitarian efforts of the recipients, but also to inspire people
to pursue lives of service to others and to their communities.
About Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University is a private Jesuit, Catholic University
in the epicenter of Silicon Valley, infusing ethics and social
consciousness into a rigorous cross-disciplinary education for its
more than 9,000 undergraduate and graduate students.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240730430315/en/
Deborah Lohse | SCU Media Communications | dlohse@scu.edu |
408-554-5121