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SOAR! celebrates religious life in New York

NEW YORK — Attendees gathered at the SOAR! New York City Awards Dinner to honor four individuals, and pay tribute to the far-reaching impact of men and women religious

The gala, held Sept. 27 at the New York Athletic Club, is a major fundraiser for SOAR! — Support Our Aging Religious — which provides grants to religious congregations to meet the immediate needs of their retired and infirm members.  

Each year at the dinner, SOAR! recognizes organizations and individuals for their leadership and contributions to the Catholic community. This year’s honorees were Cardinal Joseph Tobin, C.Ss.R.; Rabbi Joseph Potasnik and Deacon Kevin McCormack; and Sister Tesa Fitzgerald, CSJ. 

Cardinal Tobin, the archbishop of Newark, received the Saint Katharine Drexel Award for his servant leadership and the impact he makes on women and men religious throughout the United States.  

Deacon McCormack and Rabbi Potasnik, who have co-hosted the radio program Religion on the Line on WABC in New York, received the Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Award for their long history of promoting interreligious dialogue and sharing their faith through the media.  

Sister Tesa received the Father Victor Yanitelli Award, which is presented to a senior religious in the New York area each year to acknowledge their lives of service. Sister Tesa, a Sister of Saint Joseph of Brentwood, New York, founded Hour Children, a nonprofit in Long Island City that provides housing, mentoring and job-training for mothers recently released from incarceration. 

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