Alexia Kelley will deliver the keynote address for the North Carolina Council of Churches’ 2012 Critical Issues Seminar, and Father Joe Vetter will receive the Council’s Distinguished Service Award at the April 19 event.
Kelley, who is Catholic, is the Director of the Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships Center with the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington D.C. She is a graduate of Haverford College with a masters in theological studies from Harvard Divinity School. Her work with DHHS includes community collaboration with the First Lady’s Let’s Move initiative. She worked previously with the Catholic Campaign for Human Development and with the Friends Committee on National Legislation.
Vetter, who served on the Council’s Executive Board for a number of years, is a Greensboro native who was ordained in the Catholic Diocese of Raleigh. He has served parishes in Cary, Siler City, Raleigh and Southport, and has been a campus minister at UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke. He was editor of The North Carolina Catholic newspaper, and served the Diocese as Director of Family Life, Director of Communications, Vicar for Priests, Vicar for Religious and Chancellor/Moderator of the Curia. Vetter is currently pastor at St. Therese Catholic Church in Wrightsville Beach and serves on the Council of Priests and as a Diocesan Consultor. He also serves on the Board of the A.J. Fletcher Foundation.
The Distinguished Service Award honors those whose work reflects their commitment to social justice and ecumenism. Past recipients include Vernon Tyson, David Forbes, Jimmy Creech, Evelyn Mattern, Tibbie Roberts, Janie Speaks, Charlie Mulholland, Robert Estill, and Cy and Carolyn King.
The focus of this year’s Critical Issues Seminar is food as a social justice issue. Workshop topics range farmworkers to food security to personal health. The event also offers a chance to meet with and learn from people who have successfully put their beliefs around food and faith into action. And for the first time, the Council will offer an optional add-on event at the end of the day. Join us as we partner with Stop Hunger Now to package food for those in need. Participation in the food packaging is an additional $25 to defray Stop Hunger Now’s costs.
Registration is needed by April 5 to guarantee lunch.
–Aleta Payne, Development & Communications
