Media Coverage

$1 Million Opus Prize Finalists Announced
American, Belgian and Filipino Nominated for Humanitarian Award

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Aug. 30, 2007) – The Catholic University of America, in partnership with The Opus Prize Foundation, today, announced the finalists for the 2007 $1 million humanitarian Opus Prize. For their dedication to transforming the lives of others the following have been selected finalists: Rev. John Adams, president of Washington, D.C.’s SOME; Brother Constant Goetschalckx, F.C., director of AHADI International Institute, Kigoma, Tanzania; and the Homeless People’s Federation Philippines represented by its executive director, Rev. Norberto Carcellar, C.M.

The Opus Prize is a $1 million faith-based humanitarian award given annually by the Opus Prize Foundation to recognize an unsung hero – either an individual or an organization – working on the front lines of today’s most persistent social problems.

The finalists for the fourth annual Opus Prize are:

Rev. John Adams, president of SOME (So Others Might Eat), Washington, D.C., has directed the organization for the past 29 years. Under Father Adams’ leadership, SOME has grown from a soup kitchen that served 50 to 60 people daily with a single employee and two volunteers to an organization that serves more than 800 meals a day and offers a clinic, dental services and transitional housing to the homeless with a staff of 250 employees and several thousand volunteers.

Brother Constant Goetschalckx, F.C., founder and director of AHADI International Institute, Tanzania, leads an organization with a Swahili name that means “working toward the fulfillment of a promise.” AHADI educates refugees from the war-torn countries of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi by providing post-secondary training via a distance-learning program and instruction for 26,000 students per year studying for their high school diplomas.

Homeless People’s Federation Philippines represented by Rev. Norberto Carcellar, C.M., executive director, is an organization that has enabled squatters living on a sprawling garbage dump in Quezon City, Philippines, to create community savings and credit programs, purchase land, build housing and set up waste disposal and water distribution systems.

One finalist will be awarded $1 million and the other two finalists will each receive $100,000 for their organizations. The winner of the $1 million award will be announced after all three finalists arrive in Washington in early November. The 2007 Opus Prize officially will be presented at a ceremony Thursday, Nov. 8, at Catholic University’s Edward J. Pryzbyla University Center.

The Opus Prize Foundation partners with universities, which enables students to meet and interact with the recipients and learn firsthand about social entrepreneurship. The partnering universities are encouraged to integrate the Opus Prize conferral into their curricula. CUA will host a series of Opus Prize-related activities including films and presentations in the weeks and days prior to the dinner.

The Opus Prize Foundation recognizes unsung heroes of any faith tradition, anywhere in the world, solving today’s most persistent social problems by annually awarding the Opus Prize, a $1 million award and two $100,000 monetary awards. Opus Prize winners combine a driving entrepreneurial spirit with an abiding faith to give power to the disenfranchised, opportunities to the poorest, and inspire others to pursue lives of service. The Prize is awarded through partnerships with Catholic universities or colleges to maximize the scope and impact of its mission. The first Opus Prize was given in 2004. Today, 16 individuals from the United States and around the world have been recognized. The Opus Prize Foundation, established in 1994 by the founding chairman of Opus Corporation, is a private and independent foundation and does not accept unsolicited nominations. For more information, visit www.opusprize.org.