Seventh Annual Communion Breakfast for Business Leaders sponsored by CAPP and Fairfield University's Center for Faith and Public Life on Sunday, October 28, 2012

Rev. Richard Ryscavage, S.J., a leading expert on immigration and founding director of Fairfield University's Center for Faith and Public Life, will be the keynote speaker at the seventh annual Communion Breakfast for Business Leaders on Sunday, October 28, 2012, held in Fairfield University's Oak Room.

The event will begin immediately following a mass at 9 a.m. in the adjacent Egan Chapel of St. Ignatius Loyola. Business professionals Brendan Fisk, of Fairfield, Conn., and Barnet Phillips, IV, of Greenwich, Conn., will be honored by the Fairfield County Chapter of Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice (CAPP) at the breakfast. There is limited seating. To register, please call Cindy Russo, at (203) 254-4000, ext. 2927.

Fr. Ryscavage's talk, "Faithful Citizenship: Catholics and the Presidential Election," will touch upon very topical issues as Election Day approaches.

Fr. Ryscavage is professor of sociology and international studies at Fairfield. The Center for Faith and Public Life studies areas where religion and socio-political issues intersect. Among its many endeavors that Fr. Ryscavage is leading is a Ford Foundation-funded national study examining the issues of undocumented students in higher education, with an initial focus on the 28 Jesuit colleges and universities in the United States. Fr. Ryscavage is also helming a Hagedorn Foundation-funded pilot project to demonstrate a more civil and less coarse way of public debate about immigration by framing the dialogue in the language of faith. In addition, he has held leadership positions with such organizations as the Jesuit Refugee Service USA and Catholic Legal Immigration Network. While running the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Migration and Refugee Services Office, he was the main advisor to the U.S. Catholic bishops on immigration and refugee policy. In 2006, the Vatican invited Fr. Ryscavage to join the delegation of the Holy See to the General Assembly of the United Nations where he participated in the high level dialogue on migration sponsored by the UN Secretary General.

Fisk and Phillips will be honored with the Business Leadership Award for their work in co-founding Shepherds Inc. in 1997, as well as for their ongoing involvement in the program. Shepherds is a nondenominational nonprofit that provides the funding for disadvantaged inner city Connecticut youth to attain a quality college preparatory education at Catholic high schools while pairing them with a mentor who serves as a role model over the four-year high school journey.

"Brendan and Barney were chosen for this award because they exemplified the application of the core principles of the Church's social doctrine, namely human dignity, solidarity and subsidiarity," said Bill Fox, president of CAPP's Fairfield County Chapter. "Shepherds recognizes the human dignity of all their students and with the support of mentors and sponsors enables students to obtain a quality Catholic high school education. Most are the first in their families to go on to college."

For 23 years, Fisk was an FBI agent who upon retirement from the bureau pursued a career as a business owner and consultant to a number of major corporations and banks.  Phillips is a recently retired partner with the New York City law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and affiliates.

The breakfast is being sponsored by the Center for Faith and Public Life and the Fairfield Chapter of CAPP, a lay-led Vatican based organization founded by Blessed John Paul in 1993 for the education and evangelization of Catholic social doctrine through business, academic and other lay professionals. For additional information about CAPP and its Fairfield County Chapter, visit www.capp-usa.org. Additional background on Fairfield University's Center for Faith and Public Life is available at http://www.fairfield.edu/cfpl/ .

Posted On: 10-04-2012 11:10 AM

Volume: 45 Number: 70