Reps. Bennie Thompson and Chip Pickering to be Honored with Lewis-Houghton Leadership Award

    Congressmen recognized for personal and professional work toward

reconciliation



    WASHINGTON, July 14 /EMWNews/ -- The Faith & Politics

Institute will recognize Congressmen Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Chip

Pickering, R-Miss., at its second John Lewis-Amo Houghton Leadership Award

dinner. Robert G. Liberatore, formerly of Daimler, and Faith & Politics

Institute co-founder Anne Bartley will also receive the award. The dinner

will take place on July 16, 2008 at 6:30pm at the Newseum in Washington,

DC.



    NPR's Nina Totenberg will serve as Master of Ceremonies. Featured

speakers will include Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Sam

Brownback, R-Kan., and Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del. Approximately 50 members of

Congress, Republicans and Democrats, are expected to be in attendance. A

press availability will take place at 6:45pm.



    In co-leading The Faith & Politics Institute's "Courage and Creativity"

Congressional Pilgrimage to Mississippi in March 2008, congressmen Thompson

and Pickering demonstrated courageous leadership in bridging political and

personal divides in order to better serve the people of Mississippi. The

pilgrimage was the culmination of two years of dialogue between the two

men, breaking years of silence despite their adjacent districts.



    Robert G. Liberatore will be recognized for his lifetime of service in

both the public and private sectors. Prior to joining the Chrysler

Corporation, he served on Capitol Hill for ten years, including four years

as Staff Director for Senator Robert C. Byrd. Upon his retirement from

Daimler in 2008, Liberatore joined the German Marshall Fund as a Senior

Transatlantic Fellow. He also recently became a member of the Board of The

Faith & Politics Institute, joining the Hon. Amo Houghton, the Hon. Dan

Glickman and others.



    Anne Bartley was part of the four-member congressional reflection group

in the late 1980s that eventually grew into The Faith & Politics Institute,

and has served on the Institute's Board of Directors since its

incorporation 17 years ago. A well-known activist and philanthropist,

Bartley's passion for racial reconciliation and her understanding of the

importance of contemplative life, coupled with her keen political instinct,

have helped to make the Institute what it is today.



    The Lewis-Houghton Leadership Award recognizes leaders who have

exhibited qualities of conscience, courage and compassion in their roles as

public servants. Important attributes of each honoree are demonstrated

integrity between their spiritual values and their actions, and long-term

commitment to leadership in service of the common good. The namesakes of

the award, Congressman John Lewis (D-Ga.) and former Congressman Amo

Houghton (R-N.Y.), served as co-chairs of The Faith & Politics Institute

from 1997 to 2005. Past award recipients include Sen. Richard Lugar

(R-Ind.), Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), and Rev. W. Douglas Tanner Jr.



    Envisioning a world where all political leaders draw upon their faith

to strengthen their leadership, The Faith & Politics Institute is a

nonpartisan, interfaith organization, founded in 1991 to help public

officials stay in touch with their deeper calling to public service.