NEW YORK—Dr. Tarunjit Singh Butalia has been selected as the 2016 recipient of the Luminosa Award for Unity, an honor presented annually since 1998 by the Focolare Movement Mariapolis Luminosa of North America. The Focolare movement pays tribute through this award to Butalia’s decades of work in interreligious dialogue and peacemaking, as well as for his scientific contributions to environmental sustainability.
A scientist based at The Ohio State University, Butalia has served admirably by leading groundbreaking interfaith initiatives with the Sikh community worldwide and on the boards of the Parliament of the World’s Religions, Religions for Peace – USA, North American Interfaith Network, and the Sikh Council for Interfaith Relations, among additional local and regional endeavors in his home state of Central Ohio such as the Interfaith Association of Central Ohio.
Noting Butalia’s contributions to the field of interreligious relations, the Focolare movement recognizes a special trip taken at the invitation of Pope Benedict XIV in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the World Day of Prayer for Peace, when Butalia visited the Vatican as one of only five Sikhs invited from around the world. He offered a prayer at the event. His efforts to facilitate stronger ties between these faiths was reflected by his initiating high-level dialogue between the US Sikh community and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
“It is an honor to receive this Focolare award focusing on unity,” Butalia told the Parliament after receiving the uplifting news. He added, “In a world being increasingly divided along ethnic, religious, social, and class lines, it is imperative for people of faith and conscience to come together in solidarity to hold up the love we share for our fellow neighbors and citizens of the world. Our faiths call upon us to be peacemakers – it is time we step up to the challenge and walk the talk.”
Transcending his executive commitments on the Parliament’s Board, Butalia has set himself apart as a trustee by thoughtfully supporting PWR’s recent moves toward strategic interfaith action. Working on the board’s first Faiths Against Hate Task Force established in 2012, Butalia would help to launch the Parliament’s Faith Against Hate program to strengthen the interfaith movement’s capacity, capability and will to stop rising war, hate and violence through informed and organized activism.
Parliament Executive Director Dr. Larry Greenfield said of the award: “Knowing first hand Dr. Butalia’s deep commitments to the interfaith movement and his far-reaching involvements in interfaith work, the Parliament congratulates our trustee colleague and commends the Focolare Movement for recognizing his extraordinary record of advancing harmony among the religious and spiritual traditions of our world.”
Past winners come from a variety of faith backgrounds, industries and fields and include the President of the Director’s Guild of America, various United Nations Representatives, monarchs of nations, activists and faith leaders. A listing of past awardees can be accessed on the Focolare website, here.
The award will be presented to Butalia at the Focolare’s Mariapolis Luminosa in New York this September.
