The Sisters of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Danville recently awarded the Servant Leadership Award to 21 outstanding high school juniors and seniors from the Diocese of Harrisburg and the Diocese of Scranton. The ceremony took place at the Basilica of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Danville. Since 2003, the Sisters have honored nearly 1,300 teens in the Archdioceses and Dioceses of Albany, Bridgeport, Charleston, Chicago, Gary, Harrisburg, Milwaukee, New York, Pittsburgh, Scranton, St. Louis, Stratford, Syracuse and Trenton with the Servant Leadership Award.
The Servant Leadership Award recognizes distinguished high school juniors and seniors who are joyful witnesses, compassionate proclaimers and enthusiastic builders of the Kingdom of God. The focus of the award is on teens who remain active in their faith and parish beyond Confirmation, and who actively serve in their parish, school and community.
Receiving the award were Liam Bradley, Luke Brokenshire, Natalie Buss, Grace Everett, Zachary Gardiner, Cassandra Gdovin, Silas Gross, Abigail Hall, Luke Hilkert, Lianna Horner, Alexis Kain, Ethan James Killinger, Tristan Edward Kline, Nicholas John Mahoney, Marlayna Marulanda-Rea, Laura Phillippy, John Robert, Lillian Scalia, Alexander Vrankin, Zakary Zanella, and Giovanni Zannino.
Each teen was given the opportunity to select one person as a mentor who has encouraged them to generously use their time and talents as a follower of Jesus. The mentors selected were parents, grandparents, music ministers, principals, youth ministers and pastors, all of whom have been role models of servant leadership as a way of life in their family, parish and community.
During the ceremony, the Sisters of Saints Cyril and Methodius also honored six adults with the Father Matthew Jankola Lifetime Servant Leadership Award. Father Jankola was a priest from the Diocese of Scranton who was instrumental in recognizing the need for religious Sisters to educate children, and founded the Sisters of Saints Cyril and Methodius in 1909.
The award is given to individuals who have demonstrated a lifetime commitment to servant leadership and have excelled in each area of the mission of the Sisters of Saints Cyril and Methodius: Evangelization, Education, Elder Care and Ecumenism. This year the Sisters presented the 2022 Father Matthew Jankola Lifetime Servant Leadership Award for Evangelization to Sister Jeanne Ambre, SS.C.M.; for Education to Joanne and Margaret Mary Stahura; for Elder Care to Frances Leiby; and for Ecumenism to Magdalen and Martha Iskra.
(Photo courtesy of the Sisters of Saints Cyril and Methodius.)
