Msgr. J. Gaston Hebert praised the work of volunteer Barbara Akins as an example for all Catholics to emulate.
Akins, a parishioner of St. Peter Church in Pine Bluff, was given the Daniel Rudd Memorial Award by the Diocesan Council for Black Catholics Jan. 12 during the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Mass at the Cathedral of St. Andrew. The award is given each year to a black Catholic who has devoted time to his or her community and parish. Rudd was a slave who lived in Kentucky and Ohio but eventually moved to Marion and established the first National Black Catholic Congress.
Akins, who attends Mass each morning, has served on the parish council and school board and been a lector and parish bookkeeper. Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 she located housing, furniture and food for evacuees. For three years she was interim director of the local Habitat for Humanity.
“She has truly been an example for others to follow,” said Phil Thierry, who shared the 2007 award with his wife Edwina. “She willingly accepts any and all responsibilities.”
Msgr. Hebert said he was impressed with Akins’ generosity to the Church.
“She laid down her life for the good of the Church. It gives me great pride to present this award to such a worthy sister in Christ,” he said.
The 19th annual Mass, held in memory of the well-known civil rights leader, featured a homily by Father Jeff Harvey, nephew of Father Warren Harvey of Pine Bluff. Father Jeff Harvey is a Vincentian priest assigned to a largely Hispanic parish, St. Vincent de Paul Church in Phoenix.
In a passionate sermon punctuated with jokes, singing, pop culture references and a few Amens, the priest reminded the congregation that Rev. King led the civil rights movement because of his calling to follow Jesus.
“This is the person Dr. King believed in — Jesus Christ,” Father Harvey said. “He trusted in God. … He trusted God while locked in a Birmingham jail. He trusted God when he led that march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., in 1965 …”
“Martin believed that God was greater. … God is greater than anything,” he said.
The social justice issues that King championed are still important.
“What Martin hungered for we must still hunger for and long for today …,” Father Harvey said. “Like Martin Luther King, we must have the audacity to hunger for and believe people everywhere can have food for their tired bodies, medicine and care for their broken bodies, education and culture for their minds, jobs and opportunities for their gifted hands.”
