Dr. Addie Lorraine Walker, SSND, associate professor and Founding Director of the Sankofa Institute for African American Pastoral Leadership at Oblate School of Theology, received the prestigious Beautiful Are Their Feet Award from the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference Feb. 19 during its annual meeting in Crystal City, Va.
The conference is an interreligious educational and social action organization that focuses on being aware of the poor, acting justly, loving tenderly and walking humbly with God. “It focuses more on how one should live the gospel, not so much on to preach it, but preaching it in such a way that people will become active and do something positive to improve society,” Sr. Addie explained.
Dr. Scott Woodward, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of OST, called the Beautiful Are Their Feet Award “most appropriate for Sr. Addie,” adding, “Living the gospel in a radical manner through the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience makes one’s feet beautiful even when covered with dust. Sr. Addie’s life is truly an example of this beauty. The dust from her feet is indeed holy ground.”
He noted that in New Orleans and Boston College, in leadership of the School Sisters of Notre Dame and at Oblate School of Theology, “Sr. Addie has consistently called all those around her to live the gospel, and she has provided witness that such living is possible,” he said.
Dr. J. Alfred Smith, chairman emeritus of the Sankofa Institute Council of Elders, called Sr. Addie “the epitome of Christ’s joy” and “a pioneering theological educator with holy laughter.” He commented that “Dr. Walker’s whole life of prayer tangibly expresses itself in a robust faith that reflects the authentic gospel of love beating in her heart, compassion glistening in her human eyes, truth pouring forth from her human lips and mercy manifested with her human hands. The joy of the Lord is her strength,” he said. “Sr. Addie is most deserving of this Beautiful Are Their Feet recognition by the Samuel De Witt Proctor Conference for 2020.”
Dr. Walker said that being people of God means caring about the poor, the elderly, the unborn and the imprisoned. “You can’t say you’re pro-life and not care about the people in prison, the homeless, the elderly or people in cages at the border; that’s nonsense. We have to have people involved in their neighborhoods and their communities,” she said.
She said leaders of the Proctor Conference consider the Sankofa Institute “phenomenal” as a Catholic institution serving needs of Protestant churches. She added that she’s been asked how she knew Sankofa would work. “I didn’t even know that was a question. I never thought it wouldn’t work. It was God’s timing,” she explained. One example is that the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Texas had been wondering how to provide seminary education for ministers without having to send candidates to seminaries on the East and West coasts. Sankofa solved that problem for them.
Dr. Walker also received a Legacy Award Jan. 19 at the city’s 33rd Annual MLK Commission Inter-faith Worship Service at Laurel Heights United Methodist Church.
She was keynote speaker at the event, which honors the memory of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In 2013, the Sankofa Institute was inaugurated under her leadership to provide education for people aspiring to minister to African Americans. She has fostered unity and diversity through the program, initiating dialogue with religious leaders in the African American community and inviting numerous partners to collaborate in building the program.