CONGRATULATIONS FATHER RICHARD JAMES CONYERS, C.S.C., ON RECEIVING THE INAUGURAL "SPIRIT OF NOTRE DAME" AWARD
WHEREAS, on Saturday, April 13, 2019, Father Richard James Conyers, C.S.C., will be honored with the inaugural "Spirit of Notre Dame Award", at the 28th Annual Notre Dame College Prep Spirit Gala, in recognition of his exceptional service during his fifty years of priesthood; and
WHEREAS, the Chicago City Council has been informed of this special occasion by the Honorable Margaret Laurino, Alderman of the 39th Ward; and
WHEREAS, Father Conyers was born to Richard and Rita Boyle Conyers on October 7, 1942 at Holy Cross Hospital on the south side of Chicago. The Conyers family later settled in Round Lake, Illinois in 1946;and
WHEREAS, Father Conyers was the second of four children and he fondly recalls a simply and blessed childhood with siblings Carolyn, Colette, and Bill. His father was a union tradesman, an expert at painting, decoration and carpentry and his mother was a school teacher; and
WHEREAS, Father Conyers was drawn to his vocation at a very early age. As an eight-year-old boy, he would often make the long two-mile walk to serve at a Holy Hour for Peace. "I felt the call, even then" he says; and
WHEREAS, Father Conyers was also strongly influenced by two aunts on his mother's side: Sister Rita Cecile Boyle, who served many years at Regina Dominican Prep School in Wilmette, and Sister Ellenita Boyle, O.P., who taught first grade and served as a principal of multiple schools in the Chicago area. He also counts his grandparents, who lived in the Mt. Greenwood neighborhood of Chicago,, as being particularly influential in the development of his faith; and
WHEREAS, as a young boy, Father Conyers received his early education at St. Gilbert's school in Grayslake, Illinois and then later at St. Joseph School in Round Lake. In 1956, when it was time for high school, Father Bill McAuliffe, C.S.C., suggested that Father Conyers attend a Vocation Workshop at H...
Click here for full text