Fordham University President Tania Tetlow received the Centennial Award from Commonweal Magazine at their Centennial Benefit Dinner on Oct. 28. The award is in honor of Commonweal’s 100th anniversary and in recognition of Tetlow’s work in leadership.
Commonweal, founded in 1924, is the oldest independent Catholic journal of opinion in the United States. Commonweal publishes a print magazine, produces podcasts and hosts live events, virtual events and community gatherings.
Commonweal Special Projects Editor Miles Doyle was consulted about the award’s history and meaning. “Since its founding in 1924, Commonweal has fostered rigorous discussion about faith, politics and arts and culture, centered on the common goal,” said Doyle. “To mark our anniversary, we are celebrating the place Commonweal has had in American letters and its influence on American Catholicism over the past 100 years while continuing to build on this extraordinary achievement in its second century.”
Commonweal and Fordham have history prior to Tetlow receiving this award. “Many current staff and board members are proud Fordham alumni, namely Editor Dominic Preziosi, Doyle, Commonweal board members Natalia Imperatori-Lee and John Kuster, current board chair Chris Lowney and chair emeritus Paul Saunders,” said Doyle. “Peter and Margaret O’Brien Steinfels, founders of the Fordham Center on Religion and Culture, were editors of Commonweal in the 1980s and ’90s, and Peter remains a board member.”
According to Doyle, Tetlow was chosen for this award due to her “lay leadership, her commitment to issues of social justice, her attention to forming the next generation of Catholics and all people of goodwill, and her spirit of knowledge-seeking and creativity.” Doyle also said, “President Tetlow is a model for Commonweal as it embarks on its second century of publication. Honoring her with the inaugural Centennial Award recognizes her years of service and pays tribute to the magazine’s long-held belief in the importance of laypeople in matters of faith and leadership.”
While Tetlow is the first to receive the Centennial Award, many others have received praise from Commonweal. Doyle cited the honoring of “luminaries whose impact has shaped the church and society as whole, including Mark Shields and Amy Goldman, John Sexton and Tim Shriver, Sr. Carol Keehan and John DeGoia, George Mitchell and Kerry Robinson.”
Tetlow shared how she was approached about receiving the award. “Chris Lowney [FCRH ’81, GSAS ’81], the chair of Commonweal’s board, is an alum whose book ‘Heroic Leadership’ is one of my favorite explanations of Jesuit principles,” she said. “He asked, so of course I said yes.”
Tetlow noted how her personal life has informed her values. “My mother was a biblical scholar who has fought her whole life for the inclusion of women in the church,” she said. “She taught me all the ways that Jesus paid particular attention and respect to women in ways radical at the time. This award made her proud.”
Tetlow’s acceptance speech highlighted her experiences as the first woman and layperson to lead Fordham.
“Commonweal helped pave the way for someone like me to lead Fordham,” Tetlow said. “To help us all understand that we need lay people to carry the mission of our institutions — because it has never been true that religious men and women carry it alone. Commonweal has helped teach lay people to take up this responsibility, this privilege, with our hearts and minds and spirits.”
