Labor leaders Sweeney and Powell receive “Roving Ambassador for Peace” award

Posted By: February 15, 2017

World Peace Prize Awards
Labor leaders Sweeney and Powell receive “Roving Ambassador for Peace” award


Mrs. Maureen Sweeney, Barbara Flaherty, Elizabeth Powell, Fr. Sean Mc Manus and John Sweeney

CAPITOL HILL. Tuesday, February 14, 2017——A Seoul, South Korea –based World Peace Award was presented in Washington, DC on Tuesday, February 14 to two distinguished Labor leaders.

President-Emeritus John Sweeney, AFL-CIO, and Ms. Elizabeth Powell, Secretary-Treasurer of the American Postal Workers Union were presented with the” Roving Ambassador for Peace” award.
The ceremony took place at the AFL-CIO headquarters, on the eighth floor, overlooking the White House.

The Awards were presented by Fr. Sean Mc Manus, President of the Capitol Hill-based Irish National Caucus and Chief Judge of the Word Peace Prize, and by Barbara Flaherty, Executive Vice President of the Irish National Caucus and Corporate Manager of the World Peace Prize.

Fr. Mc Manus said: “Mr. Sweeney and Ms. Powell were selected as the 2016 recipients of this Award because of their life-long dedication to social justice and fair employment—the very foundation of peace because peace is the fruit of justice. Those who work for justice are, therefore, the real peace workers.”

Barbara Flaherty said: “It was a joy and a blessing to confer this honor on Ms. Powell and Mr. Sweeney, both most worthy recipients. It was, indeed, a very special event. We are most grateful for President Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO, graciously putting his headquarters at our disposal.”

The Leader and Master Planner of the World Peace Prize movement is Rev. Dr. Han Min Su in Seoul. Dr. Han, who is a Presbyterian Minister, has been the driving force behind the World Peace Prize since he launched it in 1989. He was unable to attend but sent a Delegation of three people— one of whom, Ms. Hwang Seo Eun, read Dr. Han’s statement. The other two members of the Delegation were Ms. Kim Sung Sim and Mr. Lim Ki Taeg.

Fr. Mc Manus concluded: “All of this is due to the visionary leadership of Dr. Han. We are proud to help in any way we can, and we are inspired by his vision of world peace. We are honored to serve on the International and Inter-Faith board, which consists of representatives of all the nine major religions of the world: Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Catholicism, Protestantism, Russian Orthodox, and Zoroastrianism.”