Title
To honor and recognize Father Larry Rice upon his retirement as the Director of the St. Thomas More Newman Center and thank him for his service to The Ohio State University and the Columbus community.
Body
WHEREAS, Father Larry Rice has served as the Director of the St. Thomas More Newman Center, the center for Catholic Campus Ministry at The Ohio State University for the past 20 years; and
WHEREAS, leading a staff of 14, Father Rice has worked to further an integrated vision of Campus Ministry that is based on the Paulist Fathers' core mission of Evangelization, Reconciliation, Ecumenism and Interfaith Dialogue to more than 12,000 students at the largest university in the United States; and
WHEREAS, Father Rice earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in General Arts and Sciences from the Pennsylvania State University and his Masters of Divinity from the Catholic University of America. He entered the Missionary of St. Paul the Apostle (the Paulist Fathers) in 1983 and was ordained a priest in 1989; and
WHEREAS, prior to assuming the leadership at the St. Thomas More Newman Center, Father Rice served with the Catholic Information Center in Toronto, Ontario, the Church of the Good Shepherd in New York City and as the associate director of ITP/Paulist Communications/Paulist Media Works in Washington, D.C.; and
WHEREAS, Father Rice's expertise includes communications training, consulting, crisis communications management, strategic planning, and technology for ministry. He was a featured presenter at the Ohio Council of Churches Ministries Convocation, speaking on "The Digital Parish: Tools and Best Practices for Technology in Church; and
WHEREAS, since becoming Director of the St. Thomas More Newman Center, Father Rice's foremost accomplishments include the establishment of the Newman's Catholic-Muslim Dialogue Group to promote interfaith dialogue and the Blue Christmas Mass for people living with depression or struggling with a loss during the holidays; and
WHEREAS, Father Rice is active in the Columbus community, serves as a board member of Neighborhood Services, Inc. and was instrumental in the Newman Center becoming a member of BREAD-Building Responsibility, Equality and Dignity; and
WHEREAS, Father Rice is a member of the Catholic Campus Ministry Association, the Ohio Council of Churches Faith and Order Commission, and the Columbus Diocese's Ecumenical Commission. He was an elected Delegate to the 2006 Paulist Fathers General Assembly (General Chapter) and the Paulist Fathers General Council beginning in May 2010. In 2009, he was awarded the "Excellence in Interfaith Dialogue" by the Scioto Educational Foundation; and
WHEREAS, Father Rice served as President of the University Interfaith Association and was a member of the planning committee for the meditation room at the new Ohio Union. He is also a member of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem; and
WHEREAS, Father Rice will be retiring as the Director of the St. Thomas More Newman Center on June 4th to serve as First Consultant of the Paulist Fathers in New York City; now, therefore
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS:
That we do hereby honor and recognize Father Larry Rice upon his retirement as the Director of the St. Thomas More Newman Center and thank him for his service to The Ohio State University and the Columbus community.