Fr. Maurice Is First Religious Priest to Receive the Award

Redemptorist Fr. Maurice Nutt has been inducted into the 2022 Class of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Board of Preachers at Morehouse College in Atlanta. A private historically black men’s liberal arts college, Morehouse is the alma mater of celebrated civil rights leaders Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Julian Bond, as well as several icons in the sports and entertainment industries, notably Donn Clendenon, Samuel L. Jackson and Spike Lee. Fr. Maurice joins an elite international group of scholars and preachers from various denominations and all walks of faith who have been inducted in the Board of Preachers. This wide array of leaders from diverse global, spiritual and ethical traditions exhibit a commitment and promise of using their religious positions of leadership to promote peace, tolerance, interfaith understanding, healing, reconciliation, nonviolence, moral cosmopolitan social progress, agapeic justice and care for the ecosystem.

Past recipients include only a handful of Catholics, most notably Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the first African American Cardinal in the history of the Roman Catholic Church who serves as Archbishop of Washington, DC. As the first religious priest to receive the award, Fr. Maurice said, “I am incredibly honored and humbled. I accept this award on behalf of my beloved confreres in the worldwide Redemptorist Congregation who preach the Good News, especially to the poor and to those who seek God’s healing mercy.”

Participants in the 2022 Class of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Board of Preachers induction ceremony on October 13, 2022.