Governor presents Freedom Award to Father Kenneth Taylor for community advocacy

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, right, presented a 2010 Freedom Award to Father Kenneth Taylor, third from right, during a Jan. 14 ceremony at the Indiana Statehouse. State Rep. Matthew Bell, R-Avilla, left, and Clayton Graham, second from left, also participated in the award presentation. Father Taylor is the pastor of Holy Angels Parish in Indianapolis and director of the archdiocesan Office of Multicultural Ministry. (Submitted photo/courtesy Governor’s Office)

By Mary Ann Wyand

Father Kenneth Taylor certainly wasn’t expecting to receive a 2010 Freedom Award on Jan. 14 from Gov. Mitch Daniels at the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis.

The community service award from the State of Indiana and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Commission recognizes citizens who break down barriers that divide people.

The pastor of Holy Angels Parish in Indianapolis and director of the archdiocesan Office of Multicultural Ministry has been active in Church and community advocacy efforts since he was ordained to the priesthood 31 years ago.

He also ministered at St. Monica, St. Thomas Aquinas, Holy Trinity and St. Michael the Archangel parishes in Indianapolis as well as the former St. Bridget Parish in Indianapolis.

“Breaking down barriers is something that continually needs to be taught and continually needs to happen,” Father Taylor said. “The one thing that is different from the time of Dr. Martin Luther King is that we’re not living in a society that is just black and white anymore.

“It’s a multicultural situation that we find ourselves in,” he said, “and we have to learn how to get along with a variety of people. That is as much of a challenge today as it was fighting the segregation in the day of Martin Luther King.”

It’s important and necessary to celebrate multicultural differences in society, he said, rather than fear or avoid them in cities and neighborhoods.

“I think part of the recognition [for the award] was that as an African-American Catholic priest in this diocese that in itself has broken down a number of barriers,” Father Taylor said. “Since we don’t have that many African-American priests in the archdiocese, either now or historically, I think what I’ve been able to do as an ordained priest in the diocese was part of it beyond my multicultural ministry involvement.”

Scripture reminds people to love one another, he said, and help one another.

“I think that we’ve had the vision set before us by Pentecost where the Church, the faith community, is supposed to be inclusive of all people, no matter where they come from,” Father Taylor said. “That vision is reinforced in [the Book of] Revelation when we get the vision of the throng of people before the throne of God, and every people, nation, race and tongue are represented there. That vision, I think, is what we’re all called to work to as Church, as [members of] any faith community and as neighbors.”

He said the civil rights movement during the 1960s influenced his calling to the priesthood.

“I was in school during the height of the civil rights movement and observing all that was going on,” Father Taylor said. “I saw that the Church played a major role in the promotion of civil rights, and the end of segregation, separateness and division. That was very much a part of my motivation toward priesthood because I wanted to be a part of the Church in order to be a part of this change that was taking place in our society and our nation.” †