Patricia Campbell, a psychiatric nurse from County Tyrone and the president of the Independent Workers Union in Ireland received the Passion for Peace award at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Chestnut Hill on Sunday, March 22nd.
Campbell, who began her political activism over 30 years ago when she campaigned for political status for republican prisoners, has visited Palestine twice in 2004 and 2008 and campaigned on behalf of the Palestinian people.
In January 2015 she was part of a cross-community group from Northern Ireland invited to participate in an intensive seven-day trauma study trip to Palestine and Israel.
The award sponsored by the Episcopal Peace Fellowship in partnership with the Middle East Study Group began when Sabina Clarke approached the Very Reverend E. Clifford Cutler about sponsoring an event for Maryknoll priest and peace activist Roy Bourgeois, the founder of the SOA Watch.
Previous recipients of the Passion for Peace award are: 2010 Nobel Peace Prize nominee Roy Bourgeois; three time Nobel Prize Peace nominee author and peace activist Archbishop Elias Chacour and Kathy Bergen for her three decades of work in Ramallah, Middle East dedicated to peace and justice.
Co-sponsors of the first Passion for Peace award to Roy Bourgeois were the Society of Friends and the Catholic Peace Fellowship.
