Bert Womack receives 2002 Perry Award

A retired Denver priest has been honored by the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest for crafting a "thirty-year ministry with insight, strength, gentleness and warmth."

The Rev. Bert Womack, Jr., founder of the St. Francis Center for the homeless and assistant to three Colorado Episcopalian bishops, received the Hal Perry Award from the seminary during its recent reunion convocation. Womack was lauded for being a "tireless advocate for all the marginalized of society, especially the homeless, emissary from the Kingdom of God during times of crisis, and compassionate counselor to scores of clergy," in the citation that accompanied the award.

Womack came to the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado in the mid-1970s and soon created the downtown St. Francis Center. The Episcopal Church honored Womack, who directed St. Francis from 1978 to 1994, by naming the center its first Jubilee Center in the country. Jubilee centers are places of exemplary ministry that often serve the marginalized of society.

A 1968 graduate of the seminary in Austin, Womack was canon to the ordinary - a post similar to an executive vice president - for three Colorado bishops: the Rt. Revs. William Frey, William Wolfrum and Jerry Winterrowd, the current bishop.

The Perry Award is given annually to a graduate of the Seminary of the Southwest to recognize outstanding and faithful ministry.

The full text of Womack's award citation reads:

"Tireless advocate for all the marginalized of society, especially the homeless, emissary from the Kingdom of God during times of crisis, and compassionate counselor to scores of clergy, you crafted a thirty-year ministry with insight, strength, gentleness and warmth.

"A native Texan, you served in your birth diocese of Texas after graduating from the Seminary of the Southwest in 1968. You left Christ Cathedral, Houston, in the mid-1970s to come to the Diocese of Colorado where your ministry flourished in Denver. Your belief in justice fueled by boundless energy launched the St. Francis Center, a day shelter for the homeless where you modeled the servanthood of the baptismal covenant for laity and clergy alike. Your vision was celebrated when the Episcopal Church named St. Francis its first Jubilee Center.

"As you directed St. Francis from 1978 to 1994, you also served part-time as Canon to the Ordinary for three Colorado bishops, a post that became full-time, in addition to being clergy deployment officer. Colorado clergy fondly remember you as the calm, gentle voice of reason and compassion, truly gifted in the art of listening, and adept at forging controversy into reconciliation.

"As we rejoice tonight in presenting you the Hal Brook Perry Award, we recall the words of Jean Giono who wrote - "For a human character to reveal truly exceptional qualities, one must have the good fortune to be able to observe its performance over many years. If this performance is devoid of all egoism, if its guiding motive is unparalleled generosity, if it is absolutely certain that there is no thought of recompense and that, in addition, it has left its visible mark upon the earth, then there can be no mistake."

Colorado Reunion at ETSS -- Colorado seminarians and a graduate with Bert and Joanne Womack during Alumni/ae Convocation. Pictured from left, Scott Hollenbeck, Warren Hicks, Cass Strotheide, Torey Lightcap, Tim Thaden, Joanne Womack, the Rev. Michael Richardson and the Rev. Bert Womack