Recognized Inner City Icon, Rev. Dr. Cecil "Chip" Murray, to Address Holy Name of Jesus School Children in South Central Los Angeles on Monday, February 23 during Black History Month Celebration

    LOS ANGELES, CA, February 21, 2015 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Holy Name of Jesus School is pleased to announce that Inner City, African-American, Religious Icon Rev. Dr. Cecil "Chip" Murray will be addressing the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th Grade classes at Holy Name of Jesus School on Monday, Feb. 23, 2015 as part of the School's Black History Month Celebration.

Dr. Murray, who recently joined the Board at Holy Name of Jesus School, is the John R. Tansey Chair of Christian Ethics in the School of Religion at the University of Southern California, a senior fellow of the Center for Religion and Civic Culture and chairs the USC Cecil Murray Center for Community Engagement.

During his 27 years as a pastor, Rev. Murray transformed a small congregation of 250 into an 18,000 person church with multi-million dollar community and economic development programs that brought jobs, housing, and corporate investment into many South Los Angeles neighborhoods.

This coming together of two faith traditions is viewed by many as a precedence setting event; an African-American, Evangelical Pastor speaking to a group of Catholic School Children in a Catholic Church at a parochial school. But for the staff and students at Holy Name of Jesus this coming together is not a surprise so much as a statement of faith. "For me ecumenism is a priority" Pope Francis told Vatican Insider and Italian newspaper La Stampa and Pope Francis' call is coming to life at this inner-city Catholic school.

"We are truly blessed to have Rev. Dr. Murray address our students," remarked School Principal Marva Belisle. "We may belong to different churches, but we are one in the spirit. We are very blessed to have him on our board."

The Holy Name of Jesus Catholic School serves poverty level inner city K-8 children in the South Central area of Los Angeles, California. Though deeply challenged by poverty and crime, the children of Holy Name of Jesus Catholic School exceed both the state and national academic performance with more than 85% going on to college.

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