DIOCESAN NEWS
04/13/07
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Timely Topics welcomes
Alberto Mora as speaker
JACKSON — Alberto Mora, former parishioner and a graduate of Jackson St. Richard and Madison St. Joseph schools, will be the guest speaker at Timely Topics Sunday, April 22, at 9:15 a.m. in St. Richard Parish Foley Hall. His theme will be “Weakening America: Use of Cruelty in the War on Terror.” 
Mora is a 2006 recipient of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award, vice-president and general counsel for the International Department of the Wal-Mart Stores Inc., and former general counsel to the Department of the Navy.
The son of Cuban and Hungarian parents, Mora earned his bachelor’s degree with honors at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, and obtained a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Miami School of Law, where he served as editor-in-chief of the Lawyer of the Americas, The University of Miami Journal of International Law.
He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and is proficient in Spanish, Portuguese and French.
Since leaving the Navy, Mora has received international recognition for his efforts, while serving as Navy General Counsel, to prevent the abuse of detainees in U.S. custody at Guantánamo Bay and elsewhere and for his opposition to the legal reasoning that sought to justify officially the abusing treatment.
In May 2006, Mora was awarded the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation’s Profile in Courage Award in recognition of these efforts.
During his remarks at the presentation of the award, Mora told those present:
“For over four years I had the privilege of serving as Navy General Counsel, where I worked with men and women who embody real courage. They were easy to spot because they wore the uniform of the Navy or Marines or of the other services.
“By now, most have served in the battlefields of the Middle East. Many have been there more than once and many bear the scars of combat.
“Despite the name of the award you give me today, I want you to know I have difficulty applying the same word of distinction to my actions. When I hear the word ‘courage,’ I think of them.”
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