NEWS RELEASE                                                                                                         

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact: Rick Banales, Communications/Social Media Director, ICUJP, [email protected]

Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace celebrates its 25^th anniversary with our Rev. George F. Regas Courageous Peacemaker Awards, Sunday, September 27^th, 2:00 – 4:00 pm, All Saints Episcopal Church, Pasadena, CA

Pasadena, CA, 09/01/2026 – In commemoration of Interfaith Communities United for Peace’s 25 years of work seeking an alternative to the fearmongering and vengefulness sweeping much of our nation, we are proud to hold our 2026 Rev. George F. Regas Courageous Peacemaker Awards at All Saints Episcopal Church on Sunday, September 27th, 2:00 – 4:00 pm.  

The theme of this year’s event is Looking Forward, Looking Back; 25 years of ICUJP, and we will pay tribute to  the following remarkable activists at our event hosted by Mimi Kennedy:

·       Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories

·       Stephen Rohde, constitutional lawyer, lecturer, writer and political activist

·       The Late Father Chris Ponnet, Director St. Camillus Center for Spiritual Care/LAC+USC Medical Center

·       Bishop John Taylor, former Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of Los Angeles

·       Rick Steves, travel writer, activist, and host of Rick Steves' Europe on PBS

·       And local activist organization Pasadena For Palestine

Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace has Board members and staff available for quotes and interviews.

ICUJP exists because of an extraordinary peace advocate - the late Rev. George F. Regas. In the days after 9/11, the former rector of All Saints Episcopal Church, Pasadena brought together Buddhist, Christian, Islamic, Jewish, Quaker, and other faith leaders and activists in Los Angeles to oppose the forces pressing for war and its devastating consequences. In his honor, every year we have recognized the work of other Peace advocates through the George F. Regas Courageous Peacemaker Awards.  Previous recipients have included Rev. Desmond Tutu, Black Lives Matter - Los Angeles, Rev. James Lawson, Housing Works, NewGround: A Muslim-Jewish Partnership for Change, The Poor People’s Campaign, Dolores Huerta, and the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.

Please visit our website ( https://www.icujp.org/ ), or contact Communications/Social Media Director Rick Banales at [email protected] for further information.