The University of St. Thomas Center for Faith and Culture hosted the first Archbishop Joseph A. Fiorenza Lecture and Faithful Citizen Award Oct. 4 in Houston.

Receiving the Faithful Citizen Award was Joe Tortorice, Jr., president and CEO of Deli Management Inc. Tortorice is the founder of Jason’s Deli and is also a St. Anthony Cathedral Basilica, Beaumont, parishioner. The award is given to persons who are led by the Holy Spirit and who manifest the incarnate love of God for this world in their lives and actions as Catholics.

Tortorice has put his faith into practice personally and professionally. Through the Jason’s Deli Fishing School, named for the “teach a man to fish, and he’ll eat for a lifetime” expression, his company takes hourly workers without a college degree and turns them into managers, equaling one-third of the Jason’s Deli management team.

He attributes his success to the people he has served, namely his employees. He calls his business philosophy “servant leadership,” which means doing more for employees than just paying them well. Joe continues to foster a culture of encouragement, humility, gratitude, generosity, accountability and commitment. He considers employees’ lives away from work with their families an integral part of their contribution to the company, and has endorsed a 48-hour work week with two consecutive days off, something unheard of in the industry.

John L. Allen, Jr., senior correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter and senior Vatican analyst for CNN, delivered the keynote speech of the evening, Religious Freedom: Its Roots in Catholic Thought and its Place in Vatican Diplomacy. You can listen to the keynote on the TCC Audio Archive or  TCC iTunes Podcast. Allen is the author of six best-selling books on the Vatican and Catholic affairs.

(Article originally published Diocese of Beaumont's East Texas Catholic newspaper)