Page 8 - AACL 25th anniversary

Anniversary Celebration of
Albanian American Civic League
SPEAKERS
BISHOP DODË GJERGJI, born in Kosova in 1963, has been the Roman Catholic Bishop in the Diocese of Prizren, Kosova, since 2006. Previously, from 2000 to 2005, he was the Apostolic Administrator of the Roman Catholic Diocese in Sapë, Albania, and appointed as its Bishop by Pope Benedict XVI before he was transferred to Kosova a year later. On November 28, 2007, Bishop Gjergji participated in an Albanian Interfaith Prayer Service at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan, with the late Cardinal Egan presiding. Designed by the Albanian American Foundation to celebrate Albanian Independence Day and to recognize the tenth anniversary of Mother Teresa’s death, the service also included Rabbi Amiel Wohl of Temple Israel in New Rochelle, New York; Imam Tahir Kukaj of the Albanian Islamic Cultural Center in Staten Island, New York; Fr. Pjeter Popaj of Our Lady of Shkodra Church in Hartsdale, New York; and Joe and Shirley DioGuardi of the Albanian American Foundation. Bishop Gjergji led the effort to construct a Roman Catholic Cathedral of Mother Teresa in the heart of Kosova’s capital, Prishtina, fulfilling the original plan of the late Bishop Marc Sopi. Like Bishop Sopi, who died in 2006, Bishop Gjergji was an outspoken supporter of Kosova’s independence until its recognition in 2008. The cathedral, which opened in 2010 on the 100th anniversary of Mother Teresa’s birth as an Albanian in what is now Macedonia, is also engaged in extensive community outreach, including food kitchens, development projects, the Don Bosco Social and Educational Centre, a vocational school run by the Salesians, and active involvement with other religious and ethnic groups in Kosova.
H.E. FERIT HOXHA is the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Albania to the United Nations, a position that he has held since 2009. At the UN, he has been actively involved in the reform of the United Nations Development System, and in 2014, he sponsored with B’nai B’rith International a program on the Albanian rescue of Europe’s Jews at the UN observance of International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Ambassador Hoxha has been active in foreign affairs and international relations since 1991, when he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Albania. He served as Counsellor to the Mission of Albania to the United Nations in 1995; Director for Multilateral Relations at the Albanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1996 to 1998; Ambassador to the European Union from 1998 to 2001, as well as to Belgium and Luxembourg from 2000 to 2001; Ambassador to France from 2001 to 2006 and also Ambassador to Portugal, Algeria, and Andorra while residing in Paris. He served as Secretary General of Albania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2006 to 2009 and also as National Coordinator for the Alliance of Civilizations and as Albania’s Governor to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors. Hoxha was awarded the Dignity of Grand Officer of the French National Order of Merit. He holds a degree in French language and civilization from the University of Tirana in Albania, and has attended the Netherlands Institute of International Relations in The Hague, the Center of International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park, and has studied management at Georgetown University.
CONGRESSWOMAN GRACE MENG is serving her second term in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing the Sixth Congressional District of New York in the west, central, and northeast parts of the borough of Queens. Grace is the first Asian-American Member of Congress from New York, and the first female Member from Queens since former Vice Presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro was elected to the House in 1978. Grace serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and its Subcommittees on the Middle East and North Africa and Asia and the Pacific. She also serves on the House Small Business Committee, where she is the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Contracting and Workforce and a member of the Subcommittee on Agriculture, Energy and Trade. Her first major legislative effort, to allow federal disaster funds to be used for rebuilding houses of worship damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Sandy, passed the House just six weeks after she was sworn in as a Member. She also authored and secured the passage of several other important bills, including one that reduced the massive backlog of veterans’ disability claims; legislation, in the wake of the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, that seeks to better protect US diplomats serving overseas; and a measure that aims to create college financial aid applications in foreign languages spoken by Queens residents. Prior to serving in Congress, Grace was a member of the New York State Assembly. Born in Elmhurst, Queens, and raised in the Bayside section of the borough, Grace graduated from Stuyvesant High School and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She then earned a law degree from Yeshiva University’s Benjamin Cardozo School of Law. Prior to entering public service, Grace worked as a public interest lawyer. She resides in Queens with her husband, Wayne, and two sons, Tyler and Brandon.
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Saluting Albanian Religious Tolerance in an Age of Intolerance