The Catholic Business Network of Northern Virginia (CBN) hosted Jim Towey for a luncheon at Maggiano’s last Friday. Towey is assistant to the president of the United Sates and director of the White House Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives.

Appointed to his present position in 2002 by President George W. Bush, Towey reports directly to the president, advising him on church-state and compassion issues. In stressing to the attendees the need for business people to draw on their faith in the marketplace, Towey reflected on his work and friendship with Mother Teresa of Calcutta for whom he served as legal counsel for 12 years and saw firsthand her faith and compassion in action. His presentation stressed the importance of family, the importance of prayer in our lives and finding the time to pray, and the need for support of pro-life issues at the beginning and end of life.

Representing Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde at the luncheon, Father Frank Ready thanked Towey for his wise counsel and presented him with the diocesan coin which is inscribed with the patron saints of the diocese of Arlington, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and St. Thomas More.

Towey is the author of a planning document called "Five Ways" that today helps millions of families maintain human dignity at the end of life. In addressing the end of life issues at the luncheon, Towey noted that Mother Teresa’s mission to the elderly was to ease the pains of what she thought to be their greatest disease, that is, loneliness. Recognized for his support of those in need, not the least of which was his work in Mother Teresa’s Mexico mission and in her Washington, D.C., AIDS Home, Towey has received a myriad of honors including six honorary doctorates and an award from Pope John Paul II. Towey’s background also includes service as senior adviser to Republican U.S. Sen. Mark Hatfield and as Florida’s Secretary of the Agency of Health and Social Services under Democratic Gov. Lawton Chiles.

More than 125 people attended the luncheon. The Catholic Business Network is an active and growing organization that seeks to build business and professional relationships among its members and those who share similar faith and values. The CBN recognizes businesses and individuals who have supported Catholic Schools in exceptional ways. During the past decade more than $200,000 has been donated to the Arlington Diocese Catholic Schools and to a Student Scholarship Fund through an annual banquet conducted in the spring of the year.

For more information go to www.cbnnv.org or e-mail cbnnv@cbnnv.org.