Episcopalian, Mezacapa, wins Medal of Honor

Every year, the mayor of Rochester, Ardell Brede, presents members of the Rochester community with Medals of Honor. Recently, one of our own - the Rev. Nicklas Mezacapa - was surprised to be among a group of sixteen to receive an award at this year's awards luncheon.

Mezacapa, who thought he had been invited simply to say a prayer at the beginning of lunch, was actually the recipient of the Diversity Award. Asked about it later, he said, "The only time I've ever been more surprised was when my wife said yes.... I feel like a pretty fortunate guy."

As a kid growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, and later while attending seminary under the instruction of a professor who also taught Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Mezacapa says that issues of diversity have "just always been with me." He brought that awareness with him to Rochester, where, "It has only been in the last 20 years or so that issues of diversity have been coming to the fore.... That's why a couple of years ago I initiated an effort to get people from different backgrounds to come together in a public forum and describe their experiences - to talk about what it feels like to come into Rochester, MN and what they believe they can contribute to help move it forward."

This initiative, called New Neighborhood One, is just one of the reasons that Mayor Brede believed Mezacapa deserved the Mayor's Medal for Diversity. Mezacapa has said that he's honored to receive such an award - that there are others in the community who have also done wonderful things in support of diversity - and that the support he has gotten from the community has been important to him.

He says, "It's one of the reasons I'm an Episcopalian - because we can get together and do these kinds of things." Congratulations, Nick!