The Canterbury Medal Dinner
The Canterbury Medal is the Becket Fund’s highest honor. It recognizes courage in the defense of religious liberty and is named for Canterbury Cathedral, where Thomas à Becket was martyred by the knights of King Henry II for his own defense of religious freedom. The Canterbury Medal is thus given annually to one “who has resolutely and publicly refused to render to Caesar that which is God’s.”
The Canterbury Medal Dinner honors the year’s medalist and also serves as a place where the work of The Becket Fund shines. The dinner is prominently attended by religious leaders of all faiths as well as by a wide variety of public figures and members of the press.
Over the years we’ve awarded the Canterbury Medal to many accomplished allies in the fight to keep religion alive in the public square. Here is a list of Canterbury Medalists since the honor was first given in 1997.
- 2012 Kevin “Seamus” Hasson, Founder and President Emeritus of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
- 2011 Eric Metaxas, New York Times bestselling author of Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy
- 2010 Robert P. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, Princeton University
- 2009 Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, Archdiocese of Denver
- 2008 Governor & Mrs. Mitt Romney
- 2007 Carl A. Anderson, Knights of Columbus
- 2006 Dr. John (Jack) Templeton, Templeton Foundation
- 2005 James R. Nicholson, Secretary of Veterans Affairs (then)
- 2004 The John F. & Rhodora J. Donahue Family (Federated Investors)
- 2003 Mary Ann Glendon, Learned Hand Professor of Law (then), U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See (2008)
- 2002 Foster Friess, Friess Associates
- 2001 Charles W. Colson, Prison Fellowship
- 2000 Rabbi Ronald B. Sobel, Temple Emanu-El, NYC (retired)
- 1999 Ted Forstmann, Forstmann & Little
- 1998 Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor & Nobel Laureate
- 1997 Bret Schundler, Mayor of Jersey City (former)
Faces in the Canterbury crowd (from top left): Foster Friess, John Templeton, Seamus Hasson (appears throughout), Eric Metaxas, C. Boyden Gray, Mary Ann Glendon, Seamus Hasson, Seamus Hasson, Foster Friess; (from bottom left) William F. Buckley, Chuck Colson, Ann Corkery, Rabbi Ronald B. Sobel, and Seamus Hasson.
