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Alumnus Antonio "TJ" Martinez, SJ ’92, founding president of Cristo Rey Jesuit College Preparatory School in Houston, will be the featured speaker at Boston College’s 63rd annual Laetare Sunday celebration in Conte Forum on March 30.
The event, which marks the traditional mid-point of the Lenten season, will begin with a 9:30 a.m. Mass presided by University President William P. Leahy, SJ. A brunch will follow where Fr. Martinez – who holds a master of divinity degree and a master of theology degree from BC – will be presented with the University’s Alumni Ignatian Award in recognition of his service to others.
In 2009, Fr. Martinez launched Cristo Rey in Houston, part of the national Cristo Rey network of schools that combine a rigorous college prep program with a work-study program, exclusively serving children living at or below the poverty line. Last June, Cristo Rey in Houston graduated its first class, all of whom were accepted into college. In 2012, Houston's PaperCity magazine named him one of four "new influencers" in the city. In addition to his degrees from BC, Fr. Martinez has a law degree from the University of Texas and a graduate degree from Harvard University.
Tickets for the Laetare Sunday event are available through the Boston College Alumni Association at www.bc.edu/laetare or 617-552-4700.