NEW YORK — For his support of the Armenian-American community, the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America has named Massachusetts Gov. Deval L. Patrick as its “Friend of the Armenians” for 2011. The award will be officially bestowed during the annual Diocesan Assembly, meeting this year in Boston, April 28-May 1.
“We are what we are because of our willingness to face horrors like the Armenian Genocide — and to use them as reminders of the best of what we are. And the best of what we want to be is founded in tolerance and understanding.”
The words were those of Patrick at the ceremonial groundbreaking and blessing of “Armenian Heritage Park” along the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, on September 9, 2010.
More than 1,000 people — Armenians from the Greater Boston area, leaders of the Armenian Church and national Armenian organizations, distinguished civic and municipal figures and elected officers — had turned out for the ceremony.
Patrick stood alongside the visiting Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II, referring to the gathered crowd as his “brothers and sisters,” as he offered his universal vision of human excellence grounded in tolerance and understanding.