Pastor William Purdy, right, hears the Muhlenberg Award announcement. Also shown is benefactor and friend, Sir Thomas Moore. Pastor Purdy during presentation of the Muhlenberg Award. LTSP President Philip D. W. Krey is at left. Metropolitan New York Synod Bishop Stephen Bouman, right, applauds the honoree. Celebrating with the honoree after the ceremony are, from left, Seminary President Philip Krey, Sir Thomas Moore, Pastor Purdy, Sarah Chapin Langham, and Seminary Development Director Glenn Miller. Moore and Langham are leaders for the Laurence Levine Charitable Fund, Inc., which generously supports Pastor Purdy's hospice ministry. Purdy with the Muhlenberg Medal: "I am so grateful to be honored as a parish pastor in this way," he said.

New York hospice chaplain receives
Muhlenberg Award from LTSP

The Rev. William Purdy has spent more than 20 years offering comfort and bereavement solace to victims of AIDS and life-threatening illnesses and their families

MELVILLE, NY (May 21, 2005) - The Rev. William A. Purdy, manager of bereavement services for New York City's largest hospice program and interim pastor at Christ Lutheran Church, Flushing, NY, was awarded the Henry Melchior Muhlenberg Medal for Exemplary service today. The Medal, conferred annually by The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP), is designed to salute and thank recipients for model service in how they preach and teach the gospel faithfully.

Pastor Purdy received the award in a brief ceremony during the afternoon plenary of the Metropolitan New York Synod assembly here. He is responsible for the Continuum Hospice program's bereavement outreach, serves as chaplain to grieving persons and interprets the mission of hospice to the community. He supervises a staff of six persons and has been handling about 1,700 bereavement cases annually in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. He's also developed the endowment fund for the hospice program. Pastor Purdy is also providing interim ministry weekends to the Flushing congregation.

During his career Pastor Purdy has served in a variety of capacities. During 2003 he taught "Ethics in Health Care" at Molloy College in Rockville Centre, NY. In the late 1990s he served as assistant director of pastoral care for the HIP Foundation of New York, working with chaplains, neighborhood clergy and volunteers to assure spiritual care in hospitals in five boroughs on Long Island. From 1989 to 1995 he was director of pastoral care for the Village Center for Care in New York City. In that capacity he supervised an interfaith staff of chaplains and chaired ethics committees at a geriatric residency as well as at a related AIDS home-health-care service in New York's Manhattan. He provided end-of-life pastoral care for residents and directed bereavement counseling services for families and staff.

Pastor Purdy has served as pastor of congregations in Brooklyn and Manhattan, Munich, Germany and Miami, FL. While working as a parish pastor in New York, he set up a soup kitchen and shelter for the homeless. He also established a drop-in center to provide counseling, food, clothing and housing referrals. Pastor Purdy has also served as headmaster and for a Lutheran parochial school in Brooklyn.

"With growing concern for persons with AIDS and the physical and spiritual well-being of those facing other life-threatening illnesses, this pastor has spent more than 20 years training caregivers and chaplains to assure spiritual care for patients and families," said LTSP President Philip D. W. Krey in announcing the award. "He is a testament to the importance of continuing one's education. His numerous articles and continued training to health professionals on end-of-life issues has provided comfort to the aging, HIV-AIDS patients and to those who grieve. How important that is in a time where we struggle with life support issues."

The honoree earned a Master of Sacred Theology degree from Union theological Seminary in New York City and his M.Div. degree from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. He earned his B.A. degree from Capital University, Columbus, OH.