Xaverian Brother Kevin Brendan Cunniff, who has spent 24 years serving youth through teaching and service in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, was presented with the Brotherhood Award Jan. 26 at the Annual Religious Brothers Mass & Award Presentation.

A native of Brookline, Mass., Brother Cunniff served many years in Maine, New Jersey and New York as a high school teacher, counselor and coach, and assisted in establishing pastoral councils at the parish level. At St. Pius X Regional High School in central New Jersey, he became involved with governmental programs involving at risk young people. He was a member of the Middlesex County Youth Board and a participant in the emerging "Scared Straight" program statewide.

In 1983, Brother Cunniff came to California and joined the Xaverian Community at Bishop Alemany High School in Mission Hills, where he has been a teacher, coach, retreat leader, counselor and assistant principal. Also in 1983, he began work as religious co-coordinator at Camp Louis Routh in Tujunga, and has continued to serve young Catholics at the camp.

"In this capacity," he said, "I have been blessed by the religious and personal testimony that the young men who are incarcerated have given me. I have also been blessed by the staff of the camp who are trying to be positive influences on the young people of Los Angeles."

Additionally, he has been a confirmation retreat leader and sponsor at Mary Immaculate Church in Pacoima and St. John Baptist De La Salle in Granada Hills; a member of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council; and a member of the San Fernando Valley Regional Council.

"The experiences on both councils provided me with a great opportunity to learn more about the archdiocese and the greatness of the people of God in the local Church," he said. "The opportunity to work with the dedicated staffs of these parishes has always been edification."

Trained in ESL while volunteering at M.E.N.D. in Pacoima during the "Amnesty" period, Brother Cunniff has worked in Echo Park and the San Gabriel Valley with community members from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, China, Vietnam and Cambodia. He has also traveled with refugee families who wanted to return "home" to find missing relatives or to revisit places from which they fled.

"In doing this," he said, "I have seen the need to establish a program whereby young people from the Pacific Rim will be able to share their culture, their religion and their history with others."

Last fall he traveled to northeast China and established contacts with the Catholic Action groups in two cities, hoping to eventually set up a "Pacific Rim Institute" where young people can study, live and pray together "to help to create a better world."