LEWISTON – The 2004 William Stringfellow Awards for Justice and Peace will be presented to Bates junior Gregory Rosenthal of Schenectady, N.Y., and the Greene-based Maine Center for Justice, Ecology and Democracy this week.

The awards recognize the achievement of a Maine citizen and of a Bates College student who have dedicated their lives and work to the promotion of peace and justice.

The presentation will be held at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 31, in Chase Hall Lounge at Bates College on Campus Avenue.

The center is a group of activists, organizers, farmers and artists working for social, ecological and economic justice locally and globally. Based at the Clark Mountain Sanctuary in Greene, the group operates a small organic farm and lives in a way that ties political activism to sustainability and ecology.

JED-supported projects and organizations during the past two years include Lots to Gardens of Downtown Lewiston, Maine Solidarity Delegation to Brazil 2003, the Many and One Coalition, the Lewiston Time Dollar Network and the Maine Fair Trade Campaign.

Gregory Rosenthal spent a year at the California Institute of Art studying music composition and uncovering connections between Taoism and music, sound and listening. He will travel to China in the fall to continue his study.

In early March, he designated a tree on the historic quadrangle as The Tree of Peace and asked members of the Bates community to leave religious objects or other symbols at its base in remembrance of those who have died in the war in Iraq.

He is a member of the New World Coalition and the Environmental Coalition and performs with the Bates gamelan ensemble, an Indonesian instrumental group, and Northfield, a shape-note singing group.

Also Wednesday, family physician and author David Hilfiker will present the annual William Stringfellow Lecture in Justice and Peace at 6:30 p.m. in Chase Hall Lounge. His topic is “The Triumph of Hope Over Fear.” The lecture honors the legacy of William Stringfellow, Bates class of 1949, a lawyer and lay theologian prominent in the American peace movement.

At 4:30 p.m. in Chase Hall, he will present “Inward Journey, Outward Journey: A Physician’s Story of Accompanying and Being Accompanied by the Poor.” It is part of the series “Spiritual Journeys: Stories of the Soul 2003-04.”

Hilfiker is founder of the Washington, D.C.-based Joseph House for formerly homeless men living with HIV/AIDS.

Both events are open to the public free of charge.