Fr. Buddy Noel is a Roman Catholic Priest of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, in Louisiana. He served as the director of religious education at Holy Name of Jesus Parish. He teaches world religions at Loyola University-New Orleans. He studied physics at the University of South Alabama and worked for the NASA and Marshall Space Centers.

“I think that the Hizmet Movement offers a tremendous amount of good to the world, in that it speaks of love flowing from one’s heart, into one’s life. It speaks about true charity and about helping people around the world, of whatever background, whatever religion, or none. All people, working together, and learning together about each other. And I know that Fethullah Gülen speaks a lot about education as being an incredible tool for the world’s betterment.”

““Love isn’t love until it’s given away,” someone once said. And to help other people, to reach out to other people in need, especially people in war zones, people in disaster areas, people who are in need of medical attention, people suffering from disease. All of these terrible aspects of this world, they can be overcome and, indeed, are, with the power of love. Hizmet talks about love, it talks about reaching out to others, and it not only talks about it, it puts it into practice. So we see Hizmet active throughout the world, taking care of people in need.”

“From what I’ve seen of the Movement, it simply is love put into practice. What can be wrong about that? How can one be critical of love put into action? And reaching out around the world, simply to educate children. And educate them with mathematics, with science, with an awareness of the culture, and the good in humanity. There’s nothing wrong with that. I wholeheartedly endorse it.”