Fr. Drew was a Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Human Development at Georgetown University, a consultant to the Holy See and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), as well a consultant to the Vatican’s Secretariat of State, and the Holy See Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations. He also served as Director of the U.S. Bishops’ Office of International Justice and Peace and was a former editor of America Magazine. Fr. Drew was a long supporter of CMEP and initiated the establishment of the Catholic Advisory Council (CAC) at Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP).
Words cannot express the marked and abundant contributions of Father Drew to Christian theologies of peacebuilding, Catholic engagement in the Middle East, and to our personal ministry efforts in peacebuilding at Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP). In 2021, Father Christiansen helped CMEP launch an inaugural Catholic Advisory Council (CAC) with esteemed leaders from several Catholic institutions and ministries to help bolster our work. His presence, leadership, wisdom, and ardent advocacy will be greatly missed.
In addition to Father Christiansen’s pastoral presence, prayers, and spiritual devotions toward peace and justice, he tirelessly studied, learned, and taught in areas of foreign policy and global affairs. Most recently Rev. Drew Christiansen, S.J., served as Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Human Development in Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service and a senior fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs. His areas of research included nuclear disarmament, nonviolence and just peacemaking, Catholic social teaching, and ecumenical public advocacy. He frequently acted as a consultant to the Holy See and a member of the steering committee of the Catholic Peacebuilding Network. He also served on the Atlantic Council’s Middle East Task Force and on the Holy See delegation that participated in the negotiation of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in the summer of 2017.
Rev. Christiansen co-authored Forgiveness in International Politics: A New Road to Peace (2004, with William Bole and Robert Hennemeyer) and co-edited Peacemaking: Moral and Policy Issues for a New World (1994, with Robert Hennemeyer and Gerard F. Powers), “And God Said It Was Good”: Catholic Theology and the Environment (1996, with Walter Grazer), Michel Sabbah: Faithful Witness: On Reconciliation and Peace in the Holy Land (2009, with Michel Sabbah), and A World Free from Nuclear Weapons: The Vatican Conference on Disarmament (2020, with Carole Sargent). He published more than 200 articles in five languages.
His recent articles include “Liberty’s Rise and Fall: A Modern History of Religious Freedom” and “The Future of Public Theology” (America); “The Jesuit Pope, Judaism and the Jews” and “Making the Parish a Place of Encounter and Dialogue” (Origins); “The Church of the Poor: Papal Responses to the Financial Crisis” (Journal of Catholic Social Teaching); and “Von Beruf: Weltretter” (Die Zeit) and “Just Peacemaking and Hybrid Wars (e-journal Ethik und Militar). He was also a contributing editor for the Review of Faith in International Affairs and the Journal of Catholic Social Thought.
Rev. Christiansen served as director of the Office of International Justice and Peace of the U.S. Catholic Conference (now the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) and editor-in-chief of the Jesuit weekly America. He taught at the Jesuit School of Theology/Graduate Theological Union-Berkeley and the University of Notre Dame, where he was a member of the founding team of the Kroc Institute of International Peace Studies. He held his Ph.D., M.Phil., and M.A. from Yale University; an S.T.M. and M.Div. from Woodstock College; and an A. B. from Fordham University. For his service to the Holy Land, Christiansen was named a Canon of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem.
The Father Drew Christiansen Holy Land Lecture Series brings Christian leaders and scholars from the Holy Land to share firsthand updates, insights, theological reflections, and a much needed (and often unheard) perspective on today’s Christian situation in the Land of Jesus’ birth. Hosted by Churches for Middle East Peace’s (CMEP) Catholic Advisory Council (CAC), the lecture series promotes education and advocacy among American Catholics and other Christians about realities in the Holy Land while promoting U.S. policies that contribute toward the need for a just and lasting peace.
Lecture Series Description: Our Faith is rooted in the Holy Land, where Jesus lived out the Way of the Cross two thousand years ago. The Christian population in the Holy Land has decreased from around 18% historically to less than 2% today. Still, today’s Holy Land Christians are continuing that journey – a journey of constant persecution and renewal, but which ultimately reveals a land that Jesus never left.
Through this series, we will gain a deeper understanding of how we can assist our brothers and sisters in their quest for acceptance, equality, justice, and peace. We will explore the spiritual roots and practical application of our Faith through the eyes of those whose experience is rooted in the land where Jesus was born, taught, died, and was resurrected.
The Christians there have a saying: “We live in a land that has experienced resurrection, so we always have hope.” The first step in that hope is hearing their voice.
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