Fr. Drew Christiansen, SJ Lectures: Equality, Justice, and Peace – A Catholic Vision for Reconciliation in Israel/Palestine Today
Fr. David Neuhaus, SJ, was born in 1962 in Johannesburg, South Africa. He is an Israeli Jesuit and Patriarchal Vicar emeritus for Hebrew-speaking Catholics in the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Fr. David was ordained to the priesthood in Jerusalem in 2000. He completed his Doctorate at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and has degrees in Theology from Paris, and Scriptures from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome. He was appointed Patriarchal Vicar for Hebrew-speaking Catholics in Jerusalem by Patriarch Twal in 2009, and served as Coordinator of the Pastoral Care for Migrant Workers and Asylum Seekers. He teaches at the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem Seminary and at Bethlehem University.
The lecture will focus on four elements in the Catholic Church’s position regarding the Holy Land and its promotion of equality, justice and peace in Israel/Palestine:
- The welfare of the Christian community and the protection of the Holy Places;
- The interpretation of the Scriptures as a resource for promoting equality, justice and peace;
- The dialogue with Jews and Muslims;
- The commitment to a social teaching that insists on equality, justice and peace.
The lecture will also briefly lay out these elements, tracing the history of the Holy Land since 1917. This event has been moved to zoom in order to accommodate our speaker. Please register below:
The Rev. Drew Christiansen S.J. 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 for International Peace Studies. He was also a frequent consultant to the Holy See and a member of the steering committee of the Catholic Peacebuilding Network. Fr. Drew spent the last years of his teaching career at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University. When he passed away in the Spring of 2022, Fr. Drew left behind a legacy of applying Catholic Social Teaching to peacebuilding specifically in the Holy Land. This lecture carries forth Fr. Christiansen’s enduring spirit.
It is co-sponsored by the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, the Catholic Peacebuilding Network, Bethlehem University Foundation, Churches for Middle East Peace, and the University of Notre Dame’s Department of Theology.