Policy Studies Expert to Examine State of Catholic Teaching on War and Peace

WORCESTER, Mass. – Gerard F. Powers, coordinator of the Catholic Peacebuilding Network and director of policy studies at University of Notre Dame’s Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, will give a talk titled "Catholics and Peacebuilding" on March 16 at 7:30 p.m. in the Rehm Library at the College of the Holy Cross. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Powers will examine the state of Catholic teaching on war and peace as it relates to terrorism, globalization and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He will give particular attention to peacebuilding initiatives in areas struggling with political, ethnic and religious conflicts.

The Catholic Peacebuilding Network is a voluntary network of practitioners, academics, clergy and laity from around the world which seeks to enhance the study and practice of Catholic peacebuilding, especially at the local level.

Policy studies links the theoretical aspects of peace studies to issues of international policy, connects scholars to policymakers as well as non-governmental organizations looking to expand their influence on policy. The Notre Dame institute helps prepare graduates to work on the policy dimensions of peacebuilding.

Before joining the Notre Dame faculty, Powers was director of international policy for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, advising the church’s leaders on issues related to nuclear weapons, land mines, foreign assistance and Iraq.

Powers has been an adjunct faculty member at the National Law Center of George Washington University (international law, ethics and conflict) and the Oblate School of Theology (Catholic social teaching). His recent articles have examined the ethics of the use of force in Iraq, nuclear weapons, humanitarian intervention, and economic sanctions. He has also written on religion and U.S. foreign policy, the right to self-determination, and the role of religion in the conflicts in Northern Ireland and Bosnia-Herzegovina. He is co-editor of Peacemaking: Moral and Policy Challenges for a New World (Georgetown University Press, 1995).

The event is sponsored by the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture at Holy Cross.