2014 Opening Celebration: Jesus Weeps: Resisting Violence, Building Peace
Guided by the image of Jesus weeping over a capital city that turned from the true way of peace (Luke 19:41-42), we will expose the violence that pervades our culture and world…
Welcome Remarks
Rev. John L. McCullough, President and CEO, Church World Service
The Rev. John L. McCullough is President and CEO of Church World Service, the international humanitarian agency with programs in development and humanitarian affairs, advocacy for social justice, and refugee assistance around the world and in the United States. Under his leadership, CWS is known as an innovative and adaptive leader in its programmatic fields, engaged in transformative relationships.
McCullough has been at the forefront of agency efforts to press for Enough For All – the needs of the hungry and the displaced, human rights and the empowerment of civil society. Most recently, McCullough conceived of and implemented the long-term process of CWS 2020, to embolden the agency in times of sweeping change across international relations, ecumenical and interfaith landscapes, and in the church as it is transformed in the Global North and South.
McCullough is a member of the White House Task Force on Global Poverty and Development. He visited the White House in November 2010 as a member of an ecumenical delegation to stress the urgent need to manage poverty and hunger in the United States, as well as international concerns; and in April 2010 as part of a group of African American leaders.
A graduate of the Boston University School of Theology, McCullough was honored with its Distinguished Alumni award. An ordained minister in The United Methodist Church, he has served pastorates in the United States and Kenya and has held leadership positions at the denomination’s global mission agency before joining CWS in 2000.
Sister Dianna M. Ortiz, OSU, Associate Director, Education for Justice Project, Center of Concern
Dianna Ortiz is a member of the Mount Saint Joseph Ursulines. She was an elementary school teacher in schools in Kentucky and later in Guatemala. She is the founder of the Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International in Washington, D.C. She also has worked with Guatemala Human Rights/USA and Pax Christi USA. Dianna is the author of The Blindfold’s Eyes: My Journey from Torture to Truth (with Patricia Davis, Orbis Books 2002). She was a recipient of the Ashoka Fellowship for Social Entrepreneurs and has also been recognized with honorary doctorates from the College of New Rochelle (NY), Carroll College (MT) and Springfield College (IL). Dianna has received numerous awards, including the Pax Christi USA Teacher of Peace Award in 2000, the M. Shanara Gilbert Human Rights Award from the Society of American Law Teachers in 2008, and the 2012 Human Rights Hero award at the Program for Torture Victims.
Douglas M. Grace, M.Div., S.T.M., Director, Ecumenical Advocacy Days for Global Peace with Justice
Douglas Grace is the Coordinator of Ecumenical Advocacy Days for Global Peace with Justice. He brings nearly twenty years of experience in ecumenical and interfaith religious leadership with a focus in faith-based public witness. He has given talks and written numerous theology and public policy articles on caring for creation and human needs issues, including the Stewardship of Public Life series and Church & Society magazine.
Douglas is a member of Rutgers Presbyterian Church (NYC) and a candidate for ordination to the Word and Sacrament in the Presbytery of New York City.
Read more about Douglas on EAD’s Leadership Page.
Moderator Introductions
Sr. Marge Clark, BVM, Ed.D., Lobbyist, NETWORK: A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby
Read more about Sr. Clark on the Moderators Page.
Rev. Michael Neuroth, Policy Advocate for International Issues, United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries
Read more about Rev. Neuroth on the Moderators Page.
Keynote Preacher
Rev. John Dear , Peace Activist, Author, Organizer, Lecturer and Outreach Coordinator for Pace E Bene
“John Dear is the embodiment of a peacemaker,” Archbishop Desmond Tutu wrote a few years ago when he nominated John for the Nobel Peace Prize. “He has led by example through his actions and in his writings and in numerous sermons, speeches and demonstrations. He believes that peace is not something static, but rather to make peace is to be engaged, mind, body and spirit. His teaching is to love yourself, to love your neighbor, your enemy, and to love the world and to understand the profound responsibility in doing all of these. He is a man who has the courage of his convictions and who speaks out and acts against war, the manufacture of weapons and any situation where a human being might be at risk through violence. For evil to prevail requires only that good people sit on the sidelines and do nothing. John Dear is compelling all of us to stand up and take responsibility for the suffering of humanity so often caused through selfishness and greed.”
Rev. John Dear has spent over three decades speaking to people around the world about the Gospel of Jesus, the way of nonviolence and the call to make peace. He has served as the director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the largest interfaith peace organization in the United States, and after September 11, 2001, as one of the Red Cross coordinators of chaplains at the Family Assistance Center, and counseled thousands of relatives and rescue workers. He has worked in homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and community centers; traveled in warzones around the world, including Iraq, Palestine, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, and Colombia; lived in El Salvador, Guatemala and Northern Ireland; been arrested over 75 times in acts of civil disobedience against war; and spent eight months in prison for a Plowshares disarmament action. In the 1990s, he arranged for Mother Teresa to speak to various governors to stop the death penalty. He has two Master’s Degrees in Theology from the Graduate Theological Union in California, and has taught theology at Fordham University.
His many books include The Nonviolent Life; Lazarus Come Forth!; Mohandas Gandhi: Essential Writings; Living Peace; The Questions of Jesus; The God of Peace; Disarming the Heart; You Will Be My Witnesses; Jesus the Rebel; Transfiguration; Seeds of Nonviolence; and A Persistent Peace, his autobiography.
John Dear has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” and elsewhere. He writes a weekly blog for the National Catholic Reporter and is featured regularly on the national radio show, “Democracy Now!” and The Huffington Post. He is the subject of the DVD documentary, The Narrow Path (with music by Joan Baez and Jackson Browne). He is profiled in John Dear On Peace, by Patti Normile (St. Anthony Messenger Press, 2009). His thirty books have been translated into ten languages. John Dear is on the staff of Pace e Bene.
Read more about John on his website.
Music Ministry
ELCA Glocal Musicians
Music and worship leadership during this year’s EAD National Gathering is provided by the Glocal Musicians of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The musicians were formed by the Global Formation Team in ELCA Global Mission to provide musical leadership for the Glocal Gatherings hosted by congregations and other Christian communities throughout North America and the Caribbean. Through its intentional diversity—including representation from many countries, denominations, and several cultures—the group embodies ways to stand in mutual solidarity while amplifying marginalized voices.
In addition to offering musical worship that includes global voices, the musicians are committed to forming local leaders seeking to introduce global themes in their communities. The songs they teach are grounded in the community stories that raise awareness and inspire advocacy. The musicians embody what it means to be “Glocal”—simultaneously global and local—so we can accompany one another across cultures, even in our own neighborhoods.