Experts at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., are available to discuss Pope Francis’ upcoming encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, (“Brothers All”). He is expected to sign it on Oct. 4, the feast of St. Francis.
Catholic University has professors available to comment on topics related to the Catholic Church, fraternity, religious studies, ministry; American law, policy, and politics; and business and the economy.
(Please note, we will update this list of experts as it becomes more clear what topics will be addressed in this encyclical. Visit www.catholic.edu to find the latest version under Latest News.)
For assistance in reaching sources, contact Mary McCarthy Hines or Gabrielle Obusek in the Office of Communications at communications@cua.edu.
Theology, Religious Studies, and Ministry
Fraternity, Encyclicals, Community, Ecumenism — Very Rev. Mark Morozowich, dean of the School of Theology and Religious Studies, can provide commentary on themes of the nature of an encyclical, community engagement, ecumenical relations, and human fraternity. A priest of the Ukrainian Rite, he is an expert in Eastern Christianity and Liturgical and Sacramental Theology.
To arrange an interview with Father Morozowich, email communications@cua.edu.
Pope Francis and Living the Liturgy — Monsignor Kevin Irwin, research professor, (irwin@cua.edu), is author of the recently published book, Pope Francis and the Liturgy: The Call to Holiness and Mission, in which he describes how the pope repeatedly reminds us of living the liturgy in daily life, especially in charity and justice. He is currently working on a manuscript on liturgy in a COVID world, and how the liturgy might be improved post-COVID.
In 2016 he published A Commentary on Laudato Si': Examining the Background, Contributions, Implementation, and Future of Pope Francis's Encyclical.
Monsignor Irwin is a noted author and commentator on topics related to liturgy and sacraments. He has served as a media expert for radio, television, and print. He served as a regular commentator for CNN during the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI and election of Pope Franics.
Stewardship and Ethics — Joseph Capizzi, professor of moral theology and ethics (capizzi@cua.edu), can comment on stewardship and ethics, virtue theology, law and religion, human rights, and peace and justice. He teaches in the areas of social and political theology, with special interests in issues of peace and war, citizenship, political authority, and Augustinian theology. He also serves as the executive director of the Institute for Human Ecology.
He has written, lectured, and published widely on just war theory, bioethics, the history of moral theology, and political liberalism. He is co-author of A Catechism for Business.
Economic and Environmental Stewardship — David Cloutier, associate professor of moral theology and ethics (cloutierd@cua.edu), can comment on economic and environmental stewardship. He is the author of four books, including the award-winning The Vice of Luxury: Economic Excess in a Consumer Age and Walking God’s Earth: The Environment and Catholic Faith.
He is particularly interested in connecting Catholic moral theology to the best research about human behavior from the social sciences. Cloutier has published in Commonweal, The Washington Post, U.S. Catholic, and other publications. He also serves as editor for the group blog, catholicmoraltheology.com.
Religion in America — William Dinges, professor of religious studies (dinges@cua.edu), can comment on the encyclical in the broader context of the American religious landscape. He can discuss the communal tradition of the Catholic Church and how it contrasts to a culture of excessive individualism.
Community Service — Emmjolee Mendoza Waters, associate director of Campus Ministry and Community Service (mendozae@cua.edu), can comment on community service and seeing humanity in all. She focuses on engaging students in service by hosting weekly events like delivering food to people experiencing homelessness, as well as yearly events like domestic and foreign immersion trips. Through this service, she helps students develop their own faith.
Saint Francis and Christian-Muslim Dialogue — Robert Miller, professor of Biblical studies (millerb@cua.edu), is a secular Franciscan and can comment on the significance of the Pope signing this encyclical on the feast day of St. Francis.
He has also collaborated with Pim Valkenberg (see below) on Muslim-Christian dialogue. Last winter, he gave a presentation to the working group on the joint document between Pope Francis and the Grand Imam that is considered to be the basis or groundwork for the new encyclical.
Business as a Force for Good — Andrew Abela, dean of the Busch School of Business and associate professor of marketing (DeanAbela@cua.edu), can comment on Catholic teaching as applied to business and the economy.
His research on the integrity of the marketing process, including marketing ethics, Catholic Social Doctrine, and internal communication, has been published in several academic journals, including the Journal of Marketing, the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, the Journal of Business Ethics, and the Journal of Markets & Morality, and in two books. He is also the co-editor of A Catechism for Business, from Catholic University Press.
Abela also provides consulting and training in internal communications; recent clients of his include Microsoft Corporation, JPMorganChase, and the Corporate Executive Board.
Local Entrepreneurship — Brian Becker, director of Small Business Outreach, Ciocca Center for Principled Entrepreneurship (beckerbr@cua.edu), can comment on local entrepreneurship, education, fundraising, and events. He is focused on connecting students and expert faculty in the Busch School with the vibrant small business community in Washington, D.C.
Becker believes in the power of leveraging shared values to create understanding, growth, and mutual satisfaction.
Ethics of Markets — Michael Pakaluk, professor of social research (pakaluk@cua.edu), can comment on fraternity, humanity, human solidarity, greed, ethics of the markets and the financial markets. Pakaluk has authored many papers and three books concerned with Aristotelian ethics. His work is typified by the drawing of philosophical consequences from careful attention to philological considerations.
His groundbreaking work in accounting ethics, which is also technically informed, approaches the subject through the viewpoint of virtue ethics.
Entrepreneurship — Andreas Widmer, director of the Ciocca Center for Principled Entrepreneurship, and assistant professor of practice (widmer@cua.edu), can comment on entrepreneurship, business as a solution to poverty, and economic development (what he calls "theology of work").
Immigration Law — Stacy Brustin, professor of law and the director of the Columbus School of Law’s Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Clinic (brustin@cua.edu), can comment on immigration law and policy issues. She supervises students engaged in litigation, limited assistance, and policy reform on behalf of immigrants and refugees in D.C. and Virginia. She can speak on the impact on the lives of students who currently have DACA-status and the legal impact of the decision. Brustin also has expertise in family law and public benefits matters.
She publishes and conducts presentations in the areas of access to justice, immigrant rights, family law, professional responsibility and clinical legal education. She has published commentary on immigration facilities in USA Today.
Peacebuilding — Maryann Cusimano Love, associate professor, international relations (lovem@cua.edu), can comment on the Church's global response to COVID-19, preparing for the future/peacebuilding, religious freedom, U.S. foreign policy, globalization, ethics and international security, and nuclear weapons policy.
She serves on the Advisory Board of the Arms Control Association, the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ International Justice and Peace Committee, and the Advisory Board of the Catholic Peacebuilding Network. Her recent International Relations books include Beyond Sovereignty: Issues for a Global Agenda and Morality Matters: Ethics and the War on Terrorism. She served on the Core Group for the Department of State’s working group on Religion and Foreign Policy, and the Advisory board of Jesuit Refugee Services.
Concern For the Elderly — Lucia Silecchia, professor of Law (silecchia@law.edu), can comment on topics related to vulnerable populations and the environment. In 2016, she began service as an expert to the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations, assisting on matters related to the elderly, people with disabilities and ecology. She has also been a Faculty Fellow and Academic Advisory Group Member of Catholic University’s Institute for Human Ecology.
Silecchia has written in the areas of environmental law and ethics, elder law, Catholic social thought, legal education, law and literature, and legal writing. She has presented at national and international conferences for legal educators, law librarians, lawyers, religious groups, students, and environmental professionals. Currently, Silecchia is the author of “On Ordinary Times,” a bi-weekly column for Catholic publications and published in diocesan newspapers across the country.
Immigration History — Julia Young, associate professor of history (YOUNGJG@cua.edu), can comment on immigration history and how it informs current policies in the United States. Young is a historian of migration to the U.S. from Mexico and Latin America, and Catholicism in the Americas.
Her prize-winning book, Mexican Exodus: Emigrants, Exiles, and Refugees of the Cristero War (Oxford University Press, 2015), investigates the intersections between Mexico’s Cristero War and Mexican migration to the United States during the late 1920s.