Dominican University Siena Center Hosts “Election 2012: Voting Beyond the Water’s Edge”

In the context of the upcoming presidential election, Dominican University’s St. Catherine of Siena Center will host Gerard Powers, PhD, professor of Catholic peacebuilding at the University of Notre Dame in a discussion of the impact of U.S. foreign policy on the development of peace and human rights around the world.

The lecture will be presented on Thursday, October 2, at 7 p.m. at Dominican University’s Priory Campus, 7200 West Division Street, River Forest.

Powers also serves as coordinator of the Catholic Peacebuilding Network, which links scholars with Catholic leaders from war-torn countries in an effort to enhance the study and practice of conflict prevention, conflict resolution, and post-conflict reconciliation. Prior to joining Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, he was director of the Office of International Justice and Peace of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, where he also served as a foreign policy advisor. At the bishops’ conference, he specialized in religious liberty and other human rights issues, and the transition to democracy in Eastern Europe.

Powers' recent articles have examined the ethics of the use of force in Iraq, the role of religion in conflict and peacebuilding and the ethics of nuclear weapons. He has also written on economic sanctions, humanitarian intervention, religion and U.S. foreign policy, and self-determination. He is co-editor of Peacebuilding: Catholic Theology, Ethics and Praxis; co-editor of Strategies of Peace: Transforming Conflict in a Violent World; and co-editor of Peacemaking: Moral and Policy Challenges for a New World. He holds a J.D. and M.A. in theology from the University of Notre Dame, and a B.A. from Princeton University.

Admission is $10. For more information, contact the Siena Center at (708) 714-9105 or email siena@dom.edu.

Dominican University established the St. Catherine of Siena Center to examine critical issues of church and society in the light of faith and scholarship. The center calls together members of the university community, professional ministers and the wider community of faith who are committed to deepening their insight into the role of the Christian in today's world.