FACULTY LEADER
Chester Gillis
Chester Gillis is the Dean of Georgetown College and the Founding Director of the Program on the Church and Interreligious Dialogue within the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs. A Professor of Theology, Gillis is the Amaturo Chair in Catholic Studies. He holds degrees in Philosophy and Religious Studies from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium and earned his PhD fro...
RELATED PROGRAM
Since the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), the Roman Catholic Church has been a key player in interreligious dialogue. The Center examines the Church’s interaction with other religious traditions as well as the challenges posed by increasing cultural and religious pluralism at the local, national, and international levels.
PROGRAM NEWS
January 15, 2008José Casanova and Abdolkarim Soroush on Islam, Catholicism, and the Secular
August 31, 2010
Event: A Conversation with Akbar Ahmed: Journey into America
May 21, 2010
Event Features Former Secretary-general of Pax Christi International
May 17, 2010
A Discussion with Etienne De Jonghe, Center Visiting Research Fellow
September 1, 2009
"Journey into America" Film Screening and Dinner
Catholic-Evangelical Dialogue
The Berkley Center is a sponsor of the Evangelical-Catholic Dialogue on the Common Good/Public Policy, inaugurated at Georgetown in April 2008. Two of America's most prominent religious leaders, Pastor Rick Warren and Theodore Cardinal McCarrick, convened discussions focused on how Catholics and Evangelicals can more wisely bring faith to bear on public life, especially regarding issues relating to respect for life and ending poverty. Georgetown participants include President John J. DeGioia, John Borelli, special assistant to the president for interreligious dialogue, and the Center's Chester Gillis. Prominent evangelicals include Richard Cizik of the National Association of Evangelicals and Michael Gerson, Washington Post Columnist and former speech writer and advisor to President George W. Bush. The dialogue reconvened in March 2009 at Eastern University, a prominent Baptist institution.
Other Georgetown participants in the dialogue were Fr. John Langan, S.J., Rector of the Georgetown Jesuit community, and Carol Q. ONeil of the Law Center. Also attending were John Carr, Secretary for Justice, Peace and Human Development at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Ronald Sider, a widely engaged Evangelical academic and activist associated with Eastern University/Palmer School of Theology, Don Eberly, Presidential advisor for the Bush administrations, Glen H. Stassen of Fuller Theological Seminary, Maggie Gallagher, the Catholic founder of the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy, and M. Cathleen Kaveny, Notre Dame professor and Commonweal columnist.
RELATED EVENTS
Third Meeting of Catholics and Evangelicals for the Common Good
March 19, 2009
Eastern University hosted this third meeting of Catholics and Evangelicals for the Common Good (CECG), an on-going dialogue initiative spearheaded by the Sider Center on Ministry and Public Policy and Georgetown University through the Berkley Center. Discussion centered on themes of poverty, sanctity of life, and immigration. Participants stressed the importance of maintaining existing "firewalls" on abortion regarding funding and conscience clauses and identified ways to further expand the dialogue on poverty and immigration. They also expressed encouragement for additional local and regional dialogues and discussed Catholic and Evangelical academic institutions that could act as possible facilitators.
Catholic-Evangelical Dialogue on the Common Good
April 24, 2008
In April 2008, Georgetown University inaugurated an Evangelical-Catholic dialogue that would focus on ways for the resources of the two traditions could contribute to the common good and for Catholics and Evangelicals to develop mutually acceptable public policies. Sponsored by the Berkley Center, the dialogue met April 24-26, 2008 at the Georgetown University Law Center, reviewed recent decades of public involvement, and focused on how Catholics and Evangelicals can more wisely bring faith to bear on public life, especially regarding respect for life and ending poverty. Most present made a commitment to meet in a year. Georgetown's partner institution in the project is Eastern University, an undergraduate and graduate institution with a seminary, located in Wynnewood, PA, and founded in the Baptist tradition. It is the home of the Sider Center on Ministry and Public Policy, directed by Ronald Sider. Georgetown participants included President John J. DeGioia, John Borelli, special assistant to the president for interreligious dialogue, and Dean Chester Gillis, a Senior Fellow at the Berkley Center. Prominent evangelicals included Richard Cizik of the National Association of Evangelicals and Michael Gerson, Washington Post Columnist and former speech writer and advisor to President George W. Bush.
Finding the Common Ground for the Common Good: Toward an Evangelical Catholic Partnership on Public Policy
March 1, 2006
In March 2006, Catholics and Evangelicals met at Georgetown University Law Center to discuss "Finding the Common Ground for the Common Good: Toward an Evangelical Catholic Partnership on Public Policy." Georgetown participants included John Borelli, John Carr, and John P. Langan, S.J.; leading Evangelical participants were Ronald Sider and Don Eberly.
