Consultation on COVID-19: Exploring Faith Dimensions

A tourist protected by a medical mask in the square of St. Peter's Basilica, closed to visitors due to COVID-19.

March 11, 2020
4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. EDT
Location: Berkley Center Third Floor Conference Room Map

The COVID-19 pandemic represents one of the greatest challenges to date in both global health and religious practice. How are religious institutions, beliefs, leaders, and practices contributing—positively and negatively—to the ongoing coronavirus crisis and response? This discussion captured the experience and insights of experts on global health and religious lay leaders as the foundation for further strategic reflections towards a positive path ahead.

Participants were present both virtually and in-person. Coffee was served.

Participants

Organizers

Katherine Marshall (World Faiths Development Dialogue/Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs)
David Robinson (independent consultant for interreligious action in humanitarian emergencies and development, former senior advisor for operations at World Vision)
Olivia Wilkinson (Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities)

Participants

Doug Fountain (Christian Connections for International Health)
Rebecca Waugh (IMA World Health)
Gagik Karapetyan (World Vision US)
Lisa Firth (Salvation Army US)
Heidi Christensen (Center for Faith and Opportunity Initiatives at the US Department of Health and Human Services)
Jean Duff (Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities)
Neelley Hicks (Harper Hill Global)
David Boan (World Evangelical Alliance)
John Blevins (Emory University)
Kathy Erb (Christian Connections for International Health)
Lachlan Forrow (Beth Israel/Harvard Medical School)
Lindsay Denny (Global Water 2020)
Maeve McKean (Georgetown University)
Mariah Johnston (World Bank)
Michael Stoto (Georgetown University)
Abigail Nelson (Episcopal Relief)
Christopher Zefting (Religions for Peace International)
Alfonso Rosales (World Vision International)
Mercy Niwe (World Bank)
Mimi Kiser (Emory University)
Christina Tobias-Nahi (Islamic Relief USA)
John Monahan (Georgetown University)
Sarah Thompson (World Faiths Development Dialogue)
Ruth Gopin (Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs)
Henry Brill (Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs)

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A tourist protected by a medical mask in the square of St. Peter's Basilica, closed to visitors due to COVID-19.

Participants

Katherine Marshall Toggle

About Katherine Marshall

Katherine Marshall, a senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, leads the center’s work on religion and global development. She is also a professor of the practice of development, conflict, and religion in the Walsh School of Foreign Service, teaching diverse courses on the ethics of development work and mentoring students at many levels. She helped to create and now serves as the executive director of the World Faiths Development Dialogue, an NGO that works to enhance bridges between different sectors and institutions. In September 2022, she was appointed as a member of the Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid at the U.S. Agency for International Development. Marshall has five decades of experience on a variety of development issues in Africa, Latin America, East Asia, and the Middle East, particularly those facing the world’s poorest countries; one way she shares her expertise is through her blog Faith in Action. She was a World Bank officer from 1971 to 2006, and she led the World Bank’s faith and ethics initiative between 2000 and 2006. Marshall is a member of the Working Group on Child Rights and Family Values and the Working Group on Displaced Persons and Hospitality to the Stranger, both part of the Culture of Encounter Project.

Katherine Marshall's Profile

David Robinson Toggle

About David Robinson

David Robinson is an independent consultant for interreligious action in humanitarian emergencies and development. He previously worked for WorldVision International, including a decade as WorldVision's senior advisor for operations, focusing on public health issues such as Ebola and HIV/AIDS, as well as Muslim-Christian relations.

David Robinson's Profile

Olivia Wilkinson Toggle

About Olivia Wilkinson

Dr. Olivia Wilkinson is the director of research at the Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities. Her research focuses on secular and religious influences in humanitarian action, and she is the author of Secular and Religious Dynamics in Humanitarian Response (2020).

Olivia Wilkinson's Profile

Related Publications

Website March 30, 2020

Faith and COVID-19: Resource Repository

This online platform aims to collect and communicate information related to religious actors responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, organizing information so that it can be quickly found and used by development policymakers and practitioners and religious actors who seek to work together in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and broader emergencies.

Event Summary March 11, 2020

Consultation on COVID-19: Exploring Faith Dimensions

This event summary highlights discussions on March 11, 2020 at the Berkley Center on “COVID-19: Exploring Faith Dimensions,” and it draws on the experience and insights of leaders, past and present, on global health.