Started in 2014, the Project on Revitalizing Catholic Engagement on Nuclear Disarmament is focused on revitalizing and strengthening the voice of the Catholic community in the United States and beyond in the debate on nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament. Through various initiatives the project is empowering a new generation of Catholics – Church leaders, scholars, and students – to contribute to wider efforts to further reduce and ultimately eliminate nuclear weapons. The project has three main areas of focus: policy engagement, scholar engagement, and student engagement, including student internships with major disarmament organizations.
Hosted by the University of Notre Dame's Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies and the Catholic Peacebuilding Network, this panel discussed the renewed threat of nuclear weapons today and the Catholic Church's past and present engagement on the nuclear question. It featured David Cortright, Professor Emeritus of the Practice, Kroc Institute; Margaret Pfeil, Teaching Professor, University of Notre Dame Department of Theology; and Gerard F. Powers, Director, Catholic Peacebuilding Studies, Kroc Institute, and coordinator of Catholic Peacebuilding Network.
At a 2017 Vatican conference, Pope Francis condemned nuclear weapons. A new book co-edited by the late Rev. Drew Christiansen, S.J., and Carole Sargent, Forbidden: Receiving Pope Francis's Condemnation of Nuclear Weapons (2023), grapples with how we should deal with the pope’s rejection of nuclear weapons today. This webinar drew on moral, religious, military, and political perspectives to address this urgent issue. The conversation was particularly intended to provide context for policymakers, military professionals, ordinary citizens, and church pastoral workers who assist them in making decisions on matters related to nuclear strategy and disarmament. The panel included Most Rev. John C. Wester, Archbishop of Santa Fe; Kelsey Davenport, Arms Control Association; David Hollenbach, SJ, Georgetown University; Maryann Cusimano Love, Catholic University of America; and Carole Sargent.
At the height of the Cold War, two seminal documents, Pacem in terris (1963) and The Challenge of Peace (1983), provided that moral compass. In a similar way, Pope Francis’ encyclicals and statements have ignited a new debate about the ethics of nonviolence, nuclear deterrence, and war. Are nonviolence and nuclear disarmament the new moral and policy imperatives or do today’s new and old challenges to peace reinforce the need for the just war tradition and strengthened nuclear deterrence?
On March 1, the 2022-23 University of Notre Dame Forum on War & Peace hosted Cardinal Robert McElroy to discuss these issues. The panel also included Major General (ret.) Robert Latiff, Mary Ellen O'Connell, A. Rashied Omar, and moderator Gerard F. Powers.
Sean Raming, Kroc Institute Ph.D. in Peace Studies and History, talks with Nickolas Roth, director of the Stimson Center’s Nuclear Security Program and International Nuclear Security Forum, about current conversations about nuclear weapons, deterrence, disarmament, and arms control.
Kroc Institute Director of Catholic Peacebuilding Studies Jerry Powers sits down to talk with Professor Maryann Cusimano Love and Professor Tobias Winright about nuclear disarmament, the Catholic Church, and what to expect during Pope Francis’ upcoming visit to Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki in Japan from November 23 through 26.
Kroc Institute Director of Catholic Peacebuilding Studies Jerry Powers sits down to talk with Dr. James Muller, co-founder of the Nobel Peace Prize winning organization International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, and Professor Emeritus George Lopez about the history, present, and future of the movement toward nuclear disarmament.
