Office of the President
Office of the President

Interreligious Engagement and Understanding

At the heart of Georgetown’s mission is a deep commitment to formation—whether personal, professional, academic, or spiritual—and profound sense of interconnectedness across differences. President DeGioia’s tenure saw the launch of initiatives and convenings that nurture this shared commitment to interfaith dialogue in community.

Wide shot of Madeleine Albright speaking to a large seated audience from behind a wooden podium.
Madeleine Albright addresses the audience of the Berkley Center 10th Anniversary Event, April 2016.

Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs

The Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, established in 2006 through a generous gift from William R. Berkley, houses various research and education initiatives that promote intercultural and interreligious engagement and advance the common good in our global community.

The Berkley Center
Rabbi David Rosen, KCSG, and John J. DeGioia smile as they walk together through a blurred campus walkway.
Rabbi David Rosen, KCSG, and John J. DeGioia walk through campus, ahead of Rabbi Rosen’s 2007 lecture on “Contemporary Jewish Responses to Nostra Ætate.”

Nostra Ætate

Nostra Ætate, a 1965 document of the Second Vatican Council, marked a watershed moment in the Catholic Church’s engagement with the Jewish religion in particular and global faith traditions more generally. In honor of its 40th anniversary, and in its spirit of dialogue and interfaith understanding, Georgetown launched a lecture series that seeks to bring together scholars and religious leaders across a broad range of traditions.

The Nostra Ætate Lecture Series

Caring for Our Common Home

Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical, Laudato Si’, offered an urgent and integral vision of human development and our natural world. As part of the Laudato Si’ Anniversary Year and in partnership with Yale University’s Forum on Religion and Ecology, Georgetown hosted a two-day program that brought together scholars, religious leaders, and representatives of various organizations for an interfaith dialogue on caring for our common home.

Laudato Si’ Program
Martin Scorsese and Paul Elie sit on a stage around a small wooden side table with a vase of flowers. They are engaged in conversation.
Martin Scorsese and Paul Elie at the April 2017 event, “Silence: A Film Screening and Conversation with Martin Scorsese”

Faith and Culture Lecture Series

The Office of the President, in partnership with the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, has sponsored the Faith and Culture Lecture Series since 2008. These gatherings welcome distinguished individuals whose creative or academic work engages the intersections of faith, culture, literature, and society.

The Faith and Culture Series
A large mixed group of people pose for a photo while standing on a half-story beige indoor staircase.
The scholars of the 2015 Building Bridges seminar, hosted in Doha, Qatar.

Building Bridges Seminar

The Building Bridges Seminar was initiated in 2002 and sustained by two former Archbishops of Canterbury—George Carey and Rowan Williams—in response to the events of September 11, 2001, and an evident need to strengthen global Christian-Muslim dialogue. Georgetown assumed stewardship of this annual convening in 2012 and continues to facilitate its efforts in partnership with host institutions and renowned scholars around the world.

Building Bridges Seminar

Noteworthy Interreligious Dialogues

Georgetown regularly welcomes a broad range of faith leaders to engage in dialogues aimed at fostering interreligious understanding.

News

A mixed group of five panelists sit on a stage with a screen behind them projecting a slide saying

Georgetown Partners on New Dialogue Program to Address Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Georgetown has partnered with an organization of bereaved Israelis and Palestinian families to produce a program that fosters dialogue about the human side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

December 5, 2024

Pope Francis and Rabbi Abraham Skorka speak on a panel together.

Rabbi Abraham Skorka To Deepen Interfaith Dialogue, Research on Jewish Studies at Georgetown

September 14, 2022

Vice President Biden, Faith Leaders Join Campus Interfaith Event

December 16, 2015