George Weigel
Senior Fellow
Ethics and Public Policy Center
George Weigel, a Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, is a Roman Catholic theologian and director of the Catholic Studies program at the center. He attended St. Mary's Seminary College in Baltimore and the University of St. Michael's College in Toronto. Weigel taught at St. Thomas Seminary School of Theology in Kenmore before becoming Scholar-in-Residence at the World Without War Council of Greater Seattle, and later fellow of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. From 1986 until 1989, Weigel served as founding president of the James Madison Foundation. From 1989 through June 1996, Weigel was president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where he led a wide-ranging, ecumenical and inter-religious program of research and publication on foreign and domestic policy issues. In his present role as a Senior Fellow of EPPC, Weigel prepared a major study of the life, thought, and action of Pope John Paul II. Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II. It was published in the Fall of 1999 in English, French, Italian, and Spanish editions. Weigel is the author or editor of sixteen other books, including more recently The Truth of Catholicism: Ten Controversies Explored (HarperCollins, 2001), The Courage To Be Catholic: Crisis, Reform, and the Future of the Church (Basic Books, 2002), and Letters to a Young Catholic (Basic Books, 2003). He has also contributed essays, op-ed columns, and reviews to the major opinion journals and newspapers in the United States, and has appeared on numerous network television, cable television, and radio discussion programs. His weekly column, "The Catholic Difference," is syndicated to more than fifty newspapers around the United States. Weigel, who has been awarded six honorary doctorates and the papal cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice, serves on the boards of directors of several organizations dedicated to human rights and the cause of religious freedom. He is also a member of the editorial boards of First Things and Orbis, and serves as a consultant on Vatican affairs for NBC News.
The Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture sponsored his talk, "The Legacy of Pope John Paul II" in February of 2001. That autumn, he was an invited speaker for our "Culture of Life" conference.
