An Interview with Marie Dennis

by Gordon Nary

Gordon: What is your earliest childhood memory?

Marie: My earliest memory is of a huge snowstorm when I was about 5 years old (1947). We were living in Carlisle MA that year and I remember snow piled up to way over my father’s height.

Gordon: When did you attend Trinity Washington University, what degree did you earn, who was your favorite teacher, and why was that teacher your favorite?

Marie: I was at Trinity from 1960 to 1964. I earned a BA degree in physics. Mr. Whelan, who taught several physics courses, was my favorite teacher because he was clear and interesting and challenging.

Gordon: When did you attend Washington Theological Union, what degree you earn, what was your favorite course, and why was that course your favorite?

Marie: I was at Washington Theological Union in the early 1990s. My favorite courses were in moral theology and Catholic social teaching because they were immediately relevant to my work for social justice and peace.

Gordon: When did you serve as Director, Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns? What is their mission and what were your primary responsibilities?

Marie: I worked for Maryknoll from 1989 to 2012. At first, I was Associate for Latin America for the Maryknoll Society (Priests and Brothers) Justice and Peace Office. In 1997 the Maryknoll Society, the Maryknoll Congregation (Sisters) and the Maryknoll Lay Missioners established a collaborative office called the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns (MOGC). I was named director, a position I held until 2012 when I retired from Maryknoll to work for Pax Christi International. The mission of the MOGC was to bring the experience of Maryknoll missioners from around the world to impact U.S. foreign policy and public opinion. My responsibilities were to visit Maryknoll missioners in their mission sites to learn as much as possible about the communities and countries where they were working; then based on that experience around the world to study and do the analysis necessary to recommend directions for US policy that would support social justice, respect for human rights, peace and environmental integrity around the world. We published a regular journal (Maryknoll Newsnotes), developed and participated in educational programs across the U.S.  and advocated with policymakers for more just US foreign policy. During those years I helped found the Jubilee USA Campaign for cancellation of the unjust and unpayable foreign debt of many very poor countries.

Gordon: When did you serve as Co-President of Pax Christi International, based in Belgium? What is their mission and what were your primary responsibilities?

Marie: I served as co-President of Pax Christi International (PCI) from 2007 to 2019. I was the first lay person and the first woman to serve in top PCI leadership. Pax Christi International is a global Catholic movement, committed to Gospel nonviolence and working for peace on six continents. Pax Christi’s mission is to support local communities dealing with many different expressions of violence and to work through nonviolent processes at a national and multilateral level for social justice, respect for human rights, peace and care for the integrity of creation. 

Internally, my duties entailed ensuring that PCI had the staff, budget and board of directors that would enable the organization to fulfill its mission for just peace. I also helped articulate PCI positions on critical issues and represented PCI publicly in different contexts and on many different occasions – at the United Nations, the Vatican, and during a wide variety of conferences. I gave many lectures and talks on a wide variety of subjects.

Gordon:  When did you serve as Program Chair/Director of Pax Christi’s Catholic Nonviolence Initiative and what was one of your most rewarding experiences when you were there?

Marie: I helped found Pax Christi International’s Catholic Nonviolence Initiative (CNI) in 2016 when I was co-President of Pax Christi International and have continued to participate in CNI leadership until the present (2025). After many years of promoting nonviolence and opposing wars and violent attempts to ensure security at a local or national level, we were delighted when the Vatican – specifically the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace – agreed to cosponsor with Pax Christi International a 2016 conference in Rome on nonviolence and just peace. At the gathering, participants from zones of violent conflict around world shared their deep experience with nonviolence, appealed directly to Pope Francis and the Church to integrate Gospel nonviolence into the life and work of the Church, and respectfully encouraged the emergence of an official, magisterial Church teaching on nonviolence. The content from this conference was published in the book Choosing Peace: The Catholic Church Returns to Gospel Nonviolence (Orbis, 2018), which I edited

Pope Francis’s 2017 World Day of Peace message, "Nonviolence: A Style of Politics for Peace,” published a few months later, was the first ever on nonviolence. It went beyond previous papal statements in laying out a robust, substantive, theological, and pastoral articulation of nonviolence.

Encouraged to produce materials on nonviolence and just peace by a Vatican official, I helped organize with CNI a global two-year research, reflection and dialogue process involving 120 theologians, scholars, peace practitioners, and some Church leadership, which resulted in a book entitled, Advancing Nonviolence and Just Peace in the Church and the World: Biblical, Theological, Ethical, Pastoral and Strategic Dimensions of Nonviolence (Pax Christi International, 2020).  The book is available in English, Spanish, German and Italian.

The findings of this project were delivered at a second conference at the Vatican entitled “Path of Nonviolence: Towards a Culture of Peace” in April 2019.  Co-sponsored by the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and Pax Christi International, this gathering brought 75 theologians, peace practitioners, cardinals, archbishops, bishops, social scientists, educators, and pastoral workers together to share a deep conversation about mainstreaming nonviolence in the Church and in society. 

In December 2022, we (CNI) cosponsored with the Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation Commission of the Union of Superiors General-Union of International Superiors General (USG-UISG) a third conference in Rome focused on “Pope Francis, Nonviolence and the Fullness of Pacem in Terris.”  Catholic Church leaders and local change makers gathered to reflect on Pope Francis’ relentless work for nonviolent change throughout his pontificate.  Cardinal Michael Czerny celebrated the event’s closing mass.

Gordon: Tell us about your current work at Pax Christi International. What is their mission and in what countries do they serve?

Marie: Currently I am the Director of Marie Dennis Catholic Institute for Nonviolence. Building on a concerted effort to advance nonviolence in the Church and the world, Pax Christi International’s Catholic Nonviolence Initiative inaugurated the Catholic Institute for Nonviolence in Rome on September 2024.

The Synod Synthesis document from October 2023 called for: More reflection and formation in order that we can manage conflicts in a nonviolent way and Careful consideration of nonviolence and legitimate self-defence. As a contribution to the consideration by the Synodal assembly and the appointed working group of these questions, which are critical to the future of the Church and the world, the Catholic Institute for Nonviolence offered four seminars at the Istituto Maria Bambina adjacent to St. Peter’s Basilica during October for dialogue and discussion. About 200 people participated live in the seminars online or in Rome.

The seminars brought to Rome experienced practitioners of nonviolence, social scientists with deep knowledge about the effectiveness of nonviolent strategies and theologians studying Scripture and Church teaching about nonviolence. In addition to their panel presentations, while they were in Rome, the speakers met with Vatican officials and Church leaders to share experience, theological reflection and evidence that nonviolence is at the heart of the Gospel; nonviolence is effective and the Church could make an important contribution to just peace by teaching and promoting Gospel nonviolence.

Excellent teams have now accepted responsibility for each Institute area of research and study. They are currently meeting regularly to identify the “state of the discussion” and the critical questions that need attention in their area of focus. They are beginning to approach potential Institute “Associates” to participate in what should be an enriching conversation.

Gordon: Other than war, what are some of the countries that have high violence rates, and some of the causes of violence?

Marie:  Violence is endemic in many countries with a multitude of root causes that are often extremely complex.  For example,

• in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, conflict over huge deposits of valuable minerals contributes to ongoing violence;

• in Israel and Palestine, violence is driven by deep conflict over ancestral land, by fear, by a militarized approach to security, and by historical trauma;

• in El Salvador, driven in part by trauma and by generational exposure to unrelenting violence, brutal repression and civil war were followed by gang violence and street violence;

• in many countries, including Colombia, Mexico, Honduras and Brazil, efforts by local communities to protect the land and water upon which they depend for survival, from destructive mining and development projects has often led to escalating violence.

• in South Sudan, the roots of ongoing violence are in the trauma of two long wars fought between Sudan and South Sudan, but also in unresolved traditional tribal conflicts.

Gordon: Who is your favorite saint and why is that saint your favorite?

Marie: St. Francis because of how he lived in respectful relationship with the poorest and most excluded members of his own society and his care for the earth.

Gordon: To what parish do you belong and what do you like most about your parish?

Marie: Our Lady Queen of Peace parish in Arlington Virginia because its tremendous diversity and deep commitment to social justice, peace and care for creation..

Gordon: Thank you for an exceptional interview and your critical work at Pax Christi International.