Hailey Vrdolyak, Staff Writer

 

In keeping with Catholic tradition, the Center for Civil and Human Rights strives to protect the fundamental dignity and rights of every human being through education and research. In December 2013, the Center named Professor Daniel Philpott as its new director, and hopes to continue protecting the most vulnerable under his leadership.

Former Notre Dame President Reverend Theodore Hesburgh, CSC, founded the Center for Civil and Human Rights in 1973 as an institution for both teaching and advanced research. Today, the Center fulfills Rev. Hesburgh’s dream of defending human rights internationally. The degree programs at the Center provide lawyers with the opportunity to study and gain experience in international law with a focus on issues of accountability and transitional justice, or what justice means in the context of massive injustices.

Through various events at the Center such as the Visiting Scholar Series, the Human Rights Roundtable Series and the Practitioner Series, scholars collaborate and engage in discussions with people of different perspectives in order to better understand challenges to human rights.

As director, Philpott plans to enhance the research dimension of the Center through programs in global religious freedom, transitional justice and human trafficking. “My vision for the Center is to develop it into a world class site of research on human rights,” he stated. “Its research would not be abstract and removed, but rather engaged and aimed at making a difference.”

In keeping with the Second Vatican Council’s Dignitatis Humanae, the Center for Civil and Human Rights works to protect religious freedom around the world. “It is also worth noting that 80 percent of the violations in the world today are committed against Christians,” Philpott asserted. “This, and the University’s Catholic mission, warrant our recognizing this trend with burning concern.”

The Center also deals with transitional justice, namely redressing previous human rights atrocities primarily through truth commissions and trials. Philpott said that this process can be taken further, especially with regards to the distinct role that the Church can play in the conversation. “Out of the heart of the Catholic Church comes the notion of reconciliation — a justice that involves the restoration of relationships, the addressing of wounds, and attention to attitudes and emotions,” he said.

Furthermore, Philpott noted that more people are enslaved today than ever before in history. As such, the Center will focus on both the causes and prevention of human trafficking.

As one of the leading institutions for human rights education in the country, the Center attracts promising students from all around the world who are interested in protecting human rights. “One of the main attractions of the job is working with these remarkable students,” Philpott said. “I am humbled and honored to build on this legacy.”

Philpott has been a scholar of and an activist for political reconciliation for many years. His most recent work on the subject is Just and Unjust Peace: An Ethic of Political Reconciliation. Due to his interest in political reconciliation, he began working as a Senior Associate of the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy and traveled to Kashmir, the disputed area between Pakistan and India. Philpott also traveled to the Great Lakes region of Africa as an agent of political reconciliation for the Catholic Church.

Philpott posited that these experiences will aid him in this new position. “I think that this combination of being a scholar and an activist prepares me well for the work of the Center,” he said, “which also combines the intellectual and the practical.”

In keeping with the Church’s mission, the Center for Civil and Human Rights protects the dignity of the most vulnerable of God’s creatures, and as a Catholic institution, the University of Notre Dame shares this mission. “The key to the thriving of Notre Dame’s Catholic mission is that the various academic units, in their research and in their teaching, conduct their work as if the Church matters,” Philpott clarified.

Philpott explained that the Center does not work for the protection of human rights among Catholics only, but that it works globally with people of varied religious backgrounds. “The Center will be engaging the international community, the human rights community, the international law community, and the US policy community,” Philpott stated. “It does this with a confidence that the Catholic message is a message for the world.”

Hailey Vrdolyak is a sophomore political science and Spanish major whose family has a camel and arctic foxes at their farm. To talk to her about endangered species email her at hvrdolya@nd.edu.