Father Christiansen brings a depth of experience in both religious matters and Mideast Affairs, HCEF President, Rateb Y. Rabie said in announcing this new position.

Fr. Drew Christiansen, S.J., the former Director of the Office of International Justice and Peace of the US Catholic Conference, has been named secretary of the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation (HCEF)Advisory Board and liaison with the HCEF Board of Directors. Father Christiansen brings a depth of experience in both religious matters and Mideast Affairs, HCEF President, Rateb Y. Rabie said in announcing this new position.  Fr. Christiansen will help the HCEF Board of Directors establish close and beneficial relations with the members of the Advisory board, all to the benefit of solidarity with the Christians in the Holy Land.

As secretary of the HCEF Advisory Board and Liaison with the HCEF Board Of Directors, Father Christiansen will be working with members of the Advisory board to provide assistance, guidance and council to the HCEF.

Members of the Advisory Board include:
H.B. Patriarch Michel Sabbah, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem;
Right  Rev. Munib A. Younan, bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church;
Right Reverend Herbert Thompson, Jr., Bishop, Episcopal Church of Southern Ohio;
Reverend Donald Wagner, Ph.D., North Park University, Chicago, IL.;
Mubarak Award,Ph.D., Director, Nonviolence International, Washington, DC.,
Fr. Christiansen;
Arthur Faris, MD, Houston, Texas;
Musa Nasir, MD., Director, Pacific Independent Physician Association, Los Angles, CA;
and James Vitarello, Attorney and member Foundry United Methodist Church, Washington.

Fr. Christiansen studied theology at the Woodstock College, where he was a fellow, and he received his Ph.D. in religious social ethics from Yale University in 1982.  He has had a distinguished academic career first as a research associate at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University and on the faculties of the University of Notre Dame, the Jesuit School of Theology and the Graduate Theological Union at Berkeley. From 1982 to 1986, he was Director of the Center for Ethics and Social Policy at Berkeley and is a founding member of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.

Fr. Christiansen was with the Catholic Conference, the coordinating organization of the U. S. Catholic Bishops, for nearly eight years, from 1991 to 1998.  While there Father Christiansen acted as policy advisor for the Middle East and he continues to serve as a counselor to the USCC on Mideast affairs.  He serves on the boards of several organizations: The U.S.Inter-religious Committee for Peace in the Middle East, HCEF, The Galilee Fund, the U.S. Catholic China Bureau; and the Churches’ Center for Theology and Public Policy.

He serves on the planning committee of the U. S. Chapter of the World Conference on Religion and Peace.

In 1998 he was honored by the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Michel Sabbah for his work on behalf of the Church in the Holy Land be investing him as Canon of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.  He also was given a special award by the Catholic community of Immaculate Conception parish in Birzeit for his service to Palestinian Christians.

Author of more than 70 articles on ethics, Catholic social teaching And public policy, Father Christiansen is also co-editor of three books.