James F. Puglisi, SA, is a Fellow and Francis Joseph Cardinal Spellman Professor of Catholic Theology. He is Director of the Centro Pro Unione in Rome, an ecumenical research and action center founded by the Franciscan Friars of Atonement. Dr. Puglisi holds a B.A. in Sociology and an M.A./S.T.L. in Liturgical Theology from the Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., a Ph.D. in the History of Religion and Religious Anthropology from the Université de Paris IV Sorbonne, an S.T.D. in Systematic Theology from the Institut Catholique de Paris, and a Certificate of Ecumenical Studies from Boston University. Dr. Puglisi was awarded the Doctor of Divinity honoris causa by the Graduate Theological Foundation for his long commitment and service to ecumenism and theological dialogue within the Church and across faith communities and for his outstanding years of service to the GTF.  He currently serves as a professor of ecumenical theology at the Pontifical Atheneum of St. Anselm (Rome), the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (“Angelicum”), and the Institute of Ecumenical Studies (Venice), and has also taught at the Pontifical University Antonianum (Rome). He is a member of the Diocesan Ecumenical Commission for Rome and is a former member of the Lutheran/Roman Catholic Dialogue in Washington, D.C.

 

Dr. Puglisi has served as a consultant for the first bilateral forum of the World Council of Churches and currently is a member of the Vatican delegation for the formulation of the yearly texts for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and Ecumenical Consultant for the Rome Diocesan Commission for the Catechumenate. In addition to his books, A Bibliography of Inter-Church and Inter-Confessional Theological Dialogue and Process of Admission to Ordained Ministry (Centro Pro Unione, 1984) in four volumes, he has published articles in the Journal of Ecumenical Studies, La Maison Dieu, Ecumenical Trends, Studi Ecumenici, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Ecclesiology, and book reviews in Religious Studies Review, Worship, La Maison Dieu, Journal of Ecumenical Studies, and the Journal of the American Academy of Religion. Dr. Puglisi co-wrote the preface to the 2006 book, Rites of Ordination and Commitment in the Churches of the Nordic Countries (Museum Tusculanum Press, 2006). In 2004, Dr. Puglisi was elected Minister General of his order, the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement, and served two five-year terms.