Cardinal Blase Cupich, Rev. Jennifer Butler, and Ambassador Rashad Hussain to Address 2023 Parliament Convening
The Parliament of the World’s Religions welcomes the participation of Cardinal Blase Cupich, Rev. Jennifer Butler, and Ambassador Rashad Hussain to the 2023 Parliament of the World’s Religions, gathering in Chicago, USA from August 14-18, 2023.
Cardinal Cupich, Rev. Butler, and Ambassador Hussain are featured luminaries at the 2023 Parliament Convening, adding their voices to the diverse cohort of local, national, and international luminaries answering the call to conscience to defend freedom and human rights.
Cardinal Blase Cupich
Cardinal Blase J. Cupich is an American prelate of the Catholic Church, a cardinal who serves as the ninth archbishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago.
Cardinal Cupich was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Omaha on August 16, 1975. He was pastor of two parishes in Omaha. He was appointed Bishop of Rapid City, South Dakota by Pope John Paul II on July 7, 1998, and was ordained and installed on September 21, 1998. He was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as the sixth Bishop of Spokane, Washington on June 30, 2010, and installed on September 3, 2010. Cardinal Cupich was appointed Archbishop of Chicago by Pope Francis on September 20, 2014 and installed as the ninth Archbishop of Chicago on November 18, 2014.
On October 9, 2016, Pope Francis named him a Cardinal and he was elevated to the College of Cardinals in a consistory on November 19, 2016, at St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. Additionally, Cardinal Cupich was Secretary at the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, D.C. from 1981-1987, and served as Chair for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People from 2008-2011 and for the National Catholic Educational Association from 2013-2015.
Pope Francis appointed Cardinal Cupich to the Dicastery for Bishops (2016) and the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (2022). Cardinal Cupich also serves on the USCCB Committee on migration and refugee services and Subcommittee for the Church in Central and Eastern Europe. He is a consultant to the USCCB Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs Committee and Co-Chair of the National Dialogue Initiative with Muslims. He is an Executive Member of The Catholic Mutual Relief Society and Chancellor of the Catholic Church Extension Society, and the University of St. Mary of the Lake, Mundelein, Illinois.
Rev. Jennifer Butler
Rev. Jennifer Butler is the founding Executive Director of Faith in Public Life and the former chair of the White House Council on Faith and Neighborhood Partnerships. Before leading FPL Jennifer spent ten years working in the field of international human rights representing the Presbyterian Church (USA) at the United Nations and is an ordained minister. While mobilizing religious communities to address the AIDS pandemic and advocate for women’s rights she grew passionate about the need to counter religious extremism with a strong religious argument for human rights. Out of that experience she wrote Born Again: The Christian Right Globalized, which was published by University of Michigan Press. Her book calls for a progressive religious response to Religious Right efforts to take the culture wars global.
Jennifer served in the Peace Corps from 1989 to 1991 in a Mayan village in Belize, Central America where she discovered she was at heart a community organizer.
Jennifer and her husband Glenn together run Iona Conversations, a Christian spiritual community in downtown Washington DC. When not dreaming up ways to amplify a social justice faith voice, Jennifer loves camping, hiking and biking with her husband and son.
Ambassador Rashad Hussain
Ambassador Rashad Hussain serves as principal advisor to the Secretary and advisor to the President on religious freedom conditions and policy. He leads the Department’s efforts to monitor religious freedom abuses, persecution, and discrimination worldwide. He also oversees policies and programs to address these concerns and works to build diverse and dynamic partnerships with the broadest range of civil society, with equitable and meaningful inclusion of faith actors globally.
Prior to this appointment, Hussain was Director at the National Security Council’s Partnerships and Global Engagement Directorate. From 2015 to 2021, he served as Senior Counsel at the Department of Justice’s National Security Division.
President Obama appointed Hussain to serve as his Special Envoy to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), U.S. Special Envoy for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications, and Deputy Associate White House Counsel. In his roles as envoy, Hussain advised on foreign policy issues and worked with multilateral organizations to expand partnerships in education, entrepreneurship, health, international security, science and technology, and other areas. He also spearheaded efforts on countering antisemitism and protecting Christians and other religious minorities in Muslim-majority countries.
Answer the Call to Defend Freedom & Human Rights
Cardinal Blase Cupich, Rev. Jennifer Butler, and Ambassador Rashad Hussain are answering the call to conscience at the 2023 Parliament of the World’s Religions; join them in Chicago this August!
Learn more and register today.
