Javier Bustamante
Director, Center for Cultural Engagement, Catholic University of America
Javier Bustamante is responsible for implementing, coordinating and supporting a comprehensive program of social, cultural, intellectual, spiritual, governance and community service programs that complement the academic mission of the university.

As the director, Javier serves as a management leader and educator for Intercultural programs and services; serves as a resource for staff and students; supports and promotes the mission and vision of Catholic University; and contributes positively to the Catholic University community of research, teaching, learning and service to the Church, the nation and the world.

Javier is originally from Peru and has been involved in work with multicultural communities for over a decade.

William Canny
Executive Director, Migration & Refugee Services, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
Mr William Canny has been Executive Director of Migration and Refugee Services (MRS) of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) since 2015. From 1983-1997, he managed and executed relief and development operations in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East with Catholic Relief Services (CRS). As International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC) Secretary General (1998-2004), he was responsible for programs in war-torn communities in Kosovo, Albania, Afghanistan, Indonesia and East Timor.

From 2006-2009, Canny served as CRS country representative in Haiti, where he oversaw programs in HIV-Aids, health, education, agriculture, disaster-preparedness and response, forced migration and human rights. From 2010-2012, he directed CRS emergency operations in global prevention, preparedness, protection and response operations including CRS’s initial response to the Haiti earthquake of 2010. During 2013 and 2014, Mr. Canny directed daily operations for the Papal Foundation, which contributes funding to the Vatican for poverty alleviation initiatives around the world.

David Cronin
Senior Policy and Legislative Specialist, Catholic Relief Services
Dave is a senior policy and legislative specialist based in Washington, D.C. He works with Congress and the administration to advance CRS’ public policy and advocacy efforts related to foreign assistance appropriations, Latin America and the Caribbean, and vulnerable people on the move. Prior to CRS, David worked in campus ministry at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia and served as a Jesuit volunteer at Homeboy Industries, the largest gang intervention, rehab and re-entry program in the world. He holds an M.A. in development economics and human security from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and a B.A. in theology and history from Boston College.

Jessica Estrada
Director for Newcomer Services, Catholic Charities Diocese of Arlington
Jessica Estrada is currently the Director of Newcomer Services at Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Arlington. She started her career path as a college intern from Valparaiso University in the Migration and Refugee Services (MRS) office 20 years ago when she was majoring in International Service and Theology. She got her Master’s in Education from George Mason University in Counseling and Human Development in 2009. After several years with MRS, she returned to her native Alabama to work in Catholic health care with Ascension St. Vincent’s for 9 years. During that time, she developed and implemented various community outreach activities including access to care programs for the uninsured, a private post-secondary education academy that trained individuals in healthcare careers, a community clergy wellness initiative, Hispanic health outreach, and various other community health events.

Drawn back to a calling with immigrants and refugees, she accepted the Director position with Catholic Charities in July of 2019. Being familiar with Catholic Charities significantly helped the learning curve in this new role and she was even more thrilled to see old colleagues still serving the community. Newcomer Services of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Arlington includes: Migration and Refugee Services, Hogar Immigrant Services – Legal, Education and Workforce Development and Family Reunification ministries. All programs aim to assist immigrants and refugees with resources and skills to flourish.

Dr. David Hollenbach
Senior Fellow and Pedro Arrupe Distinguished Research Professor, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
David Hollenbach, S.J. is the Pedro Arrupe Distinguished Research Professor in the Walsh School of Foreign Service and Senior Fellow of the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs at Georgetown University. He previously held the University Chair in Human Rights and International Justice and was Director of the Center for Human Rights and International Justice at Boston College. In 2015 he held the Cary and Ann Maguire Chair in Ethics and American History at the John W. Kluge Center for Scholars at the Library of Congress. He received a B.S. in Physics from St. Joseph's University, an M.A. and Ph.L. in Philosophy from St. Louis University, an M.Div. from Woodstock College, and the Ph. D. in Religious Ethics from Yale University in 1975.

He works on human rights and humanitarian issues, largely in Africa, teaching regularly at Hekima University College in Nairobi, Kenya, and also at the Jesuit Philosophy Institute in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and at the East Asian Pastoral Institute in Manila, Philippines. He collaborates with the Jesuit Refugee Service on the human rights of displaced persons. He has conducted workshops for parliamentarians and for church leaders in South Sudan on human rights in their newly independent country. He approaches these issues in a way shaped by Catholic social thought, contemporary theology, and moral philosophy, as well as by social science approaches.

Sr. Tracey Horan
KINO Border Institute (Arizona/Nogales Mexico)
Sister Tracey is a native of Indianapolis. Currently, she ministers as the Associate Director of Education and Advocacy for the Kino Border Initiative in Nogales, Ariz. Prior to that, she ministered as a community organizer with Faith in Indiana, formerly IndyCAN, and the Archdiocese of Indianapolis Justice for Immigrants Campaign.

Sister Tracey entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Providence of St. Mary-of-the-Woods on September 8, 2014. She professed first vows on June 25, 2017. She graduated from Roncalli High School in Indianapolis and earned a degree from the University of Dayton in Ohio. Sister Tracey’s hidden secret is that she has a musical background.

Guerline M. Jozef
Founder and Executive Director, Haitian Bridge Alliance, San Diego, CA
Guerline M Jozef is a human rights advocate who dedicates her life to bringing awareness to issues that affect us all locally and globally, such as immigration, domestic violence, child sexual abuse, and other human rights issues. She is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA), a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that advocates for fair and humane immigration policies. HBA provides migrants and immigrants with humanitarian, deportation defense, legal, and social services. It has a particular focus on Black immigrants from the Caribbean and Africa, the Haitian community, women and girls, LGBTQA+ individuals, and survivors of torture and other human rights abuses. Ms. Jozef was named one of POLITICO’s 2021 40 Most Influential People on Race, Politics, and Policy in the United States for her leadership and is the recipient of prestigious awards—most recently, the Las Americas’ 2021 Border Heroes Award, the 2021 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, the 2022 National Haitian-American Elected Officials Network Community Champion Award and the 2022 American Immigration Lawyers Association’s Arthur C. Helton Human Rights Award.

Dr. Peter K. Kilpatrick
President, The Catholic University of America
Dr. Peter K. Kilpatrick was appointed president of The Catholic University of America in March 2022 and took office on July 1, 2022. He was provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Illinois Institute of Technology from 2018 to 2022 and previously served as professor and McCloskey Dean of Engineering at the University of Notre Dame from 2008 to 2018. Dr. Kilpatrick is the recipient of numerous teaching and research awards, including the ASEE Regional Teaching Award. He holds an honorary doctorate from the Pázmány Péter Catholic University (Budapest, Hungary), the oldest university in that country. He is past chairperson of the Global Engineering Deans Council and serves as the chairperson of the Clover 2030 International Advisory Board, an initiative focused on reinventing engineering education in Chile. He received his A.B. in chemistry from Occidental College (summa cum laude) in 1978 and his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1983. He and his wife, Nancy, are the parents of four adult children.

Maria Celina Márquez
Policy Advisor, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops/Migration and Refugee Services
Maria Celina Márquez is a Policy Advisor at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops/Migration and Refugee Services (USCCB/MRS). She was born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley region of South Texas. She graduated with honors from St. Edwards University in Austin, Texas with degrees in Psychology and Spanish, and earned her Juris Doctorate from the George Washington University Law School in Washington, D.C. During her time at George Washington University, she served as a student attorney at the Immigration Clinic of the Jacob Burns Community Legal Clinic, where she represented clients seeking various forms of relief, including asylum. She has clerked for Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid in Edinburg, Texas and for immigration law firms in Washington, D.C. and Virginia. Currently, her advocacy work with USCCB/MRS focuses on border issues and services for unaccompanied children.

Dr. Maria Mazzenga
Curator, American Catholic History Collection, Catholic University of America
Maria Mazzenga has served as Curator of the American Catholic History Research Center since 2019. Prior to that, she served as Education Archivist since 2005. She holds a Ph.D. in U.S. History from Catholic University, where she is an adjunct instructor in the Department of History and Department of Library and Information Science. She has created and managed the development of 30 primary document websites related to the American Catholic experience and works extensively in digital curation and public access with respect to archival materials. Her research and publications focus on archival outreach and education, and on U.S. society and culture in the 1920-1950 period. Her publications include American Religious Responses to Kristallnacht (Palgrave MacMillan 2009) and Washington 101: An Introduction to the Nation’s Capital (co-authored) (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014).

Giulia McPherson
Vice President of Advocacy & Operations, Jesuit Refugee Service/USA
Giulia McPherson is the Vice President of Advocacy and Operations at Jesuit Refugee Service/USA. She has 20 years of leadership experience in the humanitarian and development sectors and currently leads JRS/USA’s policy and advocacy portfolio, community engagement program to educate and mobilize advocates, and institutional operations.

Prior to joining JRS/USA in 2015, Giulia was with CARE USA for over 10 years. She has a Bachelors in Political Science from Villanova University and a Masters in International Development Studies from The George Washington University. She serves as Chair of the Board of Directors for Educate2Envision International, Chair of the Board of Directors for AMP Global Youth, a program of Americans for Informed Democracy, and Treasurer of the Board of Directors for Magis Americas. Giulia received the 2022 Distinguished Alumna Award from her alma mater, the Academy of the Holy Cross, and was honored as a Top 20 in 2022 Advocacy Professional from the Advocacy Association and one of The Hill’s Top Lobbyists in 2023.

Bishop Evelio Menjiva-Ayala
Auxiliary Bishop of Washington
Bishop Evelio Menjivar was born August 14, 1970, in Chalatenango, El Salvador. He migrated to the United States in 1990. Bishop Menjivar attended St. John Vianney College Seminary in Miami, Florida, receiving a bachelor’s degree in philosophy. He attended the North American College in Rome and obtained a master’s degree in theology from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome (“Angelicum”) in 2002. He was ordained to the priesthood for The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington on May 29, 2004.

Bishop Menjivar’s assignments in The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington have included posts as parochial vicar at Mother Seton Catholic Church in Germantown; St. Bartholomew Catholic Church in Bethesda; the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington; and as administrator of Our Lady Queen of the Americas Catholic Church in Washington. From 2017 to 2023, he served as pastor of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Landover Hills. He speaks English, Spanish and Italian. During his ministry, he has actively supported workers and promoted social justice for immigrants. Bishop Menjivar was ordained as an auxiliary bishop of Washington on February 21, 2023, by Cardinal Wilton Gregory at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle.

Father Leo Perez
USCCB, Director for Nat’l Collections for Church in Latin America
Father Leo Perez O.M.I. is director of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Collection for the Church in Latin America. His previous ministry was with the Pontifical Mission Societies in New York City. He has a doctorate in moral theology from the Gregorian University and was a professor for 24 years at Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas where he was also director of the Oblate Lourdes Grotto. A native Texan, his first assignment was four years in the Pastoral Juvenil of the Archdiocese of Puebla, Mexico.

Dr. Todd Scribner
Assistant Director of Education and Outreach at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Department of Migration and Refugee Services
Dr. Scribner works on the intersection between migration policy, U.S. history and the Catholic ethics; manages partnerships and research projects with major institutions, including the University of Notre Dame, the Catholic University of America, and Princeton University; and oversees the development and distribution of policy and pastoral resources for Church-related initiatives, including National Migration Week, World Refugee Day, and the Vatican’s World Day for Migrants and Refugees. He is editor of an award winning, cross-disciplinary book on migration, On Strangers No Longer: Perspectives on the Historic U.S.-Mexican Catholic Bishops’ Pastoral Letter on Migration, and authored a second book on the Catholic Church during the Reagan era: A Partisan Church: American Catholicism and the Rise of Neoconservative Catholics. Todd has also published numerous articles in popular magazines/newspapers and for academically oriented journals, including the National Catholic Reporter, the National Catholic Register, The U.S. Catholic Historian, and The Catholic Historical Review.

Bishop Mark Seitz
Bishop of El Paso & Chair of Committee on Migration, USCCB
The Most Reverend Mark J. Seitz, D.D. was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the eldest of ten children. He was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Dallas in 1980 after receiving his B.A. in Philosophy as well as a Master of Divinity and an M.A. in Theology from the University of Dallas. Bishop Seitz also received an M.A. in Liturgical Studies at St. John’s University in Minnesota. ​After ordination, Bishop Seitz served as a pastor at parishes in Garland, Waxahachie, and Dallas, Texas. He also taught Liturgy and Sacramental Theology at the University of Dallas and served as vice-rector and director of liturgy at Holy Trinity Seminary. Bishop Seitz was named prelate of honor to his holiness by Pope St. John Paul II in 2004.

In 2010, Pope Benedict XVI elevated Bishop Seitz to the Office of Bishop. Bishop Seitz was ordained and appointed as the Auxiliary Bishop of Dallas. In 2013, Pope Francis appointed Bishop Seitz as the sixth Bishop of El Paso. As a prelate serving a borderland community whose sister city is Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, the bishop has focused his work and heart on the poor and vulnerable, including migrant families and refugees who have made their home in this region or who choose the community as their point of passage. The bishop believes that migrants add inestimable value to the communities where they choose to live and that parishes and community members should welcome them with compassion, love and solidarity.

Sr. Sharlet Ann Wagner
Catholic Charities D.C. Welcoming Efforts & Challenges
Sister Sharlet Ann Wagner has dedicated her time and experiences to ministry efforts, which have fueled her passion for connecting with strangers and helping those less fortunate. Sister Sharlet is a lawyer who has worked on immigration issues in California and Utah. She has provided pro bono immigration services at various detention centers and worked with detention personnel to establish services guidelines. In the 1990s, she completed a summer internship with Catholic Charities’ Immigration Legal Services. This experience was a defining moment in her decision to pursue immigration law and actively advocate for the treatment of migrants and refugees. In her previous role with the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross, she served as a co-director of the congregation’s International Leadership Development Program and was a liaison to Holy Cross Sisters in the African region. As executive director of Newcomer Network, Sister Sharlet provides strategic leadership on service and practices, oversees a collaboration of services with other Catholic Charities programs and partners, and manages operations and staff.

Christy Williams
Director, Social Policy and Government Affairs, Catholic Charities USA
Christy Williams serves as Director of Social Policy and Government Affairs for Catholic Charities USA. Her extensive experience in advocating for vulnerable populations spans over a decade. In her current capacity, she oversees the development and implementation of various policy priorities, including immigration, criminal justice reform and reentry, anti-trafficking, and racial equity, for the Catholic Charities network.

Previously, Christy served as staff attorney for the Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc. (CLINIC) for six years. During her tenure, she managed the state policy portfolio, provided support to state Catholic Conference directors on immigration matters, and represented religious workers in their work visa application process. Before joining CLINIC, Christy represented a diverse group of foreign nationals, including survivors of gender-based violence, asylum seekers, and unaccompanied children, as they navigated the complex immigration system.

Christy graduated with a juris doctor degree from Western Michigan University Cooley Law School and holds a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from Metropolitan State University of St. Paul, MN.

Professor Julia Young
Department of History, Catholic University of America
Dr. Young is a historian of migration, Mexico and Latin America, and Catholicism in the Americas. Her prize-winning book, Mexican Exodus: Emigrants, Exiles, and Refugees of the Cristero War (Oxford University Press, 2015), examines Mexican religious exiles, political refugees, and labor emigrants in the United States during Mexico’s Cristero war. She co-edited Local Church, Global Church: Catholic Activism in Latin America from Rerum Novarum to Vatican II (The Catholic University of America Press, 2015). She has published scholarly articles in The Americas, The Catholic Historical Review, Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos, Modernism, and the Journal on Migration and Human Security. Dr. Young has been a fellow at the Kluge Center at the Library of Congress, as well as the Institute for Policy Research at Catholic University. In 2020-2021, she was a fellow at the Luce/ACLS Program in Religion, Journalism & International Affairs. She is currently researching a new book about right-wing Catholicism in Mexico during the twentieth century, and she frequently writes for the media about immigration, border issues, and Catholic immigration history.