2022: Marie Dennis

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2022 CRISPAZ Peace Award graphic
Marie Dennis biography graphic

Marie has visited El Salvador many times, both during and after the war, particularly during her years with Maryknoll and the Center for New Creation. She was deeply influenced by the witness and spirituality of the Salvadoran people. More recently, she has traveled to El Salvador with several of her grandchildren to introduce them to the country and people she so admires.

Marie was named Person of the Year by the National Catholic Reporter in 2016. She holds a master’s degree in moral theology from Washington Theological Union and honorary doctorates from Trinity Washington University and Alvernia University.

She serves on the Vatican’s COVID 19 Commission and the steering committee of the Catholic Peacebuilding Network. She has previously served on the national boards of CRISPAZ, the Religious Task Force on Central America and Mexico, the Washington Office on Latin America, the Latin America Working Group, Just Faith Ministries, the Alliance for Peacebuilding, Sojourners magazine and other organizations.

She is a laywoman a secular Franciscan, a mother of six and a grandmother of nine. She strives to live simply while working for social transformation. Before moving to Assisi Community, where she continues to live, Marie and her family lived and worked on a 65- acre organic farm in Virginia.

Location of Tuesday, October 25 event 6-8 pm

Tuesday evening’s event will take place in Caldwell Auditorium, located on the main floor in Caldwell Hall (can be found on Google Maps) on the Catholic University of America campus. Enter the building at the main entrance on the south side (shown on the map), and the Auditorium is right there.

There is free parking on Harewood Drive, and it is a short walk from where the event is held.

instructions for attending the 2022 CRISPAZ Peace Award event
The Peter Hinde CRISPAZ Peace Award graphic

About the Award

Our annual peace award will henceforth be known as the Peter Hinde CRISPAZ Peace Award, in honor of our co-founder,Fr. Peter Joseph Hinde O. Carm. (1923-2020) and his lifelong commitment to peace and justice for the marginalized.

Inspired by the testimony of the martyrs of El Salvador, the CRISPAZ Peace Award was established in 2009 to recognize individuals or organizations that embody the preferential option for the poor in their work for the promotion of peace and social justice.

CRISPAZ has for more than three decades enabled thousands of individuals, many from North America, to accompany the Salvadoran people in their ongoing struggle for peace rooted in justice and compassion.

2022 Event Sponsors

Romero Circle

  • The Principals Association of Victorian Catholic Secondary Schools
  • Ignatian Solidarity Network
  • Pat McSweeney
  • Marthea Jager
  • Lloyd and Caroline Sheaffer
  • Rev. Daniel Long
  • Maria Antonieta y Manuel Berrizabal
  • Ted & Diane Von Der Ahe
  • Dr. Thomas Kunkel
  • Kate Carter and Ann Magovern

Rutilio Grande Circle

  • Cathy Cornell and Paul Knitter
  • Julie and David Clarke 
  • The Jesuit Center at the University of Scranton

Celina and Elba Ramos Circle

  • Scott Wright and Jean Stokan
  • Tabor House
  • Jesuit Community Nogales
  • Paul Ryan
  • Dave Semmens, O. Carm

  • 2021 Casa de la Soliradidad Education program that worked with Salvadoran communities (1999 to 2017)
  • 2020 Sr. Betty Campbell R.S.M and Fr. Peter Hinde O.Carm. (1923 -2020) Long-time peace activist.
  • 2019 Jean Stokan and Scott Wright. Long-time peace activist.
  • 2018 Fr. Jon Sobrino S.J. renowned Liberation Theologian and Professor since 1964 at The University of Central American in San Salvador.
  • 2017 Fr. Paul Schindler Long-time missionary with Cleveland Mission Society in El Salvador
  • 2016 Fr. Tom Smolich S.J. International Director of Jesuit Refugee Services
  • 2015 Hospitalito The Carmelite sisters at the Divine Providence Chapel
  • 2014 Asociacion ProBusqueda. Organization that investigates cases of the forced disappearances of children during El Salvador’s civil war.
  • 2013 COFAMIDE The Salvadoran Committee of Relatives of Killed or Disappeared Migrants
  • 2012 CoMadres Committee of Mothers and Relatives of Prisoners, the Disappeared and the Politically Assassinated of El Salvador
  • 2011 Fr. Dean Brackley, S.J. theology professor at the UCA, and pastoral minister to the rural community of Jayaque, La Libertad
  • 2010 Sr. Peggy O’Neill director of the Art Center for Peace in Suchitoto
  • 2009 Centro Monseñor Romero at the University of Central America (UCA)