A Monumental Moment in Time
Ave Maria Law reached a special moment in history. Members of Ave
Maria Law had the opportunity to travel to Rome to participate in the Forum of Catholicinspired Non-Governmental Organizations focused on human rights. Staff and faculty included President and Dean Kevin Cieply, Professors Brian Scarnecchia and Ligia Castaldi and Ave Maria Law’s Chaplain Monsignor Frank McGrath. Professor Scarnecchia gave an impactful talk reporting on the two year-long work of the Human Rights working group comprised of Catholic Inspired NGOs (non-governmental organizations) accredited with the United Nations from around the world.
Pope Francis with a group of eighty individuals at the Rome Forum, including the Ave Maria Law group.
Ave Maria Law students Jennifer Sosa ’20, Carmen Tate ’21, and Joseph Krawczyk ’21 have worked with the Rome Forum one semester each over the course of a year (spring, summer, and fall of 2019 respectively) to help research and finalize the content of the final report from the seven working groups — i.e., on human rights, development, health care, education, migration and youth — as well as facilitate two lead up conferences in Rome and the final general assembly of the Rome Forum. Ave Maria Law’s contribution in this regard was publicly acknowledged by the president of the Forum Committee before the general assembly. We’re extremely proud of our alumnus, Geoffrey Strickland ‘09, for all of his work in organizing this forum. Geoffrey works full-time at the Vatican and is an example of the caliber of students we train at the law school to go out in the world as noble citizens. Pope Francis received members of the Catholic NGO’s in the Vatican, including our group from Ave Maria Law.
Advocate | 2020
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