Cullen Larson works with Palestinian children living in Deheisee refugee camp in Bethlehem.
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Larson serves as lector at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, West Bank.
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“We may balance it differently, but we’re all called to be contemplative activists. ... How we pray, is how we believe, is how we live.” – Cullen Larson, M.P.S. ’08 14
After working in law, local government and economic development, Cullen Larson made a career change that reflects his commitment to “a faith that does justice.” Larson works as a program officer and advocate for the Southeast Region of Catholic Relief Services, the international relief and development agency of the U.S. Catholic Church. His primary focus is on CRS legislative advocacy priorities affecting the poor overseas. As part of CRS’s humanitarian relief, development and peace‐building work, Larson recently traveled to Jerusalem‐West Bank‐Gaza as background for supporting the U.S. Bishops’ Campaign for Peace in the Holy Land. The Atlanta‐based agency’s priorities also include international food aid and food security programs, funding for HIV and AIDS programs overseas, comprehensive immigration reform, and peace‐building efforts. Larson earned a B.A. in theology and philosophy from Loyola University New Orleans, J.D. from Emory University School of Law, and Master of Public Administration from the University of Georgia. He added to his collection of master’s degrees in May when he graduated from Spring Hill College’s Atlanta program with a Master of Pastoral Studies. “The Spring Hill theology and spirituality experience has reinforced a strong foundation Spring Hill College • Summer 2008
for my work,” Larson said. “CRS allows me to integrate my life and work with a focus on applying Catholic social teaching.” In addition to his work with CRS, Larson has been active in his parish, including visiting Haiti to help establish a partnership with a rural Haitian parish. Larson’s other international experiences include his brief service as an economic development instructor in China. For Larson there is “no real separation of faith and social action,” he said. “We may balance it differently, but we’re all called to be contemplative activists. ... How we pray, is how we believe, is how we live.” Larson said he believes social justice is an extension of how we relate to one another as one human family. “Social justice has to do with whether my faith makes any difference,” he added. Being a good citizen, Larson said, requires a mature faith, one that questions and develops. “I would say that social and political engagement is an important dimension of an incarnational faith,” he said. “Humans are both sacred and social, so government is a tool we use for building the common good. ... Catholic social teaching across the spectrum of life, justice and peace issues challenges every voter, party and candidacy.”