April 8, 2026<\/p>\n
Meghan J. Clark, Ph.D.<\/a>, Professor and Assistant Chair,\u00a0Department of Theology and Religious Studies<\/a>, St. John\u2019s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences<\/a>, has been named to a prestigious Vatican social justice ministry\u2014the\u00a0Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n A globally recognized expert in\u00a0Catholic social teaching<\/a> and moral theology, Dr. Clark is one of 11 new members of the dicastery,\u00a0established by\u00a0Pope Francis<\/a> in 2016. The dicastery, an administrative office within the\u00a0Roman Curia<\/a>\u2014the central governing body of the Church\u2014supports the Church\u2019s efforts in\u00a0human rights, economic justice, environmental stewardship, migration, humanitarian crises, and more.<\/p>\n The dicastery is led by\u00a0Cardinal Michael Czerny, S.J<\/a>. Together, members contribute to the body\u2019s discussions on the Church\u2019s humanitarian mission and priorities.<\/p>\n Dr. Clark is one of four prominent American theologians whose elevations to the dicastery by\u00a0Pope Leo XIV<\/a> were announced on March 30. Joining Dr. Clark are\u00a0Rev. Daniel Groody, C.S.C., Ph.D.<\/a>, Vice President and Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education, the University of Notre Dame;\u00a0L\u00e9ocadie Lushombo, Ph.D.<\/a>, Assistant Professor of Theological Ethics, the Jesuit School of Theology, Santa Clara University; and\u00a0Dylan Corbett<\/a>, Executive Director, the Hope Border Institute in El Paso, Texas.<\/p>\n Mr. Corbett received the\u00a0St. Vincent de Paul Medal<\/a> at St. John\u2019s 2024\u00a0Vincentian Convocation<\/a> for his years of work with refugees along the US-Mexico border.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI am\u00a0honored and humbled to be appointed by the Holy Father, and welcome the opportunity to collaborate, serve, and support the important work being done by Cardinal Czerny and the entire dicastery,\u201d Dr. Clark said. \u201cI am humbled to be alongside such esteemed\u00a0colleagues\u2014all deeply committed to promoting the social teachings of the Church\u2014with particular attention to the dignity of the marginalized, especially migrants; the common good, and integral ecology.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Dr. Clark has been a St. John\u2019s faculty member since 2011. In 2022, she worked with the dicastery\u2019s division for migrants and refugees on a project titled \u201cDoing Theology from the Existential Peripheries<\/a>.\u201d That project built on the belief that people from marginalized backgrounds possess a wisdom capable of nurturing and advancing Christian thought.<\/p>\n She\u00a0has worked with the Vatican in other roles, including serving on a team assisting the\u00a0Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity<\/a> and serving as an expert for the\u00a0Holy See\u2019s Mission to the United Nations<\/a>.<\/p>\n Dr. Clark\u2019s new assignment takes that 2022 research effort to new depths. Under Popes Francis and Leo XIV, the Vatican has increasingly highlighted the just treatment of migrants as a defining issue for the Church.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAs a moral theologian, I work on Catholic social teaching, seeking to examine the intersections of human dignity, solidarity, and development,\u201d Dr. Clark said. \u201cI am grateful for the opportunity to serve the dicastery and the Church in this new way.\u201d<\/p>\n Teresa Delgado, Ph.D.<\/a>, Dean, St. John\u2019s College, and Professor, Department of Theology and Religious Studies, said the Vatican appointment reflects Dr. Clark\u2019s exceptional scholarship and her commitment to the principles of St. John\u2019s\u00a0Vincentian mission<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe are honored that one of our own will bring her expertise and pastoral heart to this vital Vatican dicastery, serving alongside distinguished colleagues from around the world to advance the Church\u2019s social teaching,\u201d Dean Delgado said. \u201cIt is a testament to the caliber of Dr. Clark\u2019s scholarship and the\u00a0service<\/a> that defines the St. John\u2019s\u00a0faculty<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"April 8, 2026 Meghan J. Clark, Ph.D., Professor and Assistant Chair,\u00a0Department of Theology and Religious Studies, St. John\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":189829,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":{"0":"post-189828","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-queens","12":"tag-queens-headlines","13":"tag-queens-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}