WASHINGTON (May 12, 1997) — Father John F. Hotchkin, executive director of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB), will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from The Catholic University of America.

The degree will be conferred on Father Hotchkin at the university's 108th commencement, Saturday, May 17. Catholic University, the nation's only university established by the Catholic Bishops of the United States, was founded in 1887.

Father Hotchkin, a priest of the Chicago archdiocese, studied at St. Mary of the Lake Seminary, Mundelein, Illinois, and at the North American College in Rome. He was ordained in 1959.

After serving in pastoral assignments in the Archdiocese of Chicago, Father Hotchkin did postgraduate work in the field of ecumenical theology. He holds a doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

Father Hotchkin joined the staff of the Secretariat of the Bishops' Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs in 1967. He has been Executive Director of the Secretariat since April 1, 1971.

The Secretariat staffs the committee which represents the NCCB in its relations with other churches and religious bodies at the national level. The committee also handles relationships with various units of the National Council of Churches and provides Catholic consultants to the Consultation on Church Union. Several bishops on the committee serve as co-conveners and participants in meetings and dialogues with Jews, Muslims, and Buddhists each year.

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