WASHINGTON—As part of its Annual Symposium, The Roundtable Association of Diocesan Social Action Directors will present Joan Rosenhauer, Associate Director of the Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) with the Harry A. Fagan Roundtable Award at the Hyatt Regency Hotel on Capitol Hill at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, February 21. The Roundtable selects one awardee annually who has made a lasting contribution to Catholic social action efforts, in light of Church teaching.

Most recent among her accomplishments, Rosenhauer had lead staff responsibility for the collaborative effort among many offices and bishops' committees at the USCCB in developing their 2007 document Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, which aimed to educate Catholics on the social teachings of the Church in order for them to make morally responsible choices in their political participation. Rosenhauer was able to help bring to fruition a statement that garnered widespread support among the U.S. bishops who voted almost unanimously in favor of its acceptance.

The document sold almost two million copies prior to the election. It reached people in parishes in almost every diocese in the country with Rosenhauer touring much of the nation herself, teaching about the document and training others to share its teaching as well.

In addition, in her role as Special Projects Coordinator at the USCCB's Department of Social Development and World Peace (now integrated within Justice, Peace and Human Development), Rosenhauer helped to change the way social ministry is done in the Church by working to bring Catholic social teaching into the mainstream tradition and life of the Church. She helped to develop the bishops' document Sharing Catholic Social Teaching: Challenges and Directions and worked extensively with Catholic educators and publishers to institute it, impacting the way in which Catholic social teaching is taught throughout the country.

She also worked on the document Everyday Christianity: To Hunger and Thirst for Justice and produced the video, In the Footsteps of Jesus, as a means of helping lay Catholics to understand and incorporate Catholic social teaching into their daily lives. She has worked on countless other bishops' documents including those related to global solidarity, parish social ministry, poverty, the death penalty, and the moral and ethical dimensions of food and agriculture policy.

Ninety diocesan social action directors are expected to attend the 2009 Roundtable Symposium. The Roundtable Association of Diocesan Social Action Directors is the professional association of Catholic diocesan social action staff. The organization sponsors conferences and symposia for diocesan social action directors and promotes networking among these staffs. For more information, contact Hope Villella at 212-431-7825.

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