Washington, DC – Pax Christi USA, the national Catholic peace movement, has named Lauren Agresti, Senior Counsel and Director of Legal Services for the Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition (TASSC), as the recipient of this year’s Sr. Dianna Ortiz, OSU Peacemaker Award.
The annual award is given to a young adult (under 40) whose life and work exemplifies the commitment to justice, contemplative presence, faith-based activism, compassion, and prophetic, nonviolent witness of 2000 Teacher of Peace awardee and former staff member Sr. Dianna Ortiz, OSU (1958-2021).
The announcement of this year’s award is taking place during Torture Awareness Month; June 22-27 is TASSC’s Survivors of Torture week. The ceremony to present the award will take place on an occasion later this year, date and location to be determined.
In November 1989, Sr. Dianna (left) was a missionary in Guatemala when she was kidnapped and brutally tortured by military forces; she spent years bravely pushing the US government to tell the truth about her excruciating experience. In 1998, she drew on her own ordeal to found TASSC, which provides tools and assistance for torture survivors to advocate for themselves, to raise awareness of the ongoing use of torture around the world, and to change laws and customs. Sr. Dianna had a deep commitment and abiding love for young people, as an educator and teacher, and coordinating the Pax Christi USA internship program.
“Lauren’s work is a powerful expression of faith-based activism, based in a lifelong Catholic identity and formation at institutions like Georgetown University Law Center and Archbishop Spalding High School,” said Pax Christi USA Executive Director Charlene Howard. “Her Catholic upbringing clearly guides her efforts to connect with the wider network, as both a law professional and as a supportive member of the community. Pax Christi is proud to honor Lauren, a strong example of a young adult peacemaker whose life and work exemplify the prophetic spirit of Sr. Dianna.”
In selecting her for this year’s award, the Pax Christi USA national council was impressed that Lauren’s commitment to justice is not merely professional but also rooted in a faith – it is practiced at the frontlines of a legal system which many legal scholars characterize as at risk from active attempts to undermine due process. In 2025, a year of significant challenges, she led a team of five dedicated legal professionals to represent 105 survivors of torture and their families. In an environment where asylum eligibility is continuously narrowed, Lauren remained steadfast, securing with the help of her team 16 asylum grants that restored survivors’ safety and reclaimed the futures of dozens of their family members.
“She does not simply process cases,” said Aymen Tabir, TASSC Executive Director, “she defends the fundamental rights of survivors and the broader community.”
“Sr. Dianna survived torture and spent the rest of her life refusing to let anyone else face that darkness alone,” said Lauren in response to the news that she had been named this year’s award recipient. “To receive an award in her name, doing the work she helped make possible, means more to me than I can fully convey. The survivors I’ve represented rebuilt their lives after everything was taken from them, and they did so with a measure of courage and resilience I will never match. My job was to ensure the legal system heard their stories, so they could become the peacemakers our nation so desperately needs. I share this honor with them.”
