Pax Christi USA is excited to announce that we will celebrate Santa Fe’s Archbishop John C. Wester as our 2026 Teacher of Peace and Lauren Agresti as our 2026 Sr. Dianna Ortiz OSU Peacemaker award recipient at a special event in Washington, DC on Saturday, November 21. All are welcome to join us for a light reception and the award program.
Teacher of Peace and Sr. Dianna Ortiz OSU Peacemaker award ceremony
Saturday, November 21, 6:30-8 PM
Trinity Washington University
125 Michigan Avenue NE, Washington DC 20017
- Tickets are $25 each, $15 for students and those with limited income.
- Sponsorships are welcome at the $100 level; sponsors will be listed on this post and in the evening’s program. Sponsorship donors will receive three tickets to attend.
- If you are unable to attend but still wish to support the evening, please use the above link to register and choose the “unable to attend” option. Thank you!
Thank you to our sponsors!
- Marie Dennis, Pax Christi USA 2022 Teacher of Peace
- John Holden and Mary Beaudoin
- Judith Kelly, Pax Christi USA Ambassador of Peace
- Dr. Luann Mostello and Dr. Arthur Milholland
- Dorothy Day Catholic Worker
- Sisters of Social Service of Los Angeles
- Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life, Georgetown University
- Stuart Center for Mission: A sponsored ministry of the Society of the Sacred Heart
- Catholic Climate Covenant
Archbishop Wester is well known and respected for his courageous words and efforts in support of nuclear abolition, among other critical issues. In addition to his 2022 pastoral letter, “Living in the light of Christ’s peace: A conversation towards nuclear disarmament,” in 2024 Archbishop Wester also established the Partnership for a World without Nuclear Weapons with Archbishop Paul Etienne of Seattle and the bishops of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Archbishop Wester has participated in peace pilgrimages to Japan, most recently last year on the 80th anniversary of the US atomic bombings, and many consider him the de facto leader of the US American Catholic movement for the global abolition of nuclear weapons.
Watch this interview with Archbishop Wester, conducted by Pax Christi Young Adult Caucus member Ryan DiCorpo.
The Teacher of Peace award is our highest honor; it has been given to outstanding peacemakers since 1978, when Dorothy Day received it.
Lauren Agresti is an attorney who served for several years on the staff of the Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition (TASCC), an organization founded by Sr. Dianna Ortiz, OSU. In that role, Lauren worked closely asylum seekers and other immigrants to navigate a complicated and often fraught legal system. Rooted in her Catholic faith, she represented hundreds of torture survivors, helped restored their safety, and reclaimed the futures of dozens of their family members.
The Sr. Dianna Ortiz OSU Peacemaker award is a new honor, first bestowed in 2025 on Joryán Hernández. It 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 Sr. Dianna, a former Pax Christi USA staff member and the 2000 Teacher of Peace recipient, who died in 2021 at age 62.
Congratulations and also THANKS to Lauren Agresti and Archbishop Wester; they are among the few who just might save us from our impending self-destruction.
David-Ross Gerling, PhD
Archbishop John C. Wester is indeed a worthy recipient of the Pax ChristiUSA Teacher of Peace Award He is a nationally and internationally recognized advocate and promoter of nuclear disarmament.