Joan Chittister, OSB, Speaker and author: Following the Path: the search for a life of passion, purpose and joy, Co-Chair of the Global Peace Initiative of Women
Joan Chittister is one of the most articulate social analysts and influential religious leaders of this age. For over 30 years she has dedicated herself to advocating for universal recognition of the critical questions impacting the global community and has received numerous awards and recognition for her work. Courageous, passionate and charged with energy, she is a much-sought after speaker, commentator, counselor and clear voice across all religions.
A founding member of The Global Peace Initiative of Women, a partner organization of the UN, she works to develop a worldwide network of women peace builders. As co-chair of this group she has facilitated gatherings of women spiritual leaders throughout the Middle East, in Asia, Africa, the Far East and Europe in an effort to spread an interfaith commitment to peace building, equality and justice for all peoples, especially women.
Sister Joan is a member of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, Pennsylvania, and has written 50 books. In 2013 Random House published Following the Path: the search for passion, purpose and joy. She has received 12 honorary degrees and won 13 Catholic Press Association awards for her books. Sister Joan writes a regular online column, “From Where I Stand,” for the National Catholic Reporter and for Huffington Post.
Her doctorate is from Penn State University in speech communications theory, her master’s from the University of Notre Dame, and she was an elected-fellow of St. Edmund=s College, Cambridge University.