Please join us, Thursday February 12, 2026 to celebrate Christian Unity with the Ecumenism Award and Figel Addresses on “Difference in Dialogue: How to Tradition and Culture Shape Methods”
This year’s Figel Event explores a variety of methods in dialogue that honor the differences in traditions, culture, and settings. We are delighted that Bishop Denis Madden will be the keynote. He brings years of experience—ranging from Gaza/Palestine to U.S. Catholic dialogues with Lutherans and Muslims. He is an on-the-ground ecumenist who will share encounters and outcomes.
Bishop Madden is the Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore. He entered the Benedictine Order and was ordained a priest in 1967. He received an MA in
Psychology from Columbia University and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Notre Dame. He assumed a position in the Psychology Department, University of Maryland and
he later taught in the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
In 1994-96 Bishop Madden served as Director of the Pontifical Mission for Palestine office in Jerusalem. In 1997, he became Associate Director of Catholic Near East Welfare Association
(CNEWA) and was one of the co-founders of the Accord Foundation, a humanitarian organization that has worked since 1988 in the West Bank and Gaza. He has been deeply involved in Muslim-Christian dialogue, including the 2014 statement Dialogue with Muslims.
In 2026, Bishop Madden was appointed a member of the Bishops’ Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs (BCEIA) on which he still serves. He co-chaired the Lutheran-Catholic Dialogue in the United States, which produced the common statement, Faithful Teaching in 2019. In 2018, he co-chaired with ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson, Declaration on the Way: Church, Unity, and Eucharist, an evaluation of Lutheran-Catholic progress in ecumenical relations and the next steps suggested. He remains a witness to the ongoing commitment of the Catholic Church to ecumenical and interreligious relations.
Register here : https://washtheocon.org/wtc_events/figel-address-on-ecumenical-dialogue-to-honor-bishop-denis-madden/
Schedule, Map and Flyer are attached 18th Annual Figel Event for Ecumenism at Catholic University