Marie Dennis is senior advisor to the secretary general of Pax Christi International. She was co-president of Pax Christi from 2007 to 2019 and serves on the executive committee of Pax Christi’s Catholic Nonviolence Initiative.

She was one of the primary organizers of the April 2016 conference on Nonviolence and Just Peace that was cosponsored by the Vatican and Pax Christi International. The conference called on the Catholic Church to re-commit to the centrality of gospel nonviolence; proposed the World Day of Peace 2017 theme on nonviolence; and started the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative. A second conference in April 2019, which was also cosponsored by the Vatican, contributed to an active, ongoing dialogue that has helped to move nonviolence to the center of Catholic teaching on war and peace.

Marie was previously director of the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns. She is a Secular Franciscan, author or co-author of seven books including Oscar Romero: Reflections on His Life and Writings and St. Francis and the Foolishness of God; editor of Choosing Peace: The Catholic Church Returns to Gospel Nonviolence; and co-editor of Advancing Nonviolence and Just Peace in the Church and the World.  

She holds a masters degree in moral theology from Washington Theological Union and  honorary doctorates from Trinity Washington University and Alvernia University.  She is a lay woman, a mother of six and a grandmother.

Marie has visited many parts of the world, including countries in conflict, for Maryknoll and Pax Christi International. She serves on the steering committee of the Catholic Peacebuilding Network and as a contributing editor to Sojourners magazine. She has previously served on the White House Task Force on Global Poverty and Development; the advisory committee of Orbis Books; and the national boards of JustFaith Ministries, Sojourners magazine, the Jubilee USA Network and several other organizations.