Mary McAleese Visit
Mary McAleese, President of Ireland, to visit Loyola University Chicago
McAleese, President of Ireland (1997 - 2011), to discuss peace building in Northern Ireland and the Good Friday Agreement at public roundtable
Mary McAleese, former President of Ireland (1997 – 2011), visted Loyola University Chicago on Friday, February 16, 2024, to speak at a public, roundtable discussion hosted by the Department of Theology and the College of Arts and Sciences.
The roundtable, entitled, “The 1998 Good Friday Agreement - The Agreement Between the Political Parties in Northern Ireland and the British and Irish Governments: A Peacebuilding Discussion,” took place on Friday, February 16, from 5 – 6:30 p.m. CST in Rooney Hall in Mundelein Center on Loyola’s Lake Shore Campus.
The roundtable was moderated by faculty members in the Department of Theology, Hille Haker, PhD, Richard A. McCormick, S.J., Chair of Catholic Moral Theology, and Miguel Díaz, PhD, John Courtney Murray, S.J., University Chair in Public Service and the 9th Ambassador to the Holy See under President Barack Obama.
Drs. McAleese, Haker, and Díaz will discussed her commitment to justice and peace in society and the church and her contributions to the peacebuilding process between Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland. During her presidency, the Good Friday Agreement was signed in 1998, a historic landmark that has paved the way to end the political and sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland.
About President Mary McAleese
As President of Ireland from 1997 until 2011, Dr. McAleese is known and respected for the global impact and enduring legacy of her presidency marked by the theme of “Building Bridges.” Her leadership in the peacebuilding process between the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, and the United Kingdom led to the signing of the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, which effectively brought an end to decades of violence known as “The Troubles.”
The first President from Northern Ireland, McAleese was born in Belfast in 1951. She grew up in Ardoyne, a sectarian flashpoint area of the city where she experienced the violence of The Troubles firsthand.
McAleese’s work for peace and reconciliation began in her early career as a barrister, author, and broadcast journalist. McAleese was Reid Professor of Criminal Law, Criminology, and Penology at Trinity College Dublin, Director of the Institute of Professional Legal Studies, and first female pro-Vice Chancellor at the Queen’s University of Belfast.
As President, McAleese’s vital contributions to the peacebuilding process between the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, and the United Kingdom culminated in her role as a signee of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 and host of the first, historic state visit to Ireland by H.M. Queen Elizabeth II in May 2011.
Since retiring from office in 2011, she became a full-time student at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, obtaining a Licentiate and Doctorate in Canon Law. McAleese's research focuses on human rights and children's rights in the Catholic Church and she served as Professor of Children, Law, and Religion at the University of Glasgow from 2018-2022. She is currently the Chancellor of Trinity College Dublin.
Learn more about President McAleese here.
About the College of Arts and Sciences
The College of Arts and Sciences is the oldest of Loyola University Chicago’s 15 schools, colleges, and institutes. More than 150 years since its founding, the College is home to 20 academic departments and 37 interdisciplinary programs and centers, more than 450 full-time faculty, and nearly 8,000 students. The 2,000+ classes that we offer each semester span an array of intellectual pursuits, ranging from the natural sciences and computational sciences to the humanities, the social sciences, and the fine and performing arts. Our students and faculty are engaged internationally at our campus in Rome, Italy, as well as at dozens of University-sponsored study abroad and research sites around the world. Home to the departments that anchor the University’s Core Curriculum, the College seeks to prepare all of Loyola’s students to think critically, to engage the world of the 21st century at ever deepening levels, and to become caring and compassionate individuals. Our faculty, staff, and students view service to others not just as one option among many, but as a constitutive dimension of their very being. In the truest sense of the Jesuit ideal, our graduates strive to be “individuals for others.”
About Loyola University Chicago
Founded in 1870, Loyola University Chicago is one of the nation’s largest Jesuit, Catholic universities, with nearly 16,600 students. The University has four campuses: three in the greater Chicago area and one in Rome, Italy, as well as course locations in Vernon Hills, Illinois (Cuneo Mansion and Gardens), and a Retreat and Ecology Campus in Woodstock, Illinois. The University features 15 schools, colleges, and institutes. Ranked a leading national university by U.S. News & World Report, Loyola is also among a select group of universities recognized for community service and engagement by prestigious national organizations including AmeriCorps and the Carnegie Foundation. To learn more about Loyola, visit LUC.edu or follow us on X via @LoyolaChicago.
Mary McAleese, former President of Ireland (1997 – 2011), visted Loyola University Chicago on Friday, February 16, 2024, to speak at a public, roundtable discussion hosted by the Department of Theology and the College of Arts and Sciences.
The roundtable, entitled, “The 1998 Good Friday Agreement - The Agreement Between the Political Parties in Northern Ireland and the British and Irish Governments: A Peacebuilding Discussion,” took place on Friday, February 16, from 5 – 6:30 p.m. CST in Rooney Hall in Mundelein Center on Loyola’s Lake Shore Campus.
The roundtable was moderated by faculty members in the Department of Theology, Hille Haker, PhD, Richard A. McCormick, S.J., Chair of Catholic Moral Theology, and Miguel Díaz, PhD, John Courtney Murray, S.J., University Chair in Public Service and the 9th Ambassador to the Holy See under President Barack Obama.
Drs. McAleese, Haker, and Díaz will discussed her commitment to justice and peace in society and the church and her contributions to the peacebuilding process between Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland. During her presidency, the Good Friday Agreement was signed in 1998, a historic landmark that has paved the way to end the political and sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland.
About President Mary McAleese
As President of Ireland from 1997 until 2011, Dr. McAleese is known and respected for the global impact and enduring legacy of her presidency marked by the theme of “Building Bridges.” Her leadership in the peacebuilding process between the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, and the United Kingdom led to the signing of the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, which effectively brought an end to decades of violence known as “The Troubles.”
The first President from Northern Ireland, McAleese was born in Belfast in 1951. She grew up in Ardoyne, a sectarian flashpoint area of the city where she experienced the violence of The Troubles firsthand.
McAleese’s work for peace and reconciliation began in her early career as a barrister, author, and broadcast journalist. McAleese was Reid Professor of Criminal Law, Criminology, and Penology at Trinity College Dublin, Director of the Institute of Professional Legal Studies, and first female pro-Vice Chancellor at the Queen’s University of Belfast.
As President, McAleese’s vital contributions to the peacebuilding process between the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, and the United Kingdom culminated in her role as a signee of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 and host of the first, historic state visit to Ireland by H.M. Queen Elizabeth II in May 2011.
Since retiring from office in 2011, she became a full-time student at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, obtaining a Licentiate and Doctorate in Canon Law. McAleese's research focuses on human rights and children's rights in the Catholic Church and she served as Professor of Children, Law, and Religion at the University of Glasgow from 2018-2022. She is currently the Chancellor of Trinity College Dublin.
Learn more about President McAleese here.
About the College of Arts and Sciences
The College of Arts and Sciences is the oldest of Loyola University Chicago’s 15 schools, colleges, and institutes. More than 150 years since its founding, the College is home to 20 academic departments and 37 interdisciplinary programs and centers, more than 450 full-time faculty, and nearly 8,000 students. The 2,000+ classes that we offer each semester span an array of intellectual pursuits, ranging from the natural sciences and computational sciences to the humanities, the social sciences, and the fine and performing arts. Our students and faculty are engaged internationally at our campus in Rome, Italy, as well as at dozens of University-sponsored study abroad and research sites around the world. Home to the departments that anchor the University’s Core Curriculum, the College seeks to prepare all of Loyola’s students to think critically, to engage the world of the 21st century at ever deepening levels, and to become caring and compassionate individuals. Our faculty, staff, and students view service to others not just as one option among many, but as a constitutive dimension of their very being. In the truest sense of the Jesuit ideal, our graduates strive to be “individuals for others.”
About Loyola University Chicago
Founded in 1870, Loyola University Chicago is one of the nation’s largest Jesuit, Catholic universities, with nearly 16,600 students. The University has four campuses: three in the greater Chicago area and one in Rome, Italy, as well as course locations in Vernon Hills, Illinois (Cuneo Mansion and Gardens), and a Retreat and Ecology Campus in Woodstock, Illinois. The University features 15 schools, colleges, and institutes. Ranked a leading national university by U.S. News & World Report, Loyola is also among a select group of universities recognized for community service and engagement by prestigious national organizations including AmeriCorps and the Carnegie Foundation. To learn more about Loyola, visit LUC.edu or follow us on X via @LoyolaChicago.