Educational and Professional Profile
 
2004-Present c Pastor, Holy Family Parish
1998-Present c National Chaplain, Christian Family Movement
1998-Present c Chaplain and Member of the Engineers Forum on Sustainability (Technology and   Sustainable Development) of the National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC  
1993-2002 c Board  Member, Environmental Alliance for Senior Involvement (EASI)
1989-2004 - President, North American Coalition on Religion & Ecology (NACRE)
1989-PresenttBoard of Trustees, PRODEFA (Foundation. For the Rights of the Family)
1985-1999 c Lecturer in Pastoral Theology, Washington Theological Union.
1980-2004 -- Executive Director, National Institute for the Family, Washington, DC
1975-80 c Executive Director , USCC National Commission on Marriage and Family Life Ministry
1974-75 c Lecturer in Theology, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA
1969-74 - Doctoral Studies, University of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
1961-65 - Graduate Studies in Theology, Gregorian University, Rome
 
 
Pastoral and Priestly Work
 
            After seminary education at Saint Fidelis Seminary in Herman, Pennsylvania, and completion of his under graduate degree at Saint Vincent  College and Seminary, Latrobe, Pennsylvania, Father Conroy went to the Pontifical North American College, Vatican City State.    He received his graduate degrees from the Gregorian University in Rome with a license in Sacred Theology (STL) in 1965.  After his return to his home Diocese of Greensburg, he served in three parishes (St. Mary, Kittanning,; Blessed Sacrament Cathedral, Greensburg and  Mother of Sorrows, Murrysville) and in two diocesan positions (Associate Director of Education for Religious Education  and Director of the Office of Christian Family Life). 
 
            In June of 1975 Father Conroy was assigned to be the Representative for Family Life at the United States Catholic Conference in Washington, DC.  While working in this capacity, he formed the USCC  Commission on Christian Marriage and  Family Life, coordinated the Bishops Committee for the White House Conference on Families, and ran the Notre Dame Conference for the bishop- delegates for North and South America in preparation for the World Synod on the Role of the Christian Family in  the Modern World. 
 
            In 1980 as expert adviser to the Bishop Delegates, Father Conroy worked with Cardinals Cooke and Bernardin at the Synod in the Christian Family in Rome.  With the approval of the USCC/NCCB Administrative Board and the authorization of Cardinal Baum, he was the founding director of the National Institute for the Family in Washington, DC.  In this capacity he worked on many projects designed to promote family ministry in dioceses and parishes across the United States.
 
            During this time Father Conroy worked with the Bishops' Committee on Education. This involved extensive work on the National Catechetical Directory and the USCC Guidelines for Education in Human Sexuality. During the 1980s Decade of the Family he edited as well as wrote several publications and talked extensively in dioceses across the United States.    
 
Educational and Scientific Work
 
            As an educator, theologian and researcher Dr. Donald Conroy has probed the relation­ship between social values and scientific issues. In his recent book, Earth At Risk (Prometheus Press, 2000),  he has focused on the religion and science dialogue concerning the matters of environmental concern surfacing in the contemporary world, particularly issues dealing with ethics and sustainable development. His work has also involved organizational activities in founding and administering the North American Coalition on Religion and Ecology (NACRE).  More recently, his work has lead to the establishment of the International Consortium on Religion and Ecology (I-CORE), a network of organizations working globally on the ethics, sustainability and application of Catholic social ethics to international development.
 
            In work done with ICORE/NACRE Dr. Conroy has written extensively on solar energy and climate change as well as ethical implications of technology applications.  The Solar Stewardship Initiative (SSI), which he established with a partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy and his network, has involved centers of higher education, religious communities, and for-profit corporations in practical applications of renewable energy technologies to church structures.  Among his most recent projects he has worked on the relation of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) and their application to project-centered education, especially for developing countries such as Bolivia and Honduras.
 
            In particular Dr. Conroy has done work on eco-technologies and regenerative methods of sustainable agricul­ture with the Rodale Research Institute in the mid-1980s.  In this research he examined the social dimensions of the regenera­tion paradigm as a model for socio-cultural change and its relation to  the family and the wider community.  Also, in regard to socio-cultural change and global economics, Dr. Conroy served as an ethical advisor to the World Bank's Environmental Division and has taught and spoken widely on ecological aspects of theology, economics and sustainable community development.
 

Catholic Social Issues Involvement
 
            In April, 1989, Dr. Conroy also became President of the North American Conference on Religion and Ecology (NACRE), a non-profit educational organization centered in Washing­ton, D.C., which has initiated a program for involving the Catholic Church and the entire religious community to support Catholic teaching on creating a culture of life within sustainable communities especially in Appalachia in line with the Catholic bishops' pastoral "At Home in the Web of Life."  On January 4, 2000, the Board of NACRE approved the name change and extension of NACRE's mandate and mission to form the International Consortium on Religion and Ecology (ICORE) to include space sciences, ecology and spirituality.
 
            Through its "Caring for Creation" Cam­paign ICORE/NACRE he launched a threefold initiative designed to: 1) communicate a new vision of collaboration between Church and community leadership; 2) develop a network  to promote this new vision; and 3) serve the family and the Earth community through a number of key events, educational resources, and eco-action community building pro­grams.  The "Caring for Creation" Campaign was initiated on Earth Day 1990 and through a special Inter-Continental Conference on Caring for Creation held in Washing­ton, D.C., May 16-19, 1990.
 
             This latter event was cospon­sored by NACRE and the World Wildlife Fund in cooperation with other several major environmen­tal organiza­tions. At the beginning of 1999 Dr. Donald Conroy joined with Dr. Bruce Curtis, the Director of Religious Studies Research for the International Space Sciences Organization (ISSO), to explore new ways of collaboration between scientific NGOs and religious groups in addition to other organizations for sustainable development including the OAS, the World Bank, and the Inter-American Development Bank.  This has been the focus of the Earth Day 2000 celebration and symposium at the National Air and Space Museum on April 22, 2000, with Mr. Maurice Strong, Chairman of the Earth Council and Under- Secretary General of the United Nations, and other national and world leaders.
 

Community Services and Related Housing Activities
 
            During the mid-1990s through Fr. Conroy's pioneering work with Mr. John Smart, advisor to the National Catholic Relief agency, NACRE's Sustainable Housing Director, NACRE has participated in the delivery of 71 sustainable low-cost homes in various locations, including, Haiti (with Food for the Poor), US Virgin Islands (with Methodist Relief), Eastern Kentucky (with the Christian Appalachian Project), Mexico (with Los Amigos de Lago), and Kenya (with the UN Habitat II Program).  This work continues today in a relationship with Mr. Nelson Mensch on prefabricated steel housing for the poor and aging.
 
            In July 1999 Fr. Conroy negotiated and signed a strategic partnership agreement with the Earth Day 2000 Network.  To note a few activities in this respect, Dr. Conroy gave the invocation for 1990 Earth Day at the U.S. Capitol and, as noted, coordinated the Inter-Continental Conference on Caring for Creation. He has subsequently spoken at a variety of regional, national and global events including 1991 Wingspread Choices for the Future Sympo­sium, 1991 International Religious Community Preparatory Event at the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Institute in Switzerland, and the Decem­ber 1991 Non-Govern­men­tal Conference on UNCED in Paris, France. In June 1992 he played a leading role in the religious NGO delegation to the UN Conference on Environment and Development in Brazil.
 

Experience in Family Life and Global Change Efforts
 
            Fr. Conroy's administrative and organizational skills have involved him in several ways with social, cultural and inter-religious activities and associations dealing with global change and family values.  As founding director of the National Institute for the Family, he coordinated a 1980s strategy to assist individuals and families along the life cycle to understand change and internalize values that would stabilize and deepen the life process.  In 1974 he received a Doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh and has subsequently taught at Duque­sne University (Pittsburgh) and the Washington Theologi­cal Union. (Washington, DC) in family ministry and pastoral theology.
 

Included in his national and international activities and positions are the following:
 
 
* Organizer of a newly approved (July 2004) parish-centered project with the Christian Family Movement and the Diocese of Greensburg on combining parish renewal, family ministry and stewardship.

* Signer the year 2000 national alliance and partnership agreement with the Earth Day 2000 Network, which involves projects with the US Department of Energy and EPA in the Solar Stewardship Initiative (SSI) and launching the Eco-Sustainable Housing Initiative (EHI).

* Collaborator with the Boston Theological Institute (BTI) at Harvard University on the science-ecology-ethics discussion and co-editor of a volume on same theme entitled, Earth At Risk, Humanity Books Division of the Prometheus Press for March 2000 release. 

* Participator (1994) in the United Nations Social Summit held in Copenhagen, Denmark, where he dealt with the interrelationship of human rights, Catholic social teaching and sustainable development.

* Member of the UNEP Interfaith Committee for the United Nations Environ­men­tal Sabbath (1987 to present); co-editing a 1993 work of UNEP on Ethical Dimen­sions of Agenda 21.

* North American representative in 1995 invited by the Council of Europe and Pax Christi France to the International Conference on the Environment and World Religions; presided at plenary, addressed plenary, and did CNN Interview for Global Television at the finish of this conference.

* Chair of the Consortium on Religion and Ecology--International (CORE-Intern'l), carried out a major parallel event at the Global Forum during the 1992 Earth Summit in Brazil and also co-sponsored International Forum of Environmental Responsi­bility and Global Sustainability in March 1992 at the United Nations in New York City.

* Leader of the delegation of North American religious environmental community to Rio de Janeiro for participation in the '92 Global Forum; Participated as an Accredited NGO leader in the United Nations Earth Summit (June 3-15, 1992).

* Participator in the 1988 International Conference on the Global Greenhouse Effect as representative and co-director of the North American Conference on Chris­tianity and Ecology, 1988-89 and conferee to the International Solar Energy Conference (1994) held at Oxford University.

* Speaker at the 1991 Globescope Americas Conference (Miami) and the 1989 Glob­esc­ope Pacific Assembly sponsored by the Global Tomorrow Coali­tion Los Angel­es).

* Ethical and theological advisor to the World Bank Project (Washington, D.C. - Environmen­tal Division) with the Brazilian Government Research Unit -- "Chang­ing Paradigms and Economic Implications" -- Brazil, 1987.

* Member of the Board of Directors of the Foundation for the Rights of the Family (PRODEFA),  and its representative to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission (UNESCO) in New York (1989-present) and delegate to 1991 Madrid Conference and many other related activities.

* Member of Board of Trustees, Population Reference Bureau, 1992-97 dealing with family issues; chairman of the PRB Board nominating committee.

* Member of the 1980 Interfaith Committee for the White House Conference on Families and recipient for his achievements of the Presidential Certificate of Apprecia­tion from President Jimmy Carter.

* Coordinator of the North American Consultation for the World Synod at Notre Dame University (1980) and expert advisor (peritus) for the U.S. Bishops' Delegation at the World Synod in Rome (1980).

* National Chaplain and member of the Board of Directors of the Christian Family Movement as well as Director of the National Institute for the Family.