Peace activist Omar Haramy awarded 2025 Berrigan-McAlister Award

​​Peace activist Omar Haramy has been named the 2025 recipient of the Berrigan-McAlister Award, presented by DePaul’s Catholic Studies Department. This annual award honors those whose acts of Christian nonviolence — like those practiced by the Rev. Daniel Berrigan, S.J., Phillip Berrigan and Elizabeth McAlister — resist injustice, transform conflict, foster reconciliation, and seek justice and peace for all.

Haramy, an Arab Palestinian Christian, serves as the director of Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem. Sabeel is a 30-year-old organization dedicated to the Palestinian liberation theology of justice and active nonviolence, which works for a just peace and engages in peacebuilding.

“Omar Haramy and Sabeel in Palestine are struggling for a more just future where Muslims, Jews, Christians and others can live together in peace and justice through the power of nonviolent resistance,” says Ken Butigan, a member of the Berrigan-McAlister Award committee and senior lecturer in DePaul’s College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, who participated in a delegation in the West Bank led by Haramy and wrote about it for America magazine.

“Omar Haramy demonstrates the same long-term commitment to nonviolence and justice lived by Daniel and Philip Berrigan and Elizabeth McAlister,” Butigan adds.

Sabeel encourages Christians from around the world to work for justice for the Palestinian people. Over the past year, Haramy has generated a continuous flow of accompaniment delegations to increase safety for those at risk, says Michael L. Budde, professor of Catholic Studies and Political Science.

“By reflecting deeply on the historical Jesus’ life under occupation and his response to injustice two millennia ago, Haramy and Sabeel seek to connect the true meaning of Christian faith with the daily lives of those who suffer under occupation, violence, discrimination and human rights violations,” Budde says.

Haramy will be honored via Zoom at a hybrid event May 12 on the university’s Lincoln Park Campus. Admission is free. Advance registration is required for in-person and online attendance. A member of Sabeel North America will be present to reflect on the organization’s work. The Berrigan-McAlister Award will be conferred during the event.

Founded in 2021, the Berrigan-McAlister Award is given to a person or organization who exemplifies the practice of active Christian nonviolence. Such nonviolence is rooted in the life of Jesus, who combined the refusal of violence in violent situations with the power of universal love.

From the Civil Rights Movement to the Vietnam War, through the movement against nuclear weapons and beyond, few Catholics in the U.S. have been more influential than the Berrigan brothers (Daniel and Philip) and Elizabeth McAlister (McAlister married Philip Berrigan and was his lifelong collaborator). Their work against war and in support of peace — a life of provocative nonviolent protest, extensive writing and teaching, and everyday experiments in intentional community — has earned them international stature in the Church and secular society.

Previous winners of the Berrigan-McAlister Award are the Kings Bay Plowshares 7, Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation, Elizabeth Kanini Kimau and the Los Angeles Catholic Worker.

DePaul Special Collections and Archives holds a portion of Berrigan-McAlister papers, which are available for students and scholars to use. Daniel Berrigan’s are available here, while Phillip and Elizabeth’s are available here​.

The Berrigan-McAlister Award is supported by the Department of Catholic Studies, the Center for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology, the Program in Peace, Justice, and Conflict Studies, the Division of Mission and Ministry, the University Libraries, and the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences.