Richard Ryscavage, S.J., (March 25, 1945 – April 26, 2019) was director of the Center for Faith and Public Life and a professor of sociology and international studies at

Fairfield University Fairfield University is a private Jesuit university in Fairfield, Connecticut. It was founded by the Jesuits in 1942. In 2017, the university had about 4,100 full-time undergraduate students and 1,100 graduate students, including full-time ...

Fairfield, Connecticut Fairfield is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It borders the city of Bridgeport and towns of Trumbull, Easton, Weston, and Westport along the Gold Coast of Connecticut. Located within the New York metropolitan area ...

, and developed courses at Georgetown University. He was an internationally recognized expert on migration issues.Richard Ryscavage, S.J. Accessed December 4, 2010
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Positions held

Ryscavage served as executive director of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Office of Migration and Refugee Services in Washington, D.C., where he oversaw annual federal grants of more than $40 million. He was also president of Catholic Charities Immigration Legal Services, set up by the bishops to help new immigrants, and president of the

Catholic Legal Immigration Network Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. ''(commonly referred to as CLINIC)'' is the US's largest network of non-profit immigration activist programs. In its 1986 pastoral statement "Together a New People", the United States Conference of Cath ...

(CLINIC). He served as national director of Jesuit Refugee Service USA, a

nongovernmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

operating in fifty countries. He organized the first program to provide religious coordinators for immigration detention facilities of the United States Department of Homeland Security. He was the first Arrupe Tutor at the Refugee Studies Centre of Oxford University in England. In 2006 Ryscavage was appointed official adviser to the delegation of the Holy See to the 61st United Nations General Assembly, and participated as one of the Vatican representatives in the “High Level Dialogue on Migration” convened by the UN Secretary General. He has been a member of the Federal government's Interagency Task Force on Unaccompanied Children, which includes members of the U.S. State Dept., DHS, Justice, and HHS, and special advisor to President Obama. He has served as church spokesman for the major media and as distinguished panelist.Columbia U. forum. Accessed 29 September 2016.
/ref> Ryscavage received his bachelor's degree and an honorary doctorate from

Assumption College Assumption College may refer to these educational institutions: Australia * Assumption College, Kilmore, Victoria * Assumption College, Warwick, Queensland Canada * Assumption University (Windsor, Ontario) (formerly Assumption College) * Assumpt ...

. He earned his master's degrees in law and diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, in political philosophy from

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

, in divinity from the

Weston School of Theology The Boston College School of Theology and Ministry (STM) is a Society of Jesus, Jesuit school of graduate theology at Boston College. It is an Ecclesiastical university, ecclesiastical faculty of theology that trains men and women, both lay and re ...

(also at Boston College), and in international administration from the School for International Training.Fairfield University College of Arts & Sciences International Studies Faculty
accessed December 4, 2010

References

External links

Center for Faith and Public Life
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ryscavage, Richard 20th-century American Jesuits 21st-century American Jesuits American sociologists Fairfield University faculty Assumption University (Worcester) alumni Boston College School of Theology and Ministry alumni The Fletcher School at Tufts University alumni SIT Graduate Institute alumni Place of birth missing American political philosophers 1945 births 2019 deaths