By Hannah McIntyre, graduate student of Catholic University’s M.A. in Human Rights.

On Friday, November 12, the MA in Human Rights cohort gathered at The Dubliner to meet with Louis Brown, Executive Director of the Christ Medicus Foundation.  The Christ Medicus Foundation is a Catholic nonprofit dedicated to protecting Catholic values in the medical field. The organization focuses on the right to life, defending issues related to poor and marginalized communities including immigrants, and religious liberty cases. 

Louis emphasized that Christ Medicus strives to actualize a Catholic worldview in the lives of people touched by the above issues.  Strong natural law principles guide his work and career, but Louis repeatedly emphasized that he strives most to bring the healing grace of Jesus Christ to those he serves in the legal system. 

Louis’ sister, Danielle Brown, Associate Director of the Committee Against Racism at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, also joined the cohort for lunch. Danielle heads an “ad hoc” committee founded in 2017 in the wake of the white supremacist Charlottesville rallies held in the summer of that year. 

Danielle shared that the committee continues to face challenges communicating with American Catholics about race issues within and surrounding the Church, especially following the death of George Floyd in June 2020.  She emphasized that the committee aims to address profound, systemic racial injustices, which real problems are obscured at times by heightened, polemicized, and secularized rhetoric.