INTERDISCIPLINARY CONFERENCE 2008 - KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Rev. David E. Farrell, csc

Summary – Father Farrell has lived in Latin America for most of the time since 1964 (Peru, Chile, Central America, and since 1995 Peru) and has been a Peruvian citizen since 1972.  He has had extensive experience in program development, project management, organizational development and direct services to the poor in Lima, Santiago, and Central America during the war in El Salvador. He was ordained a priest in 1968.

Educational Background – A native of Pittsfield, MA, he attended and graduated from public schools and then attended Williams College where he studied political science, with work most notably under Professor James McGregor Burns. He entered the Congregation of Holy Cross in 1961, and subsequently was awarded degrees in philosophy from Stonehill College; in theology from the Pontificia Universidad Católica en Santiago, Chile; and a Masters of Science in sociology with special reference to education from the University of London in 1983. In 1995 King’s College awarded Father Farrell an honorary Doctor of Humanities (HH.D) degree.

Current Responsibilities – He is former pastor and presently parochial assistant to the first Peruvian pastor of Parroquia Señor de la Esperanza, a Holy Cross parish in Lima with a population of over 230,000; in addition he is: 

• Founder and director of the Instituto de Pastoral de la Familia, sponsored by Holy Cross Family Ministries;
• President of Yancana Huasy, a premier center, among the poor, for integral health, education and occupational services and training for those with special needs;
• Director of the Hermano Andrés Policlinic for basic health services for those with no other access to healthcare, and
• Episcopal Vicar for the largest municipal district in Peru, San Juan de Lurigancho, of the newly established (1996) Dioceses of Chosica on the eastern outskirts of Lima.

Other Current and Prior Responsibilities – He was a member of the Board of Directors of King’s College and a trustee, presently trustee emeritus, of Stonehill College. Previously he was:

• Assistant and then elected provincial superior of the Eastern Province of the Congregation of Holy Cross from 1987-1994; until 1994 President of Holy Cross Family Ministries, originally founded by Fr. Patrick Peyton, csc.
• Co-founder and one of the three directors of the Vicaría de la Pastoral Obrera, established by the Archdiocese of Santiago in response to the repression of trade unions during the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile. Eventually expelled from Chile by the military government, Fr. Farrell was later named by the Chilean church and labor movement as one of twelve people “who most contributed to the return to democracy in Chile”.
• As a Consultant to European aide agencies he has visited and advised on international cooperation: to trade unions and grassroots organizations in South Africa in the struggle against apartheid and then for refugees and internally displaced peoples during the conflicts en Central America, particularly in Guatemala and El Salvador.
• Visited more than twenty countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America as a part of his church responsibilities and solidarity work.

David remains informed on social, educational and economic issues related to social justice, equity and organizational efforts to achieve democratic development for all peoples, as well as the serious threats posed to them from both within and from outside Latin America.