Who We Are

Michele Dunne OFS is a professed Secular Franciscan. Before coming to FAN, her career focused on the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy. From 2006 until 2021, she headed programs focused on peace, human rights, and democracy in the Middle East at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Atlantic Council. Before that, she served for nearly 20 years in the U.S. Department of State, including assignments in Jerusalem and Cairo. She holds a Ph.D. from Georgetown University and lives in Washington DC with her husband.

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Sister Marie Lucey, OSF (of FAN Institutional Member Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia) has been with FAN since 2011, advocating for immigrant rights, gun violence prevention, human trafficking and other social justice and peacemaking issues. She also coordinates and communicates with FAN’s institutional members. From 2003-2011, Sr. Marie served as Associate Director for Social Mission of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR). Prior to working with LCWR, Sister Marie served for six years as her community’s Congregational Minister (President), following many years as Director of Corporate Social Responsibility, Justice and Peace Coordinator, and educator. She has participated in delegations to Nicaragua, El Salvador, Mexico, and a CRS delegation of women religious to Syria and Lebanon to learn first-hand about the Iraqi refugee crisis in order to promote awareness, advocacy and assistance on their return.

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Rosie Davila grew up on a flower farm in Kentucky, where her passion for peace and justice took root early. At age 11, she learned the story of her great-great-grandfather Alberto, who was killed for his nonviolent resistance to war and refusal to serve as a soldier. This story profoundly shaped her commitment to nonviolence. Rosie holds a double major in Anthropology and Psychology from the University of Kentucky. Since 2020, she has served as the Art and Media Coordinator for Pace e Bene Campaign Nonviolence, hosting “Peace Out with Rosie,” a YouTube series where she shares reflections on nonviolence. Rosie joins FAN as a way to continue seeking ways to help build a more just and compassionate world for all.

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Sr. Maria Orlandini OSF, born in Italy, joined the Canossian Daughters of Charity and after formation was sent to the North American Province in Albuquerque, NM for almost 25 years. She has a Masters in Pastoral Studies from Loyola University, Chicago and has served in parish ministry, as Youth and Young Adults Director, Director of Faith Formation, Pastoral Associate and her community’s Director of National/International Volunteer program.   As part of different committees she has been privileged to travel for meetings and experiences in the Philippines, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico as well as Tanzania, Malawi, Uganda and Kenya. In these countries she believes she was privileged to get to know first- hand the poverty and injustices that keep people and countries poor as well as the warmth of their welcome, the simplicity of their lives and the depth of their trust in God.

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Nora Pfeiffer is a returned missioner with Franciscan Mission Service who was in mission in Cochabamba, Bolivia from 2009 to 2012. After which she returned to Bolivia to continue volunteering and working with the Bolivian Franciscan Family’s JPIC movement. From 2014 to 2017 Nora worked for Franciscans International as a Latin American Focal Point, serving as a bridge between the offices in New York City and Geneva and the Franciscans in Latin America. Working with Franciscans from all over the region and getting to know their struggles, missions and goals was a true gift to her. She now lives in Richmond, Virginia with her husband and their daughter.

In the April 2021 issue of St. Anthony’s Messenger, Nora was featured in the Followers of St. Francis Article. Read it here.

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Sister Louise Lears is a Sister of Charity of Cincinnati and a native of Baltimore with a passion for justice rooted in Gospel values. She has a Master’s in Theology from St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore and a PhD in Health Care Ethics from St. Louis University. Sr. Louise has ministered as a hospital chaplain, medical ethicist, adjunct faculty in several universities, and a Congregational Leader for eight years with the Sisters of Charity. Experiences in Cuba, Guatemala, and El Salvador opened her eyes and her heart to the needs and hopes of people most often left out.

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Eileen is from Milwaukee, WI, and recently graduated from Loyola University Chicago with degrees in Political Science and Global Studies. She joins FAN as a part of the Franciscan Mission Service’s DC Service Corps, where she will spend a year living in community and service. Eileen comes to FAN with experience in gun safety advocacy, working on Capitol Hill, and a state assembly campaign. Her interest in social justice started with her lifelong Catholic education and was cemented through her participation in a program focused on gender minority leadership and social justice throughout her time at Loyola. While interested in and passionate about many issues, Eileen’s primary interests are immigration/refugees, voting rights, and gun safety.

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Merwyn is Kenyan-born of Indian ancestry. He is a peacebuilder and community organizer with several years of international experience accompanying communities experiencing violence and supporting community-driven peacebuilding. A focus over the years, including presently in the US, has been on accompanying refugees and migrants through their resettlement and asylum processes. Merwyn has experience developing restorative justice curriculum and practice (circle processes) in various countries, cultures and contexts, including now in the U.S. 

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Nora Collins brings FAN over twenty-five years of professional experience at the intersection of U.S. Church engagement, program design, and faith-based advocacy. Nora is passionate about supporting people of faith to make impactful change. Nora has saved in a variety of positions in the Ignatian Volunteer Corps, Catholic Relief Services, Archdiocese of Washington’s Office of Justice and Service, and campus ministry.

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Br. James LaGrutta was born and raised in the mid-Hudson Valley of New York. In 2011, he graduated from Siena College with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and in 2012, he received his Masters in Public Policy from George Mason University.

Br. James professed his final vows with the Order of Friars Minor in 2022 and works at the St. Francis Inn in Philadelphia, which serves guests experiencing poverty. His work at FAN focuses on advocacy related to addressing poverty and homelessness.

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Eli McCarthy has worked on direct advocacy, mobilization, and strategic campaign leadership experience influencing U.S. policy as the Federal Policy Senior Advisor for the Catholic Labor Network and Director of Justice and Peace for the CMSM, which is the leadership conference of the U.S. Catholic men’s religious orders. He presently serves on the steering committee of the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative, a project of Pax Christi International and is also a professor at Georgetown University in Theology as well as Justice and Peace Studies.

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