Dr. Daniel J. Olsen is the Director of the Office for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the Archdiocese of Chicago. As Ecumenical Officer, he represents the Archdiocese in various ecumenical and interreligious settings and furthers the Catholic Church’s commitment to religious dialogue in Chicago. He was awarded a Ph.D. in Constructive Theology from Loyola University Chicago (2008). His doctoral dissertation, Living Bridges: Interchurch Families as Domestic Church, explored the giftedness and pastoral challenges faced by dedicated Christian mixed marriage families. He is a fellow of the Christian Leadership Initiative, a collaborative project of the American Jewish Committee and the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem and currently serves as Co-chair of Ecumenism Metro Chicago.
Staff’s Contributions
Forthcoming: “Signs of Union: Interchurch Families in a Fragmented World,” in Sex, Love, and Families: Catholic Perspectives, Jason King and Julie Hanlon Rubio, ed., Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press Academic, 2020
“Persecuted Christians: The Challenge and How We Can Support Them,” Panel Presentation at the University of Illinois at Chicago, hosted by St. John Paul II Newman Center—UIC, Nov 18, 2019.
“The Gifts and Challenges of Interchurch Marriage for Christian Unity,” Annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Address, January 25, 2019, The Center for Pastoral Leadership at St. Charles Boromeo Seminary, Cleveland, OH. (PDF)
“Interchurch Families and the American Dream: Convergences and Challenges,” Panel Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the College Theology Society, June 2, 2017, Salve Regina University, Newport, RI. (PDF)
“Educating Our Children: Opportunities and Challenges from a Faith-Based Perspective,” Plenary address at the Annual Muslim-Catholic Iftar, July 6, 2015, Islamic Prayer Center of Orland Park, IL. (PDF)
“Educating Ecumenically: Interchurch Families as Unique Pedagogical Models”, in Being One at Home: Interchurch Families as Domestic Churches, Thomas Knieps-Port le Roi and Ray Temmerman, ed., Berlin, Lit Verlag, 2015.
“Interchurch/Interreligious Marriage”, as found in Your Marriage: Sacramental Preparation Resource, Deb Meister, ed., Liguori, Missouri: Liguori Publications, 2015.
“Interchurch Children as Bilingual Christians,” The ARK: A Publication of the American Association of Interchurch Families, 21.5 (Oct. 2010), 2-5.
Susan has been at the heart of many local and international efforts for reconciliation, understanding and peace. She was appointed by the USCCB Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs as one of the delegates to the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue’s International Buddhist-Catholic dialogue, the Castel Gandolfo Encounter. She is a continuing member of the Catholic-Buddhist Dialogue in Chicago. She has had long engagement with the Parliament of the World’s Religions, serving as staff program associate for the 2004 Parliament in Barcelona and was a Parliament Ambassador for ten years. Susan served as director of pilgrimage ministry at the Shrine of Our Lady of Pompeii in Chicago’s West Loop, and was active in programing with the Midwest Buddhist Temple, Buddhist Temple of Chicago, Lakeside Sangha and the Shambhala Center.
Susan has presented papers at the 2018 Parliament of the World’s Religions in Toronto, Canada, 2015 Parliament in Salt Lake City and at the Castel Gandolfo Encounter. She holds a Master of Divinity degree from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago and a bachelor’s degree in Theatre from Loyola University Chicago.
Presentations and Journal Articles
“Spirituality as a Path to Our Common Humanity: Pope Francis’ Interreligious Dialogue of Encounter, Accompaniment and Friendship,” 22nd Annual Iftar Remarks, Islamic Foundation, Villa Park, Illinois, 2019 (PDF)
“Catholic Thoughts on Collaboration in Addressing Social Ills,” PCID and USCCB Buddhist Catholic Dialogue “Suffering, Liberation and Fraternity,” Castel Gandolfo, Rome. CLARITAS Journal of Dialogue & Culture, Vol. 4, No. 2, (October 2015), 140-145. (Link)
“The Dance of Giving and Receiving: Spirituality and the Development Officer, Volunteer and Donor.” New Directions for Philanthropic Fund Raising: The Spirit of Faith and Philanthropy, No. 35. Burlingame, D., ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass (Spring 2002) 119-129.
Online/Video Presentations and Production
Storywarrior Interviews, Interior Mythos Journeys, Transparent Video Productions, 2017
“Pilgrimage to an Interior Shrine” https://interiormythos.com/video/susan-pudelek-pilgrimage-interior-shrine/
“The Body Never Lies” - https://interiormythos.com/video/body-never-lies/
“The Gift of Art and Suffering” - https://interiormythos.com/video/gift-art-suffering/
“I Am My Neighbor” - https://interiormythos.com/video/i-am-my-neighbor/
“The Vocation of the Business Person,” four-part DVD/You Tube, Part Four: “Loved Into Being: Living the Call of Our Baptism,” Mayslake Ministries, 2014
Assistant Director - Religions del món, músiques de pau - LA VEU I LA MÚSICA A LA SAGRADA FAMÍLIA, 10 de juliol, 2004 Parliament de les Religions del Món. (Sacred Music Concert, 10 July, 2004 Parliament of the World's Religions) Produced by Universal Forum of Cultures 2004 Barcelona, Spain.
Selected Publications, 2000 – Present
Anglican-Roman Catholic Consultation in the United States’ Agreed Statement on the Church as Local and Universal, released November 15, 1999; Origins 30.6 (June 22, 2000), 85-95. (Co-author)
“The Laity,” in The Gift of the Church, ed. Peter C. Phan (Festschrift for Patrick Granfield). Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2000. 395-413.
“The Gift of Authority: An American, Roman Catholic Appreciation,” One in Christ 36.2 (2000-2), 133-144.
“Confessions of a White Catholic Racist Theologian,” Proceedings of the Catholic Theological Society of America 58 (2003), 64-82; also in Origins 33.9 (July 17, 2003), 129-138, and Interrupting White Privilege. Catholic Theologians Break the Silence, Cassidy and Mikulich, eds. Maryknoll: Orbis, 2007.
Articles on the Roman Catholic Church, the Papacy, the Vatican, and Councils in Christianity: A Complete Guide, John Bowden, ed. New York: Continuum, 2006.
"The Gift of Authority: Mountain or Milestone?" in One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism. Studies in Christian Ecclesiality and Ecumenism in Honor of J. Robert Wright, ed. By Marsha L. Dutton and Patrick Terrell Gray. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006, 316-324.
Twenty-one articles in Introductory Dictionary of Theology and Religious Studies, Espin and Nickoloff, eds. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2007.
"Beyond Moral Suasion: Reading Method in Theology in "Racist America," Lonergan Workshop 21 (2008), 295-301.
"Towards the 'Beloved Community': the Church's Role in the Struggle Against Racism," U.S. Catholic Historian 28.1 (Winter 2010), 83-91. Festschrft for Cyprian Davis, OSB
"Red Hats: the Shape of Authority in the Roman Catholic Church," .in Jung and Vigen, eds., God, Science, Sex, and Gender. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2010. 23-31.
“Death, Racial Reconciliation, and the Mission of the Church – Baldwin’s Perception,” Journal of the Black Catholic Theological Symposium 5 (2011), 27-49.
“Foreward” to John Pawlikowski, Restating the Catholic Church’s Relationship with the Jewish People. The Challenge of Super-Sessionary Theology. Lewiston: Edwin Mellen, 2013.
“James Baldwin’s Challenge to Catholic Theologians and the Church,” Theological Studies 74 (2013), 884-902.
