 Reverend Mpho A. Tutu – Tutu Institute for Prayer and Pilgrimage
The Rev. Mpho A. Tutu, daughter of Episcopal Archbishop Desmond Tutu, is an Episcopal priest and the founder and Executive Director of the Tutu Institute for Prayer and Pilgrimage. Rev. Tutu holds a Master of Divinity Degree from Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, MA. She is the chairperson of the board of the Global AIDS Alliance and a member of the advisory board Reinvest in South Africa (RISA). For five years, Rev. Tutu was Director of the Bishop Desmond Tutu Southern African Refugee Scholarship Fund of the Phelps Stokes Fund. That program provided full four-year college scholarships to refugees from South African and Namibia.
Rev. Tutu studied and taught in Grahamstown, South Africa, at the College of the Transfiguration, the Provincial Episcopal seminary of Southern Africa. While at the College, she joined the Mother's Union, and worked in both Xhosa- and English-speaking congregations. With a grant from the Episcopal Evangelical Education Society, she initiated pastoral care ministry for rape survivors and their families.
She is an experienced public speaker and preacher having recently addressed groups and congregations as diverse as Trinity, Copley Square, Massachusetts, Mother Bethel AME church in Philadelphia, The University of Minnesota at Mankato and the Women's Club of Richmond. She now serves as Assisting Priest at Holy Comforter Episcopal Church in Washington, DC.
 Ambassador Akbar Ahmed
According to the BBC, "Professor Akbar Ahmed is probably the world’s best-known scholar on contemporary Islam.” He is the former High Commissioner of Pakistan to Great Britain, and has advised Prince Charles and met with President George W. Bush on Islam. He is now Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies and professor of international relations at American University in Washington, DC. Dr. Ahmed is a distinguished anthropologist, writer, and filmmaker. He has been actively involved in interfaith dialogue and the study of global Islam and its impact on contemporary society for many years.
 Dr. Shyam Bajpai
Dr. Shyam Bajpai is President of Association of United Hindu-Jain Temples (UHJT) of Metropolitan Washington D.C., a federated institution of 14 Hindu and Jain Temples and their congregations. He is a dedicated volunteer who believes in practicing spirituality and service. In real life, Shyam is a Senior Engineer/Project Manager at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and also a former Electrical Engineering Professor at State University of New York at Stony Brook. Shyam’s passion in working together founded Sister Section relationship between Washington (6000 members) and Delhi (India) Sections for the first time in the history of IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers), his professional association. This model is being followed around the globe.
 Dr. Tara Brach
Tara Brach is a clinical psychologist and founder of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, D.C. She has been practicing meditation since 1975 and leads retreats throughout North America. Tara is author of the newly published book Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha.
 The Right Reverend John Bryson Chane
The Right Reverend John Bryson Chane was installed as the eighth Bishop of Washington on June 1, 2002, at Washington National Cathedral. Formerly the dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral, San Diego, California since 1996, he previously served as rector of St. Mark’s Church, Southborough, Massachusetts from 1987 to 1996; as canon pastor of St. Paul’s Cathedral, Erie, Pennsylvania from 1975 to 1987; and as curate and priest-in-charge of St. Paul’s Church, Montvale, New Jersey from 1972 to 1975. He holds degrees from Boston University (BA) and Yale Divinity School (M.Div).
In the Diocese of San Diego, Bishop Chane served as an original member of the diocesan Percept Team that began the development of new mission strategies for that diocese; served on the diocesan Hispanic Ministry Task Force; and coordinated the "Church Without Borders" program which links the Diocese of San Diego with the Diocese of Western Mexico and the Anglican Church of Mexico. Following a recent trip to the Middle East, he was asked to serve on the Jerusalem 2000 Committee of the National Episcopal Church.
Prior to attending seminary, Bishop Chane worked as an urban community organizer in Boston’s South End and Roxbury. He was also employed through the Boston Redevelopment Authority’s "Just-A-Start" program, an innovative inner city housing program funded in part by HUD. While in seminary, Bishop Chane worked as a community organizer for Christian Community Action, located in the Hill District of New Haven and was active as a leader and trainer in racial conflict resolution with the Brandford and Hamden, Connecticut public school systems.
 Rev Richard Cizik
The Reverend Richard Cizik is Vice President for Governmental Affairs of the National Association of Evangelicals, which is the most distinguished evangelical organization of its kind in the United States, with a membership of 51 denominations, 43,000 churches, and 27 million adherents. His primary responsibilities, as the most senior staff member of the Association with 24 years of service, include providing direction over the Association’s public-policy stands and advocacy before the Congress of the United States, the White House and the Supreme Court. He is regularly called upon to speak on topics as diverse as the Bush Administration’s "Faith-Based & Community Initiatives," “Evangelicals and Human Rights,” and "The New Evangelicals: Who Are They?"
The Faith Club authors: Ranya Idliby (Muslim), Suzanne Oliver (Christian), and Priscilla Warner (Jewish)
Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver, and Priscilla Warner gathered in one another’s living rooms five years ago to discuss faith, God, and religion, and at the time they had no idea their regular meetings would grow into a book that would touch so many hearts—and that would lead to the creation of similar Faith Clubs all over the country. From the comfort of their living rooms, these women have inspired a new kind of religious dialogue—and it’s spreading like wildfire. Readers have responded in droves on the authors’ website (www.thefaithclub.com) to share their stories on how the book has changed lives, opened hearts, and provided much-needed inspiration and hope. As documented on the website, Faith Clubs are popping up around the country in schools, houses of worship, colleges, and communities around the country.
 Rev. Walter Fauntroy
Walter Edward Fauntroy was an active member of the civil rights movement. Fauntroy was a member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), an organization led by Martin Luther King, Ralph David Abernathy, Fred Shutterworth, and Bayard Rustin. In 1961, Fauntroy was appointed by Martin Luther King as director of the Washington Bureau of the SCLC. He then worked as the Washington coordinator of the 1963 March on Washington and two years later directed the Selma March. In 1966 President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Fauntroy vice chairman of the White House's "To Fulfill These Rights" conference. The following year Johnson appointed him vice chairman of the Council of the District of Columbia. In 1969 Fauntroy became national coordinator of the Poor People's Campaign.
 Arun Gandhi – M.K. Gandhi Institute for Non-Violence
Arun Gandhi is the fifth grandson of India's late spiritual leader Mohandas Karamchand "Mahatma" Gandhi. In 1946, just before India gained independence from Britain, Arun's parents took him to live with his grandfather for eighteen months. This made a large impression on him. At twenty-three, Arun returned to India, worked as a reporter for The Times of India, and confounded India's Center for Social Unity, whose mission is to alleviate poverty and caste discrimination. In 1987, Arun Gandhi moved to the United States to work on a study at the University of Mississippi. This study examined and contrasted the sorts of prejudices that existed in India, the U.S., and South Africa. Afterward he moved to Memphis, Tennessee and founded the M. K. Gandhi Institute for Non-Violence hosted by the Christian Brothers University, a Catholic academic institution. This institute was dedicated to applying the principles of nonviolence at both local and global scales.
 Lodi Gyari – Special Envoy of His Holiness the Dalai Lama
Lodi Gyari is the Special Envoy of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. His also one of the founding members of the Tibetan Youth Congress, an organization of over 10,000 members advocating the independence of Tibet. He served as President of the Congress in 1975. Mr. Gyari was elected to the Assembly of Tibetan People's Deputies, the Tibetan Parliament in exile, and subsequently became its Chairman.
As the Special Envoy of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Lodi Gyari is the lead person designated by the Dalai Lama to engage in talks with the Chinese leadership. The latest round of Sino- Tibetan dialogue began in 2002 after a decade of diplomatic stalemate and is regarded by many Tibetans as a historic opportunity to achieve a resolution on the Tibet issue. Mr. Gyari is also the Executive Chairman of the Board of the International Campaign for Tibet, an independent Washington based human rights advocacy group.
 Most Reverend Martin Holley
Most Reverend Martin Holley is the Auxiliary Bishop of Washington, DC. His post graduate studies include the Theological College at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. and St. Vincent de Paul Seminary in Boynton Beach, Fla., where he earned a Master of Divinity degree. He was ordained to the priesthood on May 8, 1987 at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart Pensacola, Florida. Since then, he has served as parochial vicar and administrator at several churches in Pensacola, and then Spiritual Director for several organizations, including the Sierra Club of West Florida. He is a member of the Joint Conference of the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus.
Dilip JhaveriDilip Jhaveri, a coordinator in 2008 from India House of Worship, a founder member organization of the United Hindu and Jain Temples of Metropolitan Washington DC, has been actively participating for the past several years in organizing the Diwali Mela. He has been a community servant ever since his arrival in this country in 1976. He has been a Past President of India House of Worship providing Vedic Worship serving Metropolitan Washington People of Indian Origin. Dr. Abdullah KhoujDr. Abdullah Khouj is an Islamic Scholar and the Imam and Executive Director of The Islamic Center in Washington, DC. Open since 1957, the Islamic Center was started by the Washington Mosque Foundation, which represented every Islamic nation in the world and American citizens.
 Rev. Dr. Jeffrey K. Krehbiel
The Rev. Dr. Jeffrey K. Krehbiel has over twenty years experience in urban ministry, previously serving pastorates in Manhattan and in an inner-city neighborhood in Wilmington, Delaware. In 2000, he became the Pastor of Church of the Pilgrims in Washington, D.C., the former “national church” of the Southern Presbyterians. Today it reflects the diversity of its thriving urban neighborhood. An award winning preacher, recognized by the Lilly Foundation Leadership Forum as a promising young urban pastor, Rev. Krehbiel is a native of Ann Arbor, Michigan, and a graduate of Hope College in Holland, Michigan, and McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago.
 Reverend Samuel T. Lloyd III – Dean, Washington National Cathedral
Rev. Doctor Samuel T. Lloyd III is the ninth dean of Washington National Cathedral. He is charged with leadership of what is widely referred to as “the national house of prayer.” Dean Lloyd previously served as rector of historic Trinity Church, Copley Square in Boston, Massachusetts, for 12 years. His work in Boston focused on preaching, teaching, and developing Christian community, with emphases on lay leadership, wide-ranging styles of worship, and engagement in a broad array of direct and social justice ministries.
Rev. Dean Lloyd has taught in seminaries and has frequently spoken at conferences and conventions. He has preached on the “Protestant Hour” on radio and offered courses in the area of Christianity and literature, including Flannery O’Connor, Dante, contemporary fiction, C. S. Lewis, and the parables. He currently serves as a regent of the University of the South. His writing and reviews have been published by the Sewanee Theological Review, Forward Movement, Anglican Digest, and Journal of Religion, among others.
 Rabbi Bruce Lustig
Rabbi Bruce Lustig is senior rabbi at Washington Hebrew Congregation. Along with the daily responsibilities of leading a 3,000 member congregation, he has shown community involvement in the Jewish Council for the Aging, the Executive Board of Israel Bonds of the Greater Washington Area, the UAHC Rabbinic Network on Youth Suicide, the Mayors Faith Advisory Board, the National Liaison for National Day of Prayer, and the Board of Directors of the American Cancer Society, District of Columbia Division. He is a pro-active leader of Washington’s interfaith community and organized the nation’s first Abrahamic Summit bringing together Christians, Jews and Muslims for dialogue.
 Imam Mohamed Magid
Imam Mohamed Magid is the Executive Director of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS). Under his direction, the Center has grown to one of the largest Muslim community organizations in the Washington Metropolitan Area and a leader in local interfaith dialogue programs, social work, government relations, civic involvement, community service, and the education of the local public about Islam and Muslims. Imam Magid is also Vice-President of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), a member of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Muslim, Sikh and Arab Advisory Board, and the Chairman of the Fairfax County Faith Communities in Action. His work contributes to domestic violence advocacy and in May 2006, Fairfax County Human Rights Commission awarded Imam Magid with their Human Rights Award. A Sudanese-born American, Imam Magid is the son of the Grand Mufti of Sudan.
Rev. Claudia MerrittRev. Claudia Merritt is an Episcopal priest serving at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Miller's Tavern, Virginia. She is a cofounder of Our Voices Together and has been involved with organizations addressing issues of homelessness, racial equality, and poverty. She received a B.A. in economics from Carnegie Mellon University, an M.B.A. from Vanderbilt University, and an M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary. Rev. Merritt lost her lifelong best friend Norma Steuerle on September 11, 2001. Mrs. Steuerle was killed when the plane she was on was hijacked and flown into the Pentagon.
 Archbishop Pietro Sambi – Apostolic Nuncio to the United States
Archbishop Pietro Sambi is currently the Apostolic Nuncio, Vatican Ambassador to the United States. In 1964, Sambi was ordained to the priesthood, beginning is career working in the diplomatic service of the Secretariat of State in 1969. On October 10, 1985, Sambi was named the pro-nuncio to Burundi by Pope John Paul II, and ordained as a Bishop as the Titular Archbishop of Belcastro. Sambi was made the pro-nuncio to Indonesia in 1991, and named the nuncio to Israel and Cyprus in 1998 as well as the Apostolic delegate to Jerusalem and Palestine. On December 17, 2005, Sambi was named the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States by Pope Benedict XVI.
 Dr. Rajwant Singh
Dr. Singh represents the Sikh Council of Religion and Education and was also invited by The White House to the National Cathedral to join President Bush in prayer for the victims of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. He was the first Sikh leader to be invited along with leaders of many different religions to a meeting with Bush immediately after the attack of 9/11 on September 20, 2001. He organizes youth camp for Sikh children every summer and also conducts classes in Punjabi and Sikh history and philosophy in Washington area through Guru Gobind Singh Foundation throughout the year.
 Julia Wilson
Julia Wilson is the founder and managing director of Wilson Global Communications LLC (WGC) and executive producer and host of “Julia Wilson on the Continent,” an international television program highlighting progress in Africa. As an international broadcast and print journalist, she worked as a TV news correspondent for the UPN network to report Nelson Mandela's election as president during that country's first democratic elections. Following the 1994 elections, Wilson made history as the first American to own and operate a multicultural, public relations firm in the New South Africa. Wilson has served as moderator of the March 21, 2006 worldwide webcast with Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the first woman to be democratically elected as president of an African country, at the United States Institute of Peace that aired on C-SPAN.
 The Hon. Harris Wofford
Harris Wofford was a Senator from Pennsylvania from 1991-1995. A friend and informal advisor to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Wofford persuaded Kennedy to call King's wife and offer his support after he was imprisoned shortly before the election. In 1961, Kennedy appointed him as a special assistant to the President on civil rights. He was instrumental in the formation of the Peace Corps and served as the Peace Corps' special representative to Africa and director of operations in Ethiopia. Mr. Wofford played a key role in both crafting and working to pass the trailblazing legislation that created AmeriCorps, the Learn and Serve America program and the Corporation for National and Community Service. In 1950, Senator Wofford and his late wife Clare co-authored the book India Afire, which reported on the first year of independence in India and urged the civil rights movement in America to adopt Gandhi’s strategy of non-violent direct action.
 Archbishop Donald Wuerl
Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl was installed in June 2006 as the sixth Archbishop of Washington, which includes the District of Columbia and five Maryland counties. Archbishop Wuerl is known nationally for his catechetical and teaching ministry in the electronic and print media. He is recognized for his commitment to finding new ways to keep Catholic education affordable and accessible. He also has made renewing sacramental life throughout the archdiocese a priority. The Archbishop is active in community and interfaith activities, joining with civic and business leaders to promote education, service to the poor, pastoral assistance to refugees and immigrants as well as interfaith understanding.
Archbishop Wuerl also serves on numerous national and international bodies and is a member of the council for the Synod of Bishops. He is chairman of the board of directors of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, chancellor of The Catholic University of America and the former chairman of the board of the National Catholic Bioethics Center. He is chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis and of the board of the National Catholic Educational Association. He has served as chairman of the USCCB committees on Priestly Life and Ministry, Priestly Formation and Education. He was involved in developing the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults and the National Directory for Catechesis and is the author of numerous articles and books, including the best-selling catechisms, The Teaching of Christ and The Catholic Way.
The Archbishop was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and received graduate degrees from The Catholic University of America, the Gregorian University while attending the North American College, and a doctorate in theology from the University of St. Thomas in Rome in 1974. He was ordained to the priesthood on December 17, 1966, and ordained a bishop by Pope John Paul II on January 6, 1986 in St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome. He served as Bishop of Pittsburgh for 18 years until his appointment to Washington.
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Past Speakers 
