Office of the President, Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace
Fr. Michael Czerny S.J. entered the Society of Jesus in English Canada in 1963, and was ordained in 1973. He did graduate studies at the University of Chicago in an inter-disciplinary programme in humanities, social thought and theology and earned the doctorate in 1978.
Dr. Czerny was the founding director of the Jesuit Centre for Social Faith and Justice, Toronto (1979 – 1989). After the 1989 assassination of the Jesuits at the Central American University (UCA) in San Salvador, he became Director of its Human Rights Institute (1990 – 1991) and Vice-Rector of the UCA (1991). For 11 years Michael served as Secretary for Social Justice at the Jesuit General Curia, Rome (1992 – 2002). In 2002, he founded the African Jesuit AIDS Network (AJAN), which assists Jesuits to respond to the HIV/AIDS pandemic; he directed AJAN for 8 years.
Since 2010, Fr. Czerny has been working with Cardinal Peter Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, as advisor or counsellor in all areas of service offered by the President’s Office.
