University of Notre Dame
Candidate for Executive Council (2027-29)
Candidate statement
It is a great honor to be nominated to serve on the Executive Council of the ACHA, an organization which from the very beginning of my career has been a tremendous source of support, insight, and community. As a council member, I will be delighted to offer my interdisciplinary expertise, administrative experience, and more importantly my passion for the study of Catholicism and history to continue to cultivate the ACHA’s first-class scholarship as well as locate new opportunities for growth and collaboration as the ACHA moves forward in its eleventh decade of operation.
Presently, I am a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Notre Dame, cosponsored by the Global Catholic Research Initiative and the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism. I earned my PhD in modern European history from Boston College in 2026 with a focus on avant-garde Catholic intellectuals and activists in France between World War I and World War II. Previously I earned an MA in political science from BC and a BA in political science and economics from Ohio Dominican University. Beyond receiving the Ellis Dissertation Award and named a national finalist of the Charlotte Newcombe Prize, I have had the good fortune of being supported by fellowships from the Social Science Research Council, Loyola University Chicago, the Clough Center for Democracy at Boston College, and others. During the 2023–24 academic year, I was invited as a Visiting Researcher at the Institut Catholique de Paris.
Trained in intellectual and political history, my research centers on the role of Catholicism in positively rethinking questions of secularization, inter-religious dialogue, and cross-cultural exchange. My book project extends my dissertation’s narrative on interwar France to larger dilemmas of and opportunities for Catholicism in the global order of the 1940s and 1950s, with particular attention to Catholic impacts on migration, racism, human rights, and ideological extremism across Eastern Europe, North Africa, and the United States. A portion of this research has appeared in peer-reviewed journals such as the Catholic Historical Review, the Journal of Global Catholicism, European History Quarterly, and the Journal of French and Francophone Philosophy. Part of my enthusiasm for the global stakes of Catholicism is informed by extensive translation work, the linguistic bridge that makes conversation and inclusion possible across borders. I am the author of two book translations, from French to English: Thinking God Otherwise (Wipf and Stock, 2025) and Authority, History, and Political Theology (Bloomsbury, 2026). More broadly, I am currently undertaking a co-edited volume on global Catholicism as well as another translation project on the work of the French Jesuit, Gaston Fessard and his theory of the present in history (De l’actualité historique).
As the son of Lebanese immigrants, I understand first-hand the importance of realizing inclusive principles of the Catholic tradition in both scholarship and service, not to mention the value in interdisciplinary inquiry for responding to today’s most pressing questions. My CV—beyond including my research and expertise—provides a few examples of how my service has stemmed from my own experience serving on the Journal of the History of Ideas as well as institutional roles at Boston College—from planning conferences, leading forums, and organizing academic programming to deliberating on avenues of research funding and scholarly support.
The ACHA was the first organization that welcomed me to present my work several years ago, and it will be a tremendous pleasure to be able to give back in service on the Executive Council.