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Seton Hall University

Rev. Msgr. John Radano, Ph.D.

Adjunct Professor of Systematic Theology
School of Theology

Monsignor John A. Radano was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Newark in 1965. Appointed to the faculty of Seton Hall University, he served in the Department of Religious Studies from 1965-1984, also as its chairman from 1977-1984, specializing in ecumenical studies.

During these years as a faculty member at the University, his many ecumenical activities included participation in the North American Academy of Ecumenists, with three years (1981-83) as Membership Secretary/ Treasurer, and co-director of an Ecumenical Studies Institute co-sponsored by Seton Hall University and Upsala College, which organized ecumenical lecture programs at both institutions (1973-1975). In addition, he participated in two international assemblies of the World Conference on Religion and Peace (Princeton, New Jersey, 1979, and Nairobi, Kenya, 1984), with the responsibility of organizing prayer sessions at those assemblies. He also served as member of the Pax Romana (a Catholic NGO) delegation at the United Nations (1975-79), and head of the delegation (1977-79). He attended, in an NGO capacity, the first UNO world conferences on Population (1974, Bucharest, Romania), and on Human Settlements (1976, Canada).

From 1984-2008, he served in the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU), Vatican City, and in 1985, Pope John Paul II appointed him as head of that Pontifical Council’s Western Section. He participated there in a number of the Catholic Church’s international bilateral dialogues with other world Christian communions, including those with Lutherans, Reformed, Baptists, Mennonites, Classical Pentecostals and Evangelicals. In 1985, the PCPCU named him liaison with the Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches, and member, in 1988, of the Joint Working Group between the Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches. 

Monsignor Radano was honored with the publication of a Festschrift entitled Towards Unity, Ecumenical Dialogue 500 Years After the Reformation, Essays in Honor of Monsignor John A. Radano, edited by Donald Bolen, Nicholas Jesson, and Donna Geernaert, S.C., introduction by Cardinal Walter Kasper, New York/Mahwah:  Paulist Press, and Toronto:  Novalis Publishing Company, 2017.

In 2018, Monsignor Radano was appointed by the Commission on Faith and Order, World Council of Churches, to the Editorial Advisory Board of the Faith and Order Papers Digital Edition.

Publications include:
Monsignor Radano is the Editor of the PCPCU’s Information Service (1985-2008). His articles have appeared in the New Catholic Encyclopedia (Jubilee Volume, the Wojtlya Years), the Dictionary of the Ecumenical Movement, Personenlexikon Ökumene, and in journals such as Midstream, Ecumenical Trends, The Journal of Ecumenical Studies, One in Christ, Religious Studies Review, Angelicum, Marian Studies, Catholica, Centro Pro Unione (semi-annual Bulletin), Priests and People, Messagero Cappucino and U.S. Catholic Historian. He has published numerous articles in L’Osservatore Romano and in a number of World Council of Churches publications, as well as contributing articles to books edited by others. These include "Willebrands, the Churches of the West, and the World Council of Churches; a Roman Catholic Assessment," in Adelbert Denaux and Peter DeMay, editors, The Ecumenical Legacy of Johannes Cardinal Willebrands (1909-2006). Leuven, Paris, Walpole, MA; Peeters, 2012, 187-209.

Msgr. Radano has also published several books. See "Scholarship" section below for more information on these books.
 

Other Teaching Experience:
Monsignor Radano has served as Scholar in Residence, Spring semester, 2010, at St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity, University of St. Thomas (St. Paul, Minnesota); Adjunct Professor at St. Joseph Seminary, Dunwoodie, Yonkers, New York, Fall semesters 2009, 2010, 2011; “Professore Invitato” (Visiting Professor) at The Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (The Angelicum), Rome, 2009-2010; has lectured at the University of Notre Dame (March 27-28, 2009).

Ecclesiastical Appointments:
In 1986, Pope John Paul II appointed him Papal Chaplain, and in 1993, Prelate of Honor. In 2008, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Protonotary Apostolic Supernumerary.