Bishop Colin Bagaforo, auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Cotabato in Cotabato City, the Philippines, is the Kroc Institute’s 2012 Catholic Relief Services Fellow.
Based on the island of Mindanao, Bishop Bagaforo is a member of the Episcopal Commission on Interreligious Dialogue for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines and a member of the Bishops-Ulama Conference, a pioneering group of Catholic bishops and Muslim leaders dedicated to promoting dialogue. He also has served on the Filipino government’s peace negotiation commission.
On Mindanao, the roots of conflict between indigenous, Muslim, and Christian groups go back nearly 100 years. During the last decade, the Archdiocese of Cotabato and Catholic Relief Services have collaborated on relief and rehabilitation efforts in the wake of violence as well as on peacebuilding work.
While at the Kroc Institute, Bishop Bagaforo will focus on research, reflection, and writing on interreligious peacebuilding in the Philippines.
The Kroc Institute and Catholic Relief Services have sponsored the CRS-Kroc fellowships for six years. Past fellows have come from Burundi, El Salvador, Indonesia, Kenya, the Philippines, and Rwanda.
Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the U.S. Catholic community. The agency provides assistance to people in more than 100 countries.
Contact: Renée LaReau, 574-631-5098, rlareau1@nd.edu