Monthly Speaker Luncheon - H. Victor "Skip" Conde

Preparing for Persecution

We Christians are members of one body in Christ. We are being beheaded and slaughtered by the masses in the Middle East, Sudan, Nigeria, North Korea - our churches, art, and relics ransacked. Here at home in "civilized" America, we are enduring an unbloody persecution that is rapidly increasing in frequency and intensity.

'Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me."  Matthew 24:9

Should we be surprised?

No. "In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evildoers and imposters will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived."  2 Timothy 3:12-13

Should we be scared?

We shouldn't fear persecution so long as we persevere in a state of grace. For Christ tells us, "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 5:10

How can we prepare?

Prayer. Sacraments. Spiritual Reading. And listening to great lectures from STMSOC like the one we'll hear this month from H. Victor Condé.

Human Rights, the United Nations and the Role of the Catholic Church and Religious Persecutions in the 21st Century

H. Victor “Skip” Condé

H. Victor “Skip” Condé is a California lawyer originally from Costa Mesa, where he was sworn into the California bar by  fellow parishioner Judge Frances Munoz  in front of the Blessed Sacrament in St. Joachim Church. He is a graduate of Loyola High, UC Irvine in Classics, UC Davis Law School, and the University of Essex UK, LLM in International and Comparative Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. He holds the Diplome in Intl and Comparative Human Rights and Humanitarian Law from the International Institute of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. His legal ministry focuses on international law and freedom of religion and church- state relations issues, particularly in the United Nations and Council of Europe human rights systems. Most of the past 20 years he has been teaching  human rights law at Trinity Law in Santa Ana and at the International Institute of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France and the Faculty of Law of the University of Strasbourg.

In recent months he has traveled to Canada and Nepal to train lawyers in international religious freedom law, and will just be returning from Sudan and Iraq (Kurdistan) three days before our June meeting. He serves the Church as a legal consultant to Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Permanent Representative of the Holy See at the UN and has served as part of the Holy See diplomatic delegation at the UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva.

His publications include “Encyclopedia of Human Rights in the United States”, “Handbook of International Human Rights Terminology”  and “Human Rights and Freedom of Religion or Belief: A Training Module.”

A former member of STMSOC, he now lives in San Mateo California with his wife Jean, Dean of Notre Dame de Namur University, and daughter Simone, who starts Boston College this fall.

He will be speaking about the United Nations, human rights law and the role the Catholic Church plays in the international legal arena involving human rights, especially as to religious persecution and discrimination, with anecdotes from his recent work in Sudan and Iraq.

Suggested Donation - $15