Eileen Egan

Eileen Egan (1912–2000) was an American journalist, Catholic activist, and co-founder of the Catholic peace group American PAX Association and its successor Pax Christi USA, the American branch of Pax Christi.

In 1943 she became an active member of Catholic Relief Services, and a longtime friend of Dorothy Day and Mother Teresa, whose biography she wrote, Such A Vision: Mother Teresa, the Spirit, and the Work. She also marched with Martin Luther King Jr. at Selma. She coined the term seamless garment to describe the unity of Catholic teaching that all human life is sacred and should be protected by law.

Early life and education Born in Wales, she moved with her family to New York City in 1926 and completed her secondary education at Cathedral High School. She later graduated from Hunter College in 1933 She later received the highest honor awarded civilians by both the French and German governments.

In the course of her work, Egan visited Palestinian refugees in Gaza, Chinese exiles in Hong Kong, and displaced civilians in Pakistan, Korea and Vietnam. In 1955 she met Mother Teresa in Calcutta. She was Mother Teresa's official biographer and helped introduce the latter's work in the West.

Eileen Egan was awarded the Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award in 1989. It was named after a 1963 encyclical letter by Pope John XXIII that calls upon all people of good will to secure peace among all nations. Pacem in terris is Latin for 'Peace on Earth'.

Egan did not consider herself a pacifist. Her response to her attacker was one of care and forgiveness.

She died on October 7, 2000, aged 88.

Legacy Egan was named to the Hunter Alumni Hall of Fame in 1983. Catholic Relief Services created the "Eileen Egan Journalism Award" in May 1995 in honor of Eileen Egan. The Egan Journalism Fellowship was created by Catholic Relief Services to recognize journalists who demonstrate excellence in their reporting for Catholic media and to encourage them to increase their coverage of poverty and development issues overseas. In 2007, Pax Christi USA established the Eileen Egan Peacemaker Award to recognize a group or individual who has made a strong and extraordinary prophetic witness for peace in a time or situation of devastating violence or injustice.

Works Transfigured night: the CRALOG experience, with Elizabeth Clark Reiss. Livingston Pub. Co., 1964. The works of peace. Sheed and Ward, 1965. The Catholic conscientious objector: the right to refuse to kill. Pax Christi, 1981. Dorothy Day and the permanent revolution. Benet Press, 1983. Such a vision of the street: Mother Teresa, the spirit and the work. Image Books, 1986. . Catholic Relief Services: the beginning years; for the life of the world. Catholic Relief Services, 1988. Prayertimes with Mother Teresa: a new adventure in prayer involving Scripture, Mother Teresa, and you, with Kathleen Egan. Image Books, 1989. . Suffering into joy: what Mother Teresa teaches about true joy, with Kathleen Egan. Servant Publications, 1994. . For whom there is no room: scenes from the refugee world. Paulist Press, 1995. . At Prayer with Mother Teresa, with Judy Bauer. Liguori, 1999. . Mother Teresa's prayer book. Canterbury Press, 1999. . Peace be with you: justified warfare or the way of nonviolence. Orbis Books, 1999. Blessed Are You: Mother Teresa and the Beatitudes, with Kathleen Egan. Ignatius Press, 1999. .