BIO
Kathy Bergen
March, 2006
Kathy Bergen, as of April 1, 2006 is assuming her position as
Coordinator of the Friends International Center in Ramallah
(FICR). Kathy will be based in Ramallah for this work, living in
Ramallah Friends Meeting’s Annex apartment. FICR is a
project under the care of a U.S. based Steering Committee (of which the
Clerk of Ramallah Meeting is a member) and is carried out in
partnership with Ramallah Friends Meeting. The FICR Steering
Committee is feeling especially blessed to have this next phase of the
Center’s work under the care of one whose experience and
faithfulness is wide and deep.
Kathy has just completed eleven years of service as the national
coordinator of the Middle East Program of the Peacebuilding Unit in the
national office of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Prior to coming to the AFSC, Kathy lived in Geneva, Switzerland, where
she was the director of the International Coordinating Committee for
NGOs on the question of Palestine (ICCP). This office was
established in 1983 after the United Nations organized the first
International Meeting for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working
on the question of Palestine. The ICCP coordinated information
and solidarity among more than 1,200 NGOs and over 400 individuals from
around the world, including Israeli and Palestinian NGOs working on
issues related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Kathy lived in Jerusalem from the time of the Israeli invasion of
Lebanon in 1982 until after the Gulf War in 1991. During that
time she spent seven years working as the Peace Education and Advocacy
staff person for the Mennonite Central Committee based in East
Jerusalem. Her work took her into the local Palestinian Christian
and Muslim communities and the Israeli peace movement. During her
time in Jerusalem she was involved in inter-faith dialogue and taught
courses at the Bethlehem Bible College in Bethlehem.
Other work while in Jerusalem involved collaboration with Naim Ateek,
the priest of the Anglican Cathedral in Jerusalem and a group of seven
Palestinian Christians (The Palestinian Theology Group, including Jean
Zaru). Together they planned and organized the first Liberation
Theology conference in Palestine, which took place in 1990. The
Palestinian Theology Group later established an office in East
Jerusalem and continues to the present in organizing international
conferences and carrying out other work. This office became known
as Sabeel, the Palestinian Liberation Theology Center, with Naim Ateek
as its director and Jean Zaru, Clerk of Ramallah Meeting, as one of the
Vice-Presidents and Board members.
Kathy grew up in Coaldale, Alberta Canada. She and her parents
are Russian Mennonites who immigrated to Canada in 1949. In 2005
Kathy became a member of Ramallah Friends Meeting.