About Us

The Function of the Norman Miller Center for Peace, Justice and Public Understanding Catholic social teaching and our Norbertine heritage inspire us to be advocates for the common good and builders of sustainable peace. Paul VI said, "If you want peace, work for justice." More recently, Benedict XVI wrote, "The more we strive to secure a common good corresponding to the real needs of our neighbors, the more effectively we love them. Every Christian is called to practice this charity, in a manner corresponding to his [or her] vocation and according to the degree of influence he [or she] wields in the polis." The Norman Miller Center for Peace, Justice and Public Understanding seeks to fulfill this calling. Through curricular and co-curricular programs, we partner with all academic disciplines in cultivating awareness, compassion and commitment to justice and the building of sustainable peace. We seek peace in the broadest sense as shalom, and we pursue justice not as revenge, but as the establishment of what is right. Informed action depends on understanding. As part of St. Norbert College’s Division of Academic Affairs, the Norman Miller Center provides resources and opportunities for the St. Norbert College community and others to discuss, understand and partner for change in some of the most complex issues of our time. Our curricular and co-curricular programs help prepare students to engage with issues of peace and justice both locally and globally with clarity and charity. While promoting interfaith understanding as essential to our mission, we are particularly mindful of the Catholic intellectual tradition and Catholic Social Teaching as we cultivate among students the understanding, experience, and passion through which they may engage their communities effectively as agents of positive change in the world. We also maintain the emphasis on peacebuilding and human dignity seen in the life of Norbert of Xanten and the ongoing Norbertine tradition, extending the ideal of communio toward our far neighbors and remaining vigilant on behalf of the common good.