We write to share the sad news that Fr. John Crossin, OSFS passed away May 12 from an illness. He was a champion of Christian unity, a leader in interfaith dialogue, and a teacher and friend of many in the Consortium.  We will continue our plans, made with him last month before he knew of his illness, to have a symposium about his new book in the coming year. We are grateful to Dr. Mitzi Budde for the following tribute to him:

We give thanks for the life of the Rev. Dr. John W. Crossin, OSFS, who died on May 12, 2023 after a brief bout with cancer. Fr. Crossin served as Executive Director of the Washington Theological Consortium, 1998-2011, and was awarded WTC’s Figel Ecumenism Award in 2021. His most recent book, “Moving into the Ecumenical Future (Pickwick, 2022),” proposes an ecumenical paradigm for ecumenical moral discernment based on virtue ethics and expresses his prayerful expectation that the Holy Spirit will thereby lead the churches into full communion. 
 
A life-long ecumenist, Fr. Crossin also served as Executive Director of the Secretariat for Ecumenical & Interreligious Affairs, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (2011-2016) and Consultor to the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (2014-2020). Fr. Crossin was an ecumenical optimist with a gentle, kind, and loving heart. He was teacher, ethicist, pastor, mentor, spiritual friend, and brother in Christ to many of us, and we mourn his loss.