Karen M. Hurley was elected President General of the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organizations (WUCWO) in 2006 —the first woman from the United States of America to hold this position since WUCWO was founded in 1910. A public international association of the faithful, with a membership of almost 100 organisations, active in more than 60 countries, WUCWO represents more than 5 million Catholic women of every walk of life. The aim is to promote the presence, participation and co-responsibility of Catholic women in Church and society in order to enable them to fulfill their mission of evangelization and to work for human development.
In 2011 Karen served as a
Member of the Holy See Delegation to the United Nations 55th
Commission on the Status of Women. She
was an invited presenter and co-organizer of the International Congress
sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace on Life, Family, Development: The Role of Women in the Promotion of Human
Rights (2009). She is also an invited presenter and
participant in numerous International Congresses sponsored by the Vatican
Secretariat of State, Pontifical Council for the Laity, and the Pontifical
Council for the Family.
Karen has been actively
involved in the National Council of Catholic Women (NCCW) for many years on the
parish, deanery, diocesan and national levels.
She served as NCCW President-Elect in 2013. She makes presentations
to large and small groups, as well as leads retreats
and days of reflection. Karen is a Board
Member Emeritus of the Franciscan Foundation for the Holy Land (FFHL). She served on the Governing Board of the
World Conference of Religions for Peace (WCRP).
For
more than 21 years, Karen served as Pastoral Associate of Saint Margaret Mary
Parish in Harrisburg, PA. In 1990 Karen
received a certificate in the first Diocese of Harrisburg Lay Ministry
Formation Program through Mount Saint Mary’s College, Emmitsburg, MD. She is a member of the Diocese of
Harrisburg’s Committee for the Continuing Formation of Priests.
At
the request of Most Reverend Kevin C. Rhoades, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI
granted Karen the Pontifical Honor of Dame
of the Equestrian Order of Pope Saint Sylvester for service to the Church
in the Diocese of Harrisburg. The
Catholic Daughters of the Americas
Karen
and her husband, Terry, are members of the Cathedral Parish of Saint Patrick. Karen is a self-employed Global Pilgrimage Coordinator.