Margaret R. Pfeil

Margaret R. Pfeil is a Teaching Professor in the Department of Theology at the University of Notre Dame with a joint appointment at the Institute for Social Concerns. She serves as a Faculty Fellow at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies and the Klau Center for Civil and Human Rights, and co-directs the Catholic Social Tradition Minor. As co-founder of the Saint Peter Claver Catholic Worker Community in South Bend, Indiana, she integrates academic work with grassroots activism through its apostolate, Our Lady of the Road.

Her academic credentials include:

• Ph.D. in Moral Theology/Christian Ethics from the University of Notre Dame (2000)
• M.A. in Moral Theology/Christian Ethics from the University of Notre Dame (1997)
• M.T.S. in Moral Theology from Weston Jesuit School of Theology (1994)
• B.A. in Government and International Studies from the University of Notre Dame (1987)

Dr. Pfeil's research centers on Catholic Social Tradition, Peace Studies, Spirituality and Ecological Ethics, Racial Justice, and Ecumenical Dialogue. Her work synthesizes theological ethics with practical nonviolence, emphasizing environmental justice and racial reconciliation through the lens of Catholic social teaching. She explores how spiritual practices inform resistance to systemic oppression and ecological degradation.

Her publications reveal a sustained focus on ecumenical collaboration—particularly Catholic-Mennonite dialogue—and the application of nonviolent spirituality to structural injustices. Key themes include mass incarceration, white complicity in racial inequality, and the integration of Vatican II principles into pastoral practice, demonstrating how academic theology directly engages with community-based justice work.

Dr. Pfeil actively embodies her scholarship through the Saint Peter Claver Catholic Worker Community and Bridgefolk (the Mennonite/Catholic ecumenical movement), where she collaborates with her husband Biff Weidman. These initiatives operationalize her commitment to living Catholic social teaching through hospitality, nonviolent resistance, and cross-tradition solidarity.