Prof. Stephen M. Rasche joins the Franciscan University faculty as a Professor of Theology where he will also serve as Director of the Institute for Catholic Humanitarian Service.
After over 25 years of practicing law in international business and humanitarian aid projects, with much of it in high-risk locales, including extensive work in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Latin America, Prof. Rasche left his commercial practice in 2014 and began service as a full-time lay missionary serving the catholic church in the conflict zones of the Middle East and Africa.
Prof. Rasche was a founding officer of the Catholic University in Erbil (CUE) in 2014. He has served as an official representative to the Vatican Dicastery on Refugees and Migrants and is a senior fellow at the Religious Freedom Institute in Washington DC. He remains the principal international liaison on behalf of the CUE and continues as counsel to the Chaldean Archdiocese of Erbil.
He is the author of numerous articles and the critically acclaimed book, The Disappearing People: The Tragic Fate of Christians in the Middle East.
He holds a BA in International Relations from Boston University, and a JD from the University of San Diego.
