About A Faith That Does Justice

Mission & Vision

A Faith That Does Justice is an interfaith organization that raises consciousness about social issues affecting the most vulnerable among us and offers opportunities for people to walk in solidarity with those who our society marginalizes. We welcome people of all races, religions, cultures and sexual orientations. We are respectful of our differences and seek to learn from each other ways to overcome the social, political and economic barriers that may separate us.

Mission & Vision

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Who We Are

Directors & Officers

Who We Are

Directors & Officers

Peter W. Gyves, SJ, MD

Founder, Director & President

David L. Ungerleider, SJ

Director & Vice President

William J. Sheehan

Director & Secretary

Marion Driscoll

Director

Damian J. Esparza

Director

James E. King

Director

Michael Nilles

Director

Core Volunteers

About A Faith That Does Justice

There are three components to A Faith That Does Justice:

Workshops – that honor the inherent human dignity of all and explore how our faiths challenge us to work for a world where all God’s people can enjoy a fair share of the goods of God’s creation.
Community Meetings – that focus on the social issues that affect the most vulnerable among us. Meetings feature invited speakers, discussion groups, and an opportunity to seek advice and assistance from, or even to volunteer with, a non-profit organization in attendance. We also provide simultaneous interpretation of these presentations so everyone attending can understand the content of the talk and have a voice during the subsequent discussions.
Faith in Action – that emphasizes the works of mercy. We have an English for Speakers of Other Language (ESOL) program led by a volunteer director who works with teachers, tutors and others to provide ESOL training to those who have recently arrived in the U. S. and who need better language and social interaction skills to obtain employment and to live successfully in this country.

For those who live in the greater Boston area, we invite you to join us at our workshops, Community Meetings, and our English for Speakers of Other Languages program. Please see the Events page for further information about times and locations.

For those who live at a distance and cannot be among us, we invite you to regularly explore our website as a way to walk with us in a transformative journey from a faith that is proclaimed dogmatically to one that is also lived from the heart and acts on behalf of the good of all God’s people. Please explore our website to learn more about our journey.

Thank you for your interest in A Faith That Does Justice. We hope to see you soon.

Peter W. Gyves, SJ, MD
Founder

Peter W. Gyves, SJ, MD

Founder, Director & President

Peter, a Jesuit priest, is the founder and director of A Faith That Does Justice, Inc., an interfaith organization that raises consciousness about social issues affecting the most vulnerable among us and offers opportunities for people to walk in solidarity with those who our society marginalizes. It welcomes people of all races, religions, cultures and sexual orientations. It is respectful of these differences and seeks to overcome the social, political and economic barriers that separate people from each other. Peter piloted the program in San Diego, CA in 2015 and moved the program to Boston in late 2016.

Peter is a Board-Certified Pediatrician (1984) and Pediatric Endocrinologist (1986). His medical career also included scientific research at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD (1985-90). He entered the Society of Jesus in 2003 and was ordained a priest in 2008. He has lived and worked in several countries outside the United States, both as physician and a priest, including El Salvador and Guatemala during their civil wars of the 1980’s and early 1990’s, and in several English and French-speaking African countries.

Peter has degrees from Boston College (B.S., 1973, M.A.-Theology, 1994), Georgetown University (M.D., 1978), Johns Hopkins University (M.P.H., 2005), and Weston School of Theology (STL, 2008),

David L. Ungerleider, SJ

Director & Vice President

David, a Jesuit priest, is President of the Iberoamericana University Foundation in San Diego, CA. He is also director of the Manresa Prayer House and Project Coordinator for its Foundation, and serves as a member of the Society of Jesus’ Mexican Province outreach for Social Assistance Projects to the Tarahumara indigenous people in Chihuahua, MX.

David was a professor of sociology at the Autonomous Juárez University of Tabasco and the Olmeca University in Tabasco, MX (1992-1996). He has also served as the director of several nonprofit organizations and overseen the development and construction of multiple building projects for the Society of Jesus at the Iberoamerica University in Tijuana, MX, including its library, university auditorium, and the Manresa Prayer House.

David entered the Society of Jesus in 1969, and was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1977. He has degrees in Philosophy and Letters from the University of St. Louis, MO (BA, 1973), and Religious Sciences from the Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City, MX (1975), and the National School of Anthropology and History, Mexico City, MX (MA-Social Anthropology, 1983).

William J. Sheehan

Director & Secretary

Bill is the retired Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer of Sonesta International Hotels Corporation. Much of Bill’s career was in the hospitality industry where he held Chief Executive Officer positions with Sonesta Hotels and Omni Hotels and Chief Financial Officer positions with Omni Hotels and Ian Schrager Hotels. Early in his career, Bill was a partner with Arthur Andersen & Co., an international firm of independent public accountants.

Bill served as an independent trustee of Hospitality Properties Trust, a real estate investment trust with $7 billion of assets invested in 300 hotels and 200 travel centers, from its founding in 1995 until 2003. He served on the Trust’s governance, compensation and audit committees and held the chair position of each of those committees at varying times during his tenure.

Bill’s volunteer experience includes being Chairman and Member of the Nahant MA Advisory and Finance Committee and Board President and Director of Tower School in Marblehead MA. Currently, Bill is a member of the Ignatian Volunteer Corps. In that role he volunteered with New England Center for Arts & Technology, a nonprofit culinary training program serving unemployed adults. Bill worked two days per week with students, as a group and one on one, providing them with soft skills training, resume development, job search skills and direct connection to culinary jobs offering living wages and opportunities for career growth. Bill now volunteers with A Faith That Does Justice, Inc., an interfaith program that seeks to raise consciousness about social issues that affect the most vulnerable among us, while offering other opportunities to walk in solidarity with those less fortunate than themselves. His focus is currently on assisting with organizational development and strategies for growth and service offerings.

Marion Driscoll

Director

Marion is a benefactor of educational efforts on behalf of disadvantaged students at Cardinal Hayes High School, Bronx, NY; De La Salle Academy, NY, NY; the Academy of Mount Saint Ursula, Bronx, NY; Fordham Prep, Bronx, NY; and, graduates of St. Anthony’s Elementary School, Hawthorne, NJ. In recent years, she has been a benefactor of non-profit organizations, internationally, with Children of Poverty, El Salvador, and, nationally, with A Faith That Does Justice, Inc., Boston, MA.

Marion has a degree from Marymount College, Tarrytown, NY (BA- Art Education). She taught for several years and was active in the civic affairs in her New Jersey township where she helped organize and run the Glen Rock Newcomers Club and the Glen Rock Taxpayers Association. She was a member of Glen Rock Volunteer Ambulance Corps and served on the Boards of Glen Rock Board of Education, Glen Rock Zoning Board of Adjustment, and the Bergen Youth Orchestra. She is active in her local church where as a lay person in the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine she taught Catechism for 6 years.

Damian J. Esparza

Director

Damian has a diverse background with extensive experience in finance, real estate, technology, and non-profit organizations. He is Founder of SmartProperty, a real estate technology startup. Over the past 16 years, he has worked in the real estate industry and served as CEO of Barrera & Co., a reserve study firm that specializes in financial planning for community associations. Prior to working in real estate, Mr. Esparza worked in technology for the investment banking industry in San Francisco. He helped raise over $2 billion in the initial public offering (IPO) process, secondary offerings and private placements. He began his career in the mailroom of a Hollywood talent and literary agency. In college, he served as a congressional intern.

Mr. Esparza has also served in a non-profit capacity as the Director for Stewardship and Development for the Diocese of San Diego. In that role, he helped establish the Catholic Community Foundation of San Diego, the Bishop Flores Scholars Tuition Assistance Program, the Mental Illness Network partnership with San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency, the “Strengthening Our Catholic Schools Research Project” with University of San Diego, the Healthy Lunch Program for Catholic Schools in partnership with the Neighborhood House Association, and the Stewardship and Sustainability partnership with San Diego Gas & Electric.

He also served on numerous boards and leadership committees for multiple non-profits, and currently serves on the boards of the Boy Scouts of America for Imperial and San Diego Counties, A Faith That Does Justice, Inc., and the Latino Leadership & Policy Forum.

Damian enjoys spending his time with family including his wife Danielle, young son Oliver and dog Harlow. He likes fishing, mountain biking, surfing and being outdoors. He is a graduate of the CONNECT Springboard Entrepreneurship Program and San Diego Public Leadership Institute, a program of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce. He graduated from Boston College (BA, Philosophy, ‘96).

James E. King

Director

Jim has degrees from the University of Georgia (BA, Summa Cum laude, 1976) and Stanford University Law School (J.D., Order of the Coif, Law Review, 1979). Early in his career, Jim served as a Law Clerk for Judge Howard B. Turrentine of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California (1979-80). He later became an Associate, then Partner at Luce Forward, LLP, San Diego, CA (1980-89), and Partner at Solomon Ward, LLP, of San Diego, CA (1990-94), before forming his own law practice, King Law Corporation (1994-2017).

Jim’s current legal work focuses on legal ethics, attorney fee disputes, and legal malpractice. From these professional interests flow a keen interest in social justice within society.

Michael Nilles

Director

Michael is a Senior Loan Officer for BlueHub Loan Fund, Inc. where he has worked since 2004. BlueHub is a private, non-profit community development financial institution founded in 1985 to help build healthy communities where low income people live and work.

Prior to BlueHub, he served as Assistant Vice President in the Corporate Banking Division of BayBank Boston, N.A. from 1991 – 1996 and for SAFECO Life Insurance Company in Seattle as a Pension Analyst in their Pension Department for four years.

Michael earned his Master’s Degree in Public and Private Management from Yale University’s School of Organization and Management in 1991. He is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Georgetown University where he received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance. While at Georgetown he studied in Oxford, England in a Comparative Business Program.

Michael was active in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps NW and the Fremont Public Association while living in Seattle. He is married and has four adult children and enjoys spending time in Vermont skiing and hiking.