John Rivera is the Director of Communications for Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the international overseas relief and development agency of the U.S. Catholic community. He previously served as senior writer at CRS.

Before coming to CRS in February 2005, he worked for 14 years as a writer and editor for The Baltimore Sun, where he served as a suburban bureau chief, a rewrite man, and covered the religion beat, specializing in explanatory stories on religious and theological trends.

Before entering journalism, he was a member of the Order of Carmelites, a Roman Catholic religious order, serving in North Hollywood, Calif.; Middletown, N.Y.; Chicago, Ill; El Salvador; and Washington, D.C.

He taught classes in journalism and religous studies at Mount Carmel High School in Chicago, Ill., and St. John's College High School in Washington, D.C.

He holds an M.A. in theology from the Washington Theological Union and a B.A. in journalism