The world is a violent place.  Every day, our televisions confront us with scenes of violence in the world – war, terrorism and aggressions of various kinds.  On a more personal level, we experience violence in our own lives – on the highways, at work, even in our homes.  More than just the overt acts of aggression, violence in other forms pervades society.  Injustices based on race, gender etc, environmental destruction, and poverty are also manifestations of the violence we experience.  Many times we are the victims, sometimes the perpetrators.

 We are called to be peacemakers.  Jesus made this very clear when he said in His Sermon on the Mount “Blessed are the Peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.”  Jesus, himself, confronted violence in the crucifixion. 

 We are called to be peacemakers.  In a world that cries out for peace, we are called by our Baptism to be the Peace of Christ to the hungry world.  But how?

 Our parish will be presenting a multi-part program that will offer parishioners the opportunity to see how they can become Active Peacemakers in a Violent World. 

 On the first weekend of April 2005, Father Peter Dougherty, Catholic priest in the Diocese of Lansing was here to give the homily at all of the weekend masses.  Father Dougherty is a life-long visionary for peace, an active member (founder) of the Michigan Peace Team and has, himself, been an active peace maker in various parts of the world as well as right here at home.  His discussion of violence and our call as Christians to confront violence was and continues to be insightful and inspiring.

 On the last Saturday, of April 2005, about 70 participants were present as Father Dougherty and members of the Michigan Peace Team conducted the one-day workshop in our parish. 

The workshop made use of a series entitled From Violence to Wholeness – a Ten Part Process in the Spirituality and Practice of Active Nonviolence.  The series is the product of Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service, a Franciscan organization based in Las Vegas, NV.  Among the topics that were addressed in the workshop are
i) beginning our journey, 
ii) experience and dynamics of violence, 
iii) the faithful nonviolence of Jesus, 
iv) violence, nonviolence and gender, 
v) Gandhi and the nonviolence of soul-force, 
vi) cultivating reverence for the earth, 
vii) nonviolence and social transformation, 
viii) nonviolent social change in action: Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement, 
ix) experimenting with nonviolence: organizing a group activity and 
x) creating communities of nonviolence. 

 There will be many reasons for putting this off.  Still, if you make the effort to attend the workshop, the experience may turn out to be the impetus needed to become the peacemakers that we are called by our Christian Spirituality to be.  We all have different experiences and understanding of violence and how it affects our lives.  We may have different understandings of what it means to respond to the call of Jesus to be peacemakers.  This one-day workshop will be the opportunity to share these ideas, to learn from others and to grow in our understanding and commitment to active peacemaking.  One cannot promise that you will come out of the workshop with a new commitment to peacemaking.  BUT, if you make the effort to attend this presentation, it is highly likely that what you experience during the time will: i) change the way you view the violence that confronts you and will, ii) provide you with a Christ-centered understanding of how you can respond to that violence. 

 Please note that efforts on behalf of nonviolence will hopefully not end at the workshop’s conclusion.  Rather, it is hoped that continued commitment to active peacemaking will grow out of the workshop.  Small, faith-sharing groups (to explore the meaning of peacemaking within self, family, neighborhood and world) could be started.  For members of our parish who are already involved in a small, faith-sharing group, this may be ideal for the group.  Others may choose to be a part of existing peace-making groups (for example, the Disarmament Working Group at our local Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice).  Other opportunities might include being an on-call volunteer when violence-reduction Peace Teams are needed, be part of an international peace delegation, be on a Michigan-based violence-reduction team in Israel/Palestine, or become a Michigan Peace Team trainer.  The opportunities for peacemaking are endless.  What is needed is commitment. 

Learn more at www.michiganpeaceteam.org

Learn more by visiting the Michigan Peace Team Web page.