PAX CHRISTI USA: 40TH ANNIVERSARY CONFERENCE

Written on: June 28, 2013

Sisters Rose Mary Cauley and Pat Kelly participated in the Pax Christ USA (PC/USA) conference in Atlanta, Georgia from June 14-16, 2013.  At this 40^th anniversary celebration of PC/USA, plenary sessions, prayer services and workshops concentrated on the four priority areas embraced by the members:

Spirituality of Nonviolence and  Peacemaking

Disarmament, Demilitarization  and Reconciliation with Justice

Interracial Justice in the United States

Human Rights and Global Restoration

The Plenary Sessions were led by Bishop Tom Gumbleton, founder of PC/USA and Father Bryan Massingale, former president of the Catholic Theological Society and Professor at Marquette University.

Both speakers addressed the purposes of the conference:

REMEMBER THE PAST WITH GRATITUDE            

LIVE THE PRESENT WITH ENTHUSIASM AND

EMBRACE THE FUTURE WITH CONFIDENCE AND HOPE.

The workshops gave the opportunity for participants to learn, share and question the issues being confronted by Pax Christi members from various groups throughout the USA. Our GNSH representatives participated in  workshops on Immigration, Human Trafficking, Environment, and Drones and were able to hear the struggles, clarify the issues and gather information on commitments for change.

The final plenary session by Father Massingale contained six trends which challenged all who work for Peace. These are summarized below:

• Be pro-active and intentionally invite multi-cultural members to work together.
• Confront, lament and work against unconscious racism and malformation in yourselves as you work for justice.
• Make explicit links with the varied issues of peacemaking whether it be the challenges of militarism, the call for non-violence, ecological devastation or any issue. The link is that the poor of the earth are becoming more and more devastated and those with goods and power must change.
• Intentionally welcome persons from LGBT groups and work together.
• Practice COMPREHENSIVE JUSTICE – The Peace of SHALOM includes harmony, health, completeness, safety for all.
• Maintain a stance of CONTEMPLATION – JUSTICE is based on God’s plans not ours. God helps us not to cling to our plans, but to yearn for union with one another.

For those wishing to hear the talks by Bishop Gumbleton or Father Massingale visit www.paxchristiusa.org or write to the Pax Christi USA; National Catholic Peace Movement, 1223 Otis Street NE, Washington, D.C. 20017.

This entry was posted in With a Heart for Justice and tagged: Bishop Tom Gumbleton, Demilitarization, Disarmament, Drones, Environment, Father Bryan Massingale, Global Restoration, GNSH, Human Rights, Human Trafficking, Immigration, Interracial Justice, Pax Christi, Peace and Nonviolence