Dear Pax Christi USA Members,

Blessings of peace to you this Advent season! From Iraq to the violence in our own city streets, the Manger into which Christ is born anew in our world cries out with longings for peace. While we await the Coming in anticipation, it is a time to remember and renew our commitment to bring Christ’s peace, hope and healing to a broken world.

This is a defining moment for our nation as we witness profound and remarkable developments taking place in the economic and political fronts. On the one hand, we face uncertainties in the wake of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, unsure how it will affect the economy at large and our own personal financial situation. On the other, in the transition to a new President and Congress, we are afforded an extraordinary opportunity as a faith community to provide vision, and call for a whole new direction for the country’s policies, one rooted in nonviolence and the pursuit of justice.

We cannot afford to be on the sidelines, and that’s why we come to you with a special year end appeal from Pax Christi USA! The voice of peace and justice is all the more needed and a strong commitment to gospel nonviolence all the more urgent.

We have to seize the opportunities for peace and justice that are presented to us, and redouble our efforts! Pax Christi USA is uniquely positioned to make a difference demanded by these times. But we need the partnership of people like you, our cherished members, to act on this window of opportunity.

Our work this year will be critical and so is your support! This is also a defining moment for Pax Christi USA as we are about to begin our new Strategic Planning process to deeply reflect on our own place in the peace movement and in the Church at one of the most compelling periods of change in our country. We invite you, on behalf of the National Council of Pax Christi USA, to partner with us in this strategic planning process; you will be hearing more from us in the coming months as we solicit your input and wisdom. Your active partnership will energize and offer exciting ways for us to help grow our peace movement. We need to be in it together!

So, mindful that you too are feeling the pain of an uncertain economic future, yet also see this as a moment of great opportunity, we ask you to prayerfully consider an extra gift to Pax Christi USA during this season of remembrance and giving, above and beyond your membership fee, so that together we can make a difference. Your extra gift this Christmas, whether it’s $25, $125, $250 or $2,500, will make a difference that will last long after the Christmas season has faded away.

Your gift is the best kind of investment for the future, an investment in the potential for peace. Give whatever you think you can afford, or maybe a little more. Pax Christi USA needs your support, in these times more than ever.

Please write your check today and return in the enclosed envelope or go to the secure website http://www.paxchristiusa.org and give a gift with your credit card.

God bless you and your family this holy season.

In peace,

Bishop Gabino Zavala
Bishop President, Pax Christi USA

Pearlette Springer
Chair, Pax Christi USA National Council

Dave Robinson
Executive Director, Pax Christi USA

• View the different types of Pax Christi membership categories here