ON THE LINE: Good Friday actions, We Are One rallies, interfaith events, and more!

Compiled by Johnny Zokovitch

Each week “On The Line” features news items and announcements from around the nation featuring Pax Christi members, local groups, regions and partners.

GOOD FRIDAY WAY OF THE CROSS EVENTS: A number of Pax Christi groups–from Mohawk Valley Pax Christi in NY to PC members in Beaverton, OR to Pax Christi Harrisburg (PA) and many more–plan or participate in “Way of the Cross” event on Good Friday, connecting the sufferings of Christ during his passion with the suffering of our brothers and sisters at the hands of violence, greed, poverty, sickness and war. Click here to check out resources on the website for planning and enacting a Way of the Cross prayer and witness. Email me at johnnypcusa@yahoo.com to have your group’s Way of the Cross observance added to the list of groups participating around the nation.

WE ARE ONE: Pax Christi members across the country participated in last week’s “We Are One” rallies in support of unions and labor justice. Pax Christi member Jeff Zokovitch (right) was a featured a speaker (on behalf of the Georgia Teachers Federation) at the Atlanta rally. Pax Christi USA National Council member Adrienne Alexander and Pax Christi Illinois member and Ambassador of Peace Tom Cordaro (left) were photographed at the rally in Chicago.

BANGOR (ME) DAILY NEWS: Pax Christi Maine was featured in an article about last Saturday’s “Bring the War Dollars Home” rally in Bangor which attracted around 100 participants. The article noted that Mary Ellen Quinn of PC-Maine was one of the main speakers. To read the entire article, click here.

INTERFAITH EVENTS: Tri-Valley (CA) Pax Christi has been central in organizing a series of upcoming interfaith activities. On April 19 a DVD will be shown of a talk by Professor Huston Smith that was sponsored by the Oakland Diocese Ecumenical and Interfaith Commission. Smith’s talk, “Some World Religion Jewels I Have Uncovered Since Writing My 1958 Book on World Religions,” will be combined with discussion of questions posed by Smith. This program will be held in St. Augustine’s Hall from 7 to 8:15 pm in Pleasanton. The second activity involves visiting Hindu, Jewish, Orthodox Christian, and Muslim religious centers to join our neighbors in prayer. The visits are spread over the period of May to August. For more information on these events, contact Gus Nystrom at GANystrom@sigmaxi.net.

IN BRIEF: Pax Christi at the University of Dayton (OH) sponsored several events this past year, including a vigil on the anniversary of the beginning of the war in Afghanistan, Oscar Romero Stations of the Cross, Invisible Children and LiNK documentary screenings, and morning prayer on Friday’s during Lent… Blue Water (MI) Pax Christi coordinator Michael McCarthy has a blog, McCarthy’s Weekly – Pax Vobiscum. Recent posts have focused on where are tax dollars go and the ‘no-fly zone’ issue in Libya… Pax Christi at Seton Hall Prep (NJ) recently participated in a school-wide day devoted to peace and justice. Fr. John Dear, S.J. was the keynote speaker and over 30 workshops were presented to students and faculty… Pax Christi East San Jose (CA) recently had a member named to be on the San Jose Police Chief’s Community Advisory Board. Several others are doing major mentoring of gang members in the Eastside neighborhoods, transforming violent teenagers into positive community leaders. On May 7, a member of PC East San Jose is conducting a major “weapons turn in/amnesty day” lead by youth who have recently renounced their gang affiliations… Pax Christi at Transfiguration Catholic Church in Marietta, GA offers the Vow of Nonviolence yearly to all parishioners at each Mass on the Sunday celebrated as Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunday. They also profile once a month in the parish bulletin a great peacemaker. The March 2011 selection was Father Emmanuel Charles McCarthy.