ON THE LINE: February edition features PC members and groups in the news

Compiled by Johnny Zokovitch

Each month, “On The Line” features news items and announcements from around the nation featuring Pax Christi members, local groups, regions and partners. These are gleaned from articles in local newspapers, websites, magazines, and elsewhere. 

HAITI PROJECT UPDATE IN THE DIGITAL JOURNAL: Our colleagues in Haiti were happy to share this story with us: “The “Jaden Tap Tap” (Tap Tap Garden) urban community garden was proudly inaugurated on January 22, 2012 in Cite Soleil, Haiti. The Tap Tap Garden is Haiti’s largest urban garden containing more than 500 brightly painted tire gardens, flower garden, and a nursery of 1,000 trees. Nearly 600 community members, NGO’s, and government officials joined Bochika, SAKALA-Pax Christi Ayiti, and SOIL in celebrating the inauguration of the garden, as well as a new community Eco-San Toilet. The crowd was delighted to participate in the daylong event that featured a “farmers market”, agricultural demonstrations, musical and dance performances by local youth, and special appearance by internationally recognized Haitian recording artist, BelO.” Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/568647#ixzz1lo5f8Z8H

PCUSA AMBASSADOR OF PEACE WINS ISAAC HECKER AWARD: Pax Christi USA Ambassador of Peace Megan McKenna was honored in January in Boston with the Isaac Hecker Award, presented by the Paulists. At the award reception, it was stated, “Grounded in and informed by the meaning of Scripture, Megan’s writing tackles many of the issues of our day – much like the call of the 99% to reorder priorities, redistribute wealth, and attend to basic human needs.  She addresses the ever-widening economic and resource gaps nationally and internationally, the role of women in church and society, and the global challenges for use of our natural resources.  She offers a blueprint for contemporary analysis and action for social justice.” Read more at http://paxchristiusa.org/2012/02/08/ambassador-of-peace-megan-mckenna-receives-isaac-hecker-award/

FORMER PCUSA ED FEATURED IN THE ERIE TIMES: “Dave Robinson lectured on global poverty as executive director of Pax Christi USA. His job took him to places like Iraq and Haiti, where he got an up-close look at the effects of poverty. But poverty was never too far from home for Robinson, who lives in Union Township. ‘You get past the beautiful landscapes and the friendly people, and we’re suffering out here in this rural part of the county,’ he said. ‘We have disproportionately high poverty rates. Lack of jobs, lack of transportation, pretty much any social problem that you want to focus on, we’ve got it right here.’ So when it came time for Robinson to decide whether to follow the national Catholic peace and justice movement from Erie to Washington, where Pax Christi moved its headquarters over the summer, he chose to stay in an area he loves while focusing his efforts on helping people in need in southeastern Erie County.” Read more at http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012301299819

PC COLLEGE OF HOLY CROSS MEMBER DONATES HAIR: “Kenilworth native Marielle McKenna is an active fundraiser for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, an organization that funds pediatric cancer research grants. Recently, she decided she wanted to do something more for children with cancer. ‘A friend of mine shaved her head for St. Baldrick’s foundation and I thought she was crazy,’ McKenna said. ‘I thought donating her hair was going far enough and shaving was an unnecessary extreme. I thought I could never do something like that. Then after reflecting on it for a while and seeing how happy my friend was, I asked myself why couldn’t I do something like that? I went online to the Web site and signed up as a shavee.'”  Read more at http://wilmette.patch.com/articles/bald-is-beautiful-for-kenilworth-woman

PC TAMPA BAY COORDINATOR JOHN STEWART FEATURED IN COUNTERPUNCH ARTICLE ON NASA MISSION: “John Stewart of Pax Christi-Tampa Bay maintained before the Curiosity launch: ‘NASA is planning a mission that could endanger not only its future but the state of Florida and beyond. The absurd—and maddening—aspect of this risk is that it is unnecessary. The locomotion for NASA’s Sojourner Mars rover, launched in 1996, and the Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers, both launched in 2003, was solar powered, with the latter two rovers performing well beyond what their engineers expected. Curiosity’s locomotion could also be solar-powered. NASA admits this in its EIS, but decided to put us all at risk because plutonium-powered batteries last longer and they want to have the ‘flexibility to select the most scientifically interesting location on the surface’ of Mars.'” Read more at http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/01/16/the-toxic-crash-of-phobos-grunt/

LONGTIME PAX CHRISTI MEMBER MARY ALLICE PRATT DIES: “Mary Alice Pratt, a longtime Central Kentucky social activist, died January 12. She would have turned 83 the next day. Ms. Pratt had worked for decades on social justice issues with the University of Kentucky Newman Center-Holy Spirit Parish; was active in the Central Kentucky Council for Peace and Justice; and once wrote and performed a one-woman show on the life of Dorothy Day, a co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, whose work greatly influenced Ms. Pratt.” Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/01/12/2026248/mary-alice-pratt-central-kentucky.html#storylink=cpy

TIFFIN AREA PC MEMBER GOES TO TRIAL FOR HOUSE ACTION: Josie Setzler, a peace activist and grandmother from Fremont, is one of five people on trial in D.C. Superior Court this week for disrupting congressional hearings to protest government treatment of Guantanamo Bay detainees. Ms. Setzler was one of 14 members of Witness Against Torture who stood up in the citizens’ gallery of the House of Representatives during deliberations June 23 on the defense authorization bill. It contained a measure to eliminate funding from any efforts to repatriate Guantanamo detainees… Ms. Setzler, 58, is charged with unlawful conduct, a misdemeanor. In addition to her membership in Witness Against Torture, she heads Tiffin Area Pax Christi and People for Peace and Justice Sandusky County. Read more at http://www.toledoblade.com/Courts/2012/01/04/Fremont-woman-among-5-on-trial-for-House-protest.html

Upcoming Events

• PC-Minnesota’s winter gathering with PCUSA Teacher of Peace Bill Quigley, March 3, at St. Frances Cabrini Church in Minneapolis. For more info, click here.
• PCUSA Ambassador of Peace Rev. John Dear, SJ will speak at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Atlanta, March 14. For more info, click here.
• PC-Florida will host their Spring Retreat in Parrish, FL on April 14 and 15. Retreat leader is Sr. Paula Gonzalez. For more info, click here.
• PC-Michigan’s 31^st annual state conference, “Power: Who Lies? Who Dies? Who Pays? Who Profits?” will be April 21 at St. Anastasia Church in Troy, MI. Pax Christi Ambassador of Peace Tom Cordaro and PCUSA Executive Director Sr. Patty Chappell are featured speakers. For more info, click here.

Quicklinks

Blue Water (MI) Pax Christi’s Michael McCarthy on “Drones Come Home To Roost”… PC NJ coordinator Kathy O’Leary featured in Change.org article on one individual’s unjust detention … PC St. Francis Church (MD) coordinator Susan Kerin had a letter on Israeli-Palestinian issues published in the Washington Post … Pax Christi New York City launched a new website last month … Great online interview with former National Council member Donna Grimes … Art Laffin reviews PC NM co-coordinator Bud Ryan’s movie The Forgotten Bomb in Tikkun … Interested in joining the Pax Christi Anti-Racism Team? … Nominate someone for the Pax Christi USA National Council. Deadline is March 5 … An interview with Pax Christi member Sr. Rita Clare Gerardot was featured in NCR …

• Send your news items, announcements, photos and links to stories about Pax Christi groups or members to johnnypcusa@yahoo.com.