NEWS: Spring 2013 membership newsletter is now online

NOTE: The Spring 2013 membership newsletter will go out in the mail this week and members should be receiving it in the next 7-10 days. If you want a sneak peek at the newsletter, the PDF copy of it has now been posted online. Click here to read or download the PDF version. Below is the letter from the Executive Director which appears in the newsletter.

by Sr. Patty Chappell, SNDdeN,
Executive Director of Pax Christi USA

Dear Pax Christi USA Member,

In 1862 Victor Hugo penned his now very famous novel Les Miserables. In it he says, “There is nothing like a dream to create the future.” That is what Pax Christi USA is all about … creating a future based on a dream.

This Peace Current is focusing on one of our initiatives: HUMAN RIGHTS and GLOBAL RESTORATION.

We dream of a world that respects the universal human rights of all people, and we do this by being in solidarity with oppressed and marginalized people struggling for dignity. We reject every form of political and economic domination over others. We continue to knock on the door of the Empire demanding entrance and a voice: a voice that proclaims that every human being is worthy of respect regardless of race, class, socio-economic status, and on which side of what border one comes from. In this regard, PCUSA recently has:

• joined with Pax Christi International in calling the UN, the European Union and other non-governmental organizations to increase and diversify the humanitarian aid needed for the refugees and displaced people in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.
• joined with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a farmworker-led union in Southwest Florida, and other national religious leaders calling for Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture to implement a comprehensive Fair Food Program within his department.
• joined with Witness Against Torture in D.C. and other justice and peace organizations to encourage President Obama to carry out his promise from 4 years ago to close Guantanamo. The rally and interfaith service took place in Washington, D.C.
• signed on to the letter written by Churches for the Middle East calling upon President Obama to re-double his efforts to broker a negotiated peace to end the Arab-Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

We dream of restoring our globe to a place of balance where the earth is recognized as our home and its care … our future. We dare to believe the words of Teilhard de Chardin when he boldly said that “creation, nature is the first Body of Christ.” What have we done to this Body?

It does not take too much imagination to realize that the extremes in weather, the susceptibility of fire and drought in so many parts of the globe, the displacement and migrations of peoples, the dramatic loss of plant and animal life are not all coincidences. The thread that runs through them all is the misuse of the earth’s resources along with the greed and mis-use of power in polluting the atmosphere and thus rendering the earth seriously off balance. In this regard, PCUSA has:

• designed and circulated a GReen mail Prayer, Study, and Action email on “genetically modified organisms.”
• sent out a Caring for Creation Prayer-Study-Action (PSA) e-bulletin for Easter/Earth Day last year.
• continued to convene the Global Restoration/Care for Creation volunteer committee, made up of council members, staff and Pax Christi members, to create various resources in support of this initiative.
• published our Lent and Advent booklets in the USA with Eco-Ink, low-volatility, vegetable oil-based ink on 50% postconsumer recycled, processed chlorine-free paper, produced using 100% wind power in a carbon-neutral process.

It takes people like all of us to continue dreaming, and praying, and reflecting, and studying and acting so that the above dream becomes a reality … one small glimpse at a time.

Sr. Patricia Chappell, SNDdeN
Executive Director, Pax Christi USA
pchappell@paxchristiusa.org