Please give to Pax Christi USA’s Summer 2020 Appeal

Dear friends,

A lot has happened in our world since I came back to Pax Christi USA as your new Executive Director last fall. In January, when the president assassinated an Iranian general and set us on the path to war with Iran, we organized vigils, advocated in Congress and mobilized our membership for days of action aimed at stopping a war with Iran. In the spring, we resourced our community by framing our response to the coronavirus pandemic through our Lenten practices and the nonviolent way of the Cross. We responded to the lack of leadership from the White House by crafting and promoting a “Pledge to Protect Others” that echoed Catholic social teaching and our commitment to the common good and we had nearly 2500 people sign on. And when we collectively witnessed the murder of George Floyd and the racial reckoning that has followed in the wake of his death, we called on our 20-plus years commitment to anti-racism to state clearly and unequivocally that “Black Lives Matter” — in the Church and in our country — and resourced our movement for prayer, study and action to dismantle the personal and systemic racism which continues to perpetrate deep spiritual and social brokenness and endangers all of creation.

Typically each spring, we send out a “Spring Appeal” which goes a long way to funding the work for peace with justice that we have committed to as disciples of Jesus. This year, because of the hardships that the pandemic placed on so many of us and the urgent needs on the front lines of the pandemic response, we delayed that appeal for a few months. I know that the pandemic has not gone away and that all across the world people continue to suffer the effects — medically, economically, and psychologically. We honor whatever choices you make during this difficult time and we recognize that we are all in this together. But I hope that if you are in a position to do so, you’ll see in the work that I outlined above just how vital our movement is right now — and that you’ll make a contribution to help support Pax Christi USA during this uncertain time.

Click here to make a donation to the Summer 2020 Appeal online right now.

If you haven’t visited our website recently or you don’t follow us on social media, please take a moment today and check out what we’ve been doing during this time to heal and reconcile the brokenness that has been made even more evident because of the pandemic. See too how we’re continuing to “speak truth to power”, elevating the message that all of our investments in arms and warfare did nothing to protect us from the underlying injustices of our economic and healthcare systems.

We count on you to undertake this work with us, to be Pax Christi, the peace of Christ wherever you are. And we count on you to believe in this movement in such a way that you want to invest in it, help it to grow and have the impact we need to create a world that is more just, more peaceful, more sustainable.

Click here to give to the Summer 2020 Appeal quickly and securely online, or you can send in a check to Pax Christi USA, 415 Michigan Ave, NE, Suite 240, Washington, DC 20017.

Your support funds the strategizing we’re doing to get more young people involved with our movement and helps us expand our communications capacities when the ability to connect virtually has never been more important. Your support means that we can get our message out more broadly; because of your investment, we’ve been featured in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Reuters and throughout the Catholic media as they’ve covered the pandemic, racial justice, and more in recent months. We’ve had more eyes on our website in the past 6 months than we did all of last year. Your support makes this happen.

We’re diving deeper into the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative, recognizing that nonviolence is at the center of our identity as a movement and core to who we are. We pressured Congress not to give the Pentagon any more money from upcoming stimulus packages. And we organized The Peace Ribbon 2020 as a way for people all over the country to commemorate the 75th anniversaries of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and work for a day when nuclear weapons will be no more.

If you believe in this work and you have the means and can make a donation, I hope you will click here and do so today.

I’m excited about what we’re doing and what we can do together as Pax Christi USA. We can dream all we want, but we’ve got to fund those dreams too. We’ll celebrate our 50th anniversary in 2022 and I promise you that you’re investing in a movement poised to be a powerful, prophetic voice for another 50 years.

And for all the generosity you have already shown, I thank you. We are deeply grateful for every bit of support we receive from you.

In peace,