Pax Christi USA launches Peace Pairs, an intergenerational co-learning program

In February 2022, Pax Christi USA launched Peace Pairs, a program initiated by the Pax Christi Young Adult Caucus (PCYAC) as a mutual co-learning program between generations of peacemakers. The intergenerational program was crafted to incorporate and embody Pope Francis’s Message for the 2022 World Day of Peace, Dialogue between generations, education and work: Tools for building lasting peace.

Peace Pairs is organized to connect seasoned peacemakers, like Pax Christi USA’s Ambassadors of Peace, on a one-to-one basis with a younger peacemaker (in their 20s and 30s). In 2022, the program began with nine Peace Pairs.

Some of the hopes and goals for the program include:

• Mutual co-learning and accompaniment.
• An opportunity to meet and grow closer with someone who has more experience in peace and nonviolence work within Pax Christi USA. (Sharing what experiences have prepared you for peacebuilding in your own life, and supporting each other’s endeavors…)
• Intentional pairing around geographic location or issue.
• Naming a small “ask” from both perspectives, such as planning an outcome together that can be shared with the larger Pax Christi membership (for example: co-hosting a webinar, co-facilitating a retreat, running a blog, planning an action together, hosting a StoryCorps-style interview, etc…)

The program is co-coordinated by Pax Christi USA staff members Lauren Bailey and Michelle Sherman, with the hope that it strengthens and grows Pax Christi USA’s “witness to reciprocal learning between the first-generation of our movement and upcoming generations.”

If you are interested in participating in future cohorts, please email Lauren Bailey at lbailey@paxchristiusa.org.

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2022 Peace Pair Projects

The Pax Christi USA intergenerational Peace Pairs program launched in February 2022 to build mutual co-learning and accompaniment between peacemakers in their 20s and 30s and Ambassadors of Peace/founding members of our movement. Each of the pairs was invited to work on an outward-facing project. Below is a sampling of their projects.

• A series of writing projects by Honorine Uwimana and Donna Grimes (pictured on the right), including this one on Thea Bowman for Black Catholic History Month
• Webinars on “A Creative Way to Address Grief,” by Annie Killian, OP and Beatrice Parwatikar for the Catholic Prison Ministries Coalition; and “The Origins of Pax Christi USA,” with Ryan Di Corpo and Joseph Fahey
• An interview between Creede Caldwell and Cathy Crayton