Pax Christi USA 1996 Teacher of Peace Sister Helen Prejean has a special message for our supporters.
“And on earth, peace …” Luke 2:14
Now more than ever, the people of the world need to hear this message, sung by angels thousands of years ago as they announced the birth of Jesus to shepherds in the fields surrounding Bethlehem. This message of peace was brought first to “those God favors,” poor people living under a military occupation, but it is a message for all of us. It’s a message of peace, but perhaps more importantly, it’s a message of hope. As Pope Francis says,“Where God has planted you, hope. Always hope.”
I’m a member of Pax Christi USA because I believe we bring hope to the world. My friends, what communities brought you hope in 2023?
>>Click here to give to Sister Helen’s appeal today.
Gatherings with friends and family this Christmas are a time to look back and realize how our communities have changed. Perhaps they’ve expanded to include new people, shrunk with the loss of loved ones, been found in surprising new places, or been hard to find when we’re surrounded by so much violence.
No matter what joys, hopes, griefs, and anxieties crossed your path this year, you always have a community of hope in Pax Christi USA. This Christmas, I am proud to support Pax Christi USA’s work for peace, and I hope you’ll do the same by using this link to making a generous financial donation.
Your gift makes a difference for our work as our diverse and thriving community grows:
- Our campus outreach this year brought the Gospel of peace and justice to students and young leaders on over 250 college campuses who will carry our work forward in 2024 and beyond.
- This year, we gathered a core group of leaders to celebrate the last two decades of our anti-racism commitment and plan our work to dismantle racism in the years ahead.
- Our volunteer-led working groups are taking on urgent matters of peace and nonviolence: preventing gun violence, cutting the military budget, stopping nuclear weapons, joining Pope Francis in calling for a ceasefire and a just peace in Palestine and Israel, and working in solidarity with Indigenous communities.
As the world faces new threats to nonviolence, your gift helps us create communities of love, justice, and resistance that will build a lasting peace in our church and in our world. Please make a gift today: Use this link to give safely and securely online.
The gift you give today supports Pax Christi leaders like Olga Sarabia and Cindy Emenalo (right), members of our Peace Pairs program. Peace Pairs, now in its second year, builds intergenerational connections between Ambassadors of Peace like Olga and Young Adult Caucus leaders like Cindy.
Whether you’ve been with our movement for 50 years or 50 days, you are part of our Pax Christi USA community. You are a living witness to Gospel nonviolence, practiced as the People of God and sustained at the grassroots.
>>Pax Christi USA needs you so we can promote peace, healing, and justice in communities around the country. We are building alternatives to violence in so many spaces and places, and your gift makes it possible for us to sustain communities of support and solidarity.
Community means many things to me. But what it means most of all is being present to each other: in good times and bad times, in times of peace and in the times of war we face today. Your generous one-time or monthly gift builds up diverse Pax Christi communities. You can give quickly, simply, and securely at paxchristiusa.org/donate.
Our community connections stretch from Palestine and Israel to Ukraine and Russia, from the parishes of rural Montana to communities of resistance in New York. Please consider making a generous gift to support these communities today.
On behalf of Pax Christi USA, I wish you and your family all the joy and hope of this coming Christmas.
In peace,
Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ
PS: If you prefer to send in a check, it can be made out to Pax Christi USA, 415 Michigan Ave. NE, Suite 240, Washington, DC 20017-4503, attn: 2023 Christmas Appeal.
If a financial gift isn’t possible for you right now, there are so many ways to stay involved with Pax Christi USA: volunteering with a local group, staying on our email list to find out about upcoming events, or keeping us in your prayers. Whatever you can give or contribute, thank you so much for your generous support of our mission!