Faced with the images of death that come to us from Ukraine [and Gaza], it is difficult to hope. Yet there are seeds of hope. There are millions who do not aspire to war, who do not justify war. Millions of young people are asking us to do everything possible and seemingly impossible to stop the war, to stop all wars. It is in thinking first of all of them, of young people and children, that we must repeat together: Never again war! And together we must commit ourselves to building a world that is more peaceful because it is more just, where it is peace that triumphs and not the folly of war; justice, and not the injustice of war; mutual forgiveness, and not the hatred that divides and makes us see the other, the person who is different from us, as an enemy.
Pope Francis
From Pax Christi USA Ambassador of Peace Fr. John Dear:
As we accompany the nonviolent Jesus on the Lenten journey of nonviolence to the cross and resurrection, we continue to call for and pray for a ceasefire in Gaza, an immediate end to the Israeli genocide and the end of U.S. military aid to Israel, as well as an immediate end to the Russian war on Ukraine, and an end to the wars in Africa, the abolition of nuclear weapons and the funding of global nonviolent conflict resolution.
Pope Francis continues to speak out boldly against war, for peace and nonviolence, and for immediate global steps to confront climate change and use alternatives to fossil fuels. Though his prophetic voice is ignored by the world, we as Beatitudes people want to hear his call to peace and respond.
Recently, Pope Francis published a new book called Against War: Building a Culture of Peace which gathers all his statements calling for peaceful alternatives to war and the pursuit of a new culture of nonviolence. He also issued a follow-up to his historic encyclical on the environment, called “Laudate Deum.”
>>On Saturday, March 23, the Beatitudes Center will welcome longtime Pax Christi leader, teacher, and author Marie Dennis, who will report on all these latest developments and teachings and how we might help promote Pope Francis’ work for peace and creation.
Marie Dennis is program chair of Pax Christi International’s Catholic Nonviolence Initiative. She was co-president of Pax Christi International from 2007 to 2019 and was given the Pax Christi USA Teacher of Peace award in 2022. Marie worked for the Maryknoll Missioners from 1989 to 2012, including 15 years as director of the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns. She is author or co-author of seven books, editor of Choosing Peace: The Catholic Church Returns to Gospel Nonviolence (Orbis Books, 2017) and co-editor of Advancing Nonviolence in the Church and the World (Pax Christi International 2020).
Marie was one of the primary organizers of three conferences on nonviolence and just peace (2016, 2019 and 2022) that were co-sponsored by the Vatican and Pax Christi International. She served on the Vatican’s COVID 19 Commission and was the National Catholic Reporter’s Person of the Year in 2016. She has previously served on the national boards of JustFaith Ministries, the Alliance for Peacebuilding, Sojourners magazine, and several other organizations. She is a lay woman, a secular Franciscan, a mother of six, a grandmother of nine, and a member of the Assisi Community in Washington, D.C.
>>To register, visit www.beatitudescenter.org.
All programs begin 11am Pacific/ 12pm Mountain/ 1pm Central/ 2pm Eastern time. You will receive the zoom link a few days beforehand, so be on the lookout, and a recording link afterwards.
If you have questions, email Kassandra at beatitudescentermb@gmail.com. Scholarships are available.