2022 Pax Christi Massachusetts Peacemaker Award Nomination

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To be awarded at the annual Pax Christi Massachusetts Assembly Fall 2022

This award is given to an outstanding peacemaker who embodies the ideals of Pax Christi. She or he need not be a member of Pax Christi and may be a person as young as 16, or older. Nominations may be submitted by PCMA members, teachers, campus ministers, parish pastoral leaders, youth ministers, family members or friends who have been inspired by the nominee.

DEADLINE: Nominations must be received by September 1, 2022.

SEND TO: Mike Moran, 135 Shearer Street, Palmer, MA 01069 (or email: [email protected])

“Wisdom Speaks to and from All Ages” – Pax Christi MA spring retreat with Sr. Jane and Fr. Brian

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Saturday April 23rd, 2022 10:00am to 12:30pm
Via Zoom

Pax Christi Massachusetts will gather and pray at its Spring Retreat via Zoom on April 23rd from 10:00am to 12:30pm. We will draw wisdom from the young and the old. We take our cue from this year’s Papal Message for the World Day of Peace, January 1st, 2022, Tools for Dialogue Between Generations, Education for Building Lasting Peace.” Using the See, Reflect and Act method, we will listen to youth sharing their concerns and hopes through short videos.

Sr. Jane Morrissey and Rev. Brian Ashmankas will reflect on that wisdom and share their own insights, wisdom, hopes, and dreams.  The Holy Spirit, we trust, will empower all of us to appropriate action for peace rooted in common prayer as we celebrate and experience the grace of Christ’s Resurrection.

Registration is free. Email [email protected] by April 8th and we will sendyou the link inviting you into the meeting. For those who   wish to offer a donation to support this event, you can make the check out to Pax Christi MA and mail it to Pax Christi MA 6 Bolser Avenue, Natick, MA 01760.  For information: [email protected]

Sr. Jane Morrissey, a Sister of St. Joseph of Springfield, has worked and taught among the poor in Holyoke and Springfield as well as abroad in Colom bia, Peru, Bolivia and Guatemala. She is one of the founders of Pax Christi in our State.

Fr. Brian Ashmankas is a newly ordained priest and has been active in Pax Christ for many years including work in prison ministry and service as a member of our state board and the Pax Christi USA National Council. His ministry currently focuses on facilitating online conversations between those on the religious peripheries, including the so-called “nones,” from multiple states, backgrounds, and generations.

Co-sponsored by the Agape Community and St. Susanna Parish, Dedham

Fall Assembly with Eli McCarthy on Remembering, Repenting, and Restoring

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This year’s fall assembly will take place on Zoom from 9:30am to 1:30pm.  The featured speaker will be Prof. Eli McCarthy of Georgetown University and the theme of the day will be Remembering, Repenting, Restoring: Mining the wisdom of Pope Francis as we confront the challenges of Racism, Climate Change and Nuclear Weapons/War through his writings in Fratelli Tutti and Laudato Si.  It will also include presentations on nuclear weapons/war, racism, and climate change from representatives of some of our partner organizations.  Full details can be found on the above flier.

Spring Retreat to take place on Zoom: April 17, 2021 from 10am to 12:30pm

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“Building Emotional and Spiritual Resilience”

In the face of converging social and ecological crises, how do we maintain courage and hope? What spiritual practices and perspectives sustain us as we struggle to protect the web of life and to create a more just society? Through a mix of presentations and small group conversations, this morning retreat will explore a framework for the heart to help us become compassionate, prophetic leaders who are willing and able to take up the mantle of moral leadership that this decisive moment in history requires.

Rev. Dr. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas is an Episcopal priest, author, and retreat leader who serves as Missioner for Creation Care for both the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts and Mass. Conference, United Church of Christ. Rev. Margaret offers encouragement and guidance on creation care topics through articles, sermons and more on her website, www.RevivingCreation.org, which she calls a place “to rest and reflect, to learn and find encouragement.”

“Sue Malone, longtime member of the Pax Christi MA board and lifelong peace activist joins the Communion of Saints.”

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“Yes, she was indeed a passionate and outspoken advocate for peace and social justice. Whether it was standing in an Arizona desert as part of a protest against a death penalty execution or getting arrested in Westborough for protesting work being done on nuclear missiles or years of standing on the Westborough rotary to protest the futility and waste of war or contacting government officials, she walked the walk. Sue also joined church groups in visiting Haiti and Guatemala and saw the poverty of so many of the people. As arthritis overtook her body, action was seldom easy, but Sue would not give up. She was a long-time member of Pax Christi, the international Catholic peace organization, and was a veteran member of the board of Pax Christi Massachusetts. In 2019 that organization presented her with a Lifetime Achievement Award for over forty years of dedication to the ideals of Pax Christi. In a broader context, Sue’s heart always went out to anyone in need and she would look for ways to give assistance. Kindness was a way of life for her. One could not begin to count the number of people she helped directly or made contributions to organizations in a position to help. If there was a theme to her life, it was one of service to others”

 

Sue’s full obituary can be found here:

https://www.westboroughfuneralhome.com/obituary/Dorothy-Malone

Sr. Dianna Ortiz, OSU, Deputy Director of Pax Christi USA, enters eternal life

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On the morning of February 19th, Dianna Ortiz, OSU, deputy director of Pax Christi USA, founder of TASSC, and longtime advocate for peace and justice, passed away after a short illness.  Pax Christi USA’s statement can be found at the below link along with additional resources including her obituary.  Pax Christi Massachusetts joins many others in mourning her untimely death and lamenting her loss to our community.

Statement on the passing of our beloved Dianna Ortiz, OSU

St Susannah’s Pax Christi program on the “Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons”

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The St Susannah’s Parish Pax Christi local group organized and hosted program on the “Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons” recorded on the day of its ratification by 51 nations, January 22, 2021.

View the Recording of the Pax Christi MA 2020 Virtual Assembly

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For this year’s Pax Christi Massachusetts Assembly we invited the National Pax Christi Executive Director, Mr. Johnny Zokovitch to be with us.   The assembly was recorded and can be viewed in its entirety when you click the heading of this post.

Due to the pandemic it was a virtual meeting. Johnny has been a member of both the national and the international Pax Christi leadership teams for a number of years. He has worked with the grassroots organizers as well as witnessed some of the major peace initiatives which Pax Christi has been in the forefront of through these years. Johnny reflected on those past and present initiatives and together we we able to start to rediscover hope and resilience amidst this time of chaos.

State Assembly to be held virtually on October 10

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For this year’s Pax Christi Massachusetts Assembly we have invited the National Pax Christi Executive Director, Mr. Johnny Zokovitch to be with us. Due to the pandemic it will be a virtual meeting. Johnny has been a member of both the national and the international Pax Christi leadership teams for a number of years. He has worked with the grass root organizers as well as witnessed some of the major peace initiatives which Pax Christi has been in the forefront of through these years. Johnny will reflect on those past and present initiatives and share with us some of the great engagements that Pax Christi groups have been doing around our nation and beyond. And we will have the opportunity to share with him initiatives that we here in Massachusetts are engaged in. Together we will enjoy a day that will help us rediscover the resilience and hope that strengthens us in this time of chaos.

Saturday October 10, 2020
11:00am to 12:30pm
Via Zoom

Registration is free. Email Fr. Rocco Puopolo at [email protected] by October 8th and he will send you the link with password inviting you into the meeting.

Program: Opening Prayer and Introductions, Johnny’s presentation, Questions and discussion
Pax Christi Business meeting, concluding remarks and prayer

Co-sponored by the Agape Community

Registration is free. Email Fr. Rocco Puopolo at [email protected] by October 8th and he will send you the link with password inviting you into the meeting.

Commemorating the 75th Anniversary of the Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, August 8-9, 2020

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Pax Christi La Salette is collaborating with La Salette Shrine in Attleboro to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the weekend of August 8-9.  All are invited to make a Peace Ribbon with the theme “What I cannot bear to think of as lost forever…” and drop it off at the Welcome Center information desk.  (See directions at www.thepeaceribbon.org)  These ribbons will be displayed at the Shrine to call attention to the persistent danger of nuclear weapons.  Masses on Saturday evening August 8 at 4:30 pm and on Sunday August 9 at 12:10 pm will include prayers for peace and nuclear disarmament.  For more information, email Elaine at [email protected].