Metro West PC chapter reorganizing with focus on Gaza

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A new Pax Christi group is starting in Metro West; you are invited to become a member of this new group.  Meetings will focus on wider world issues especially Palestine, and will be held at the home of Jan Leary in Natick  ([email protected]). We may include Zoom depending on the interest.

All members will be new to this group and so will have the opportunity to be part of the group’s guidance and process.

The group will follow the Pax Christi three-step model:

1) to Pray the news,

2) to Study the issues, especially about Palestine, and

3) to develop and follow through on Actions that the group members decide are achievable.

During the recent November 2 PCMA Assembly at St. Susanna’s Parish, Muna Killingback, a Palestinian Christian and a Board of Trustees Co-Chair for the Palestinian Christian Alliance for Peace (PCAP), gave a brief, informative retrospective on the history of Palestine, including that of Palestinian Christians. Muna also offered action suggestions which will be foundational to these initial meetings. (The assembly video is here, and Muna’s presentation is at the 4:41:00 time stamp.)

If group members are interested, the history and context of the terrible Apartheid and Occupation during the 76 years  preceding the events of Oct 7, 2023, will be discussed. The workbook Steadfast Hope: the Palestinian Quest for Just Peace is a source for this discussion.

This PC group will meet in-person and hopefully via Zoom (if someone can facilitate a Zoom link). Please join us for the first meeting, then decide if this group discussion is for you.

To join or for more information, please email Jan at [email protected].

PCMA Fall Assembly 2024: Frida Berrigan on Hope and Joy, Peacemaker Awards and a Panel of Young Peacemakers; also Warheads to Windmills Actions

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The 2024 Fall Assembly drew a crowd of 60 or so peace advocates! We heard Frida Berrigan on “Cultivating Hope and Joy–No Matter What,” held our annual meeting, recognized individuals (and a family!)  with the Annual Peacemaker Awards and were inspired by a panel of young peacemakers discussing their work and motivations.

Check out a summary of the day, photos and the video on our new Past Events Page.

Also, Warheads to Windmills is once again offering actions to “Pressure the Profiteers” November 18-23. Check it out at their webpage  or check out all actions on our Actions Resources Page.

Participating Virtually in the PCMA Fall Assembly November 2? Here’s How

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Registrations for our Fall Assembly are strong, and we look forward to welcoming all to St. Susanna’s Parish November 2!

For those who wish to participate virtually, please go to www.saintsusanna.org at about 8:15am. At the St. Susanna’s website, on the right side under “Ongoing Events,” there will be a livestream link.

November 2 Fall Assembly to Feature Frida Berrigan and Young Peacemakers; Register Today!

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We can’t wait to hear Frida Berrigan and our panel of young peacemakers speak at the PCMA Fall Assembly 2024! Please register now for the November 2 event at St. Susanna’s Parish in Dedham.

Please check out the day’s  itinerary, details on the Young Peacemakers Panel and the flyer, all below.

Schedule for the day

8:30 Registration & Fellowship
9:00 Welcome 
9:30 Clip of Phil Berrigan; introduction of Frida Berrigan (Pat Ferrone) 
9:45 Keynote
11:15 Q&A
12:00 Lunch
12:45 Annual Meeting/Peacemaker Awards
1:30 Young Peacemakers Panel: Maria Udalova, Jeanelle Wheeler, Edgar Hayes
2:15 Frida and the panelists respond to each other
2:45 Small group discussions, with recorders
3:00 “Report back” by small groups
3:30 Renewal of Vow of Nonviolence & Closing
4:00 Attend parish Mass (optional)

Young Peacemakers Panel

Maria Udalova is a senior at Brookline High School.  She became interested in nuclear disarmament and climate activism during her junior year after starting a chapter of Students for Nuclear Disarmament at her school.  She currently serves on the Steering Committee of Students for Nuclear Disarmament and through her involvement in activism has organized youth for meaningful action, for example, bringing over 20 students to the State House to lobby last year.  She’s also passionate about non-nuclear youth policy and is the Director of Policy Development at the American Youth Association

Edgar Hayes is a member of the Agape Board and Mission Council.  He is an elder and lay pastor in the Hudson River Presbytery.  Edgar is also a cofounder of Freedom Farm Community in Mount Hope, NY.  They grow organic produce to share with people in need, teach youth and young adults sustainable agriculture and living out one’s faith, and are dedicated to building the Beloved Community.

Jeanelle Wheeler grew up near Worcester, MA and thanks to her mom, Teresa, she has deep roots in local peace activist spaces such as the Catholic Worker Movement, the Agape Community, and Pax Christi.  Raised in these communities of peacemakers, she has stayed connected to peacemaking as a student at Brown University and beyond.  She has worked in a variety of education (as an ESL English teacher in refugee and immigrant communities in Providence, France and Denver) and activist spaces (such as the climate justice Sunrise Community in Rhode Island and Peace Jam in Colorado).  Now she works at Montclair State University, supporting mostly low-income and first-generation students in accessing global learning

Joining Our Voices with Warheads to Windmills – Two Weeks of Action

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Say No to Money for Nuclear Warheads and Fossil Fuels

As a member of Warheads to Windmills state coalition, Pax Christi Massachusetts urges everyone to use the instructions on our Action Page to target seven of the top nuclear weapons companies and seven of the top fossil fuel companies during the weeks of September 16-22, 2024, (nuclear weapons) and September 23-29, 2024.

Let’s make our voices heard!

Register Now for Fall Assembly featuring Frida Berrigan

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Saturday, November 2, 2024
9:00am to 3:30pm – Coffee/Registration 8:30am
 
St. Susanna Parish, Dedham
262 Needham Street

Please join us for a special day with Frida Berrigan. Together, we will explore the “thread” of living the love of Gospel Nonviolence as a spiritual and activist means of addressing the personal and systemic violence that hinders the flourishing of the global community.

Frida, lovingly nurtured by her parents, Philip Berrigan and Liz McAllister, was raised in/by the Jonah House Catholic Worker community. She is a gifted writer, a prophetic peace activist, a wife and mother, and a community leader. Frida is connected with the War Resisters League, Pax Christi, and the Catholic Worker movement. She is the co-founder of Witness Against Torture, and the author of “It Runs in the Family: On Being Raised by Radicals and Growing into Rebellious Motherhood.” In her serious dedication to the works of peace and resistance, she warmly cultivates hope, and creates joy.

There will be a panel presentation in the afternoon.

Flyer/Registration

Summer News: a sign-on letter, some PCMA web updates, and an important save-the-date

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It’s summer, but peacemakers everywhere are busy!

  • Our friends in Pax Christi New Jersey have shared a sign-on letter, entitled “Statement of Christian Support for Student Ceasefire and Divestment Campaigns.” Pax Christi Massachusetts is a signatory, and we urge others to sign. The letter will be open for signatures until August 15. For more information, and links to sign on, please visit our PCMA Action Resources Page.
  • We have added content to our “Study Resources” and “Action Resources” pages. (These links are also on the left on our homepage.) Please take a look!
  • And last but not least we have a date and speaker for our Fall Assembly. We are excited to welcome peace activist and author Frida Berrigan on Saturday, November 2, 2024 at St. Susanna’s Parish in Dedham. Details to come; mark your calendars now!

 

Sunday, July 14, 2024; Join Archbishop Wester for an Interfaith commemoration of the Trinity Test

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On Sunday, July 14th, 2024, the Saint John XXIII Catholic Community, 4831 Tramway Ridge Dr NE, Albuquerque, NM, will welcome in-person and virtual visitors for an interfaith prayer service and reflection in commemoration of the Trinity Test.

Doors Open at 2 PM (MST) (Mountain Standard Time).  [This event will be held from 4:00pm to 7:30pm Eastern Standard Time.]

The title of the event is: A World Without Nuclear WeaponsFrom Reflection to Action: An Interfaith Remembrance of the Trinity Test, and it is organized by The Archdiocese of Santa Fe; Interfaith Power & Light, New Mexico-El Paso; New Mexico Conference of Churches; Nuclear Watch New Mexico; Soka Gakkai International-USA, and Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium.

Register
Flyer

 

Nominations Now Open for PCMA Peacemaker Awards – Due September 1

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Nominations for this year’s Peacemaker Awards, Adult and Youth categories, are now open! 

This award is given to outstanding peacemakers who embody the ideals of Pax Christi. Nominees need not be members of Pax Christi and may be 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.

2024 Peacemaker Award Nomination Form

2024 John Leary Youth Peacemaker Award Nomination Form

List of awardees since the award’s inception in 1992

Deadline for submission is September 1. 

Video Now Available for Back from the Brink’s webinar: “A Conversation with Annie Jacobsen”

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If you missed this timely webinar featuring a conversation with the author of the best-selling book Nuclear War, it’s now available to stream on YouTube! Ms. Jacobsen was joined by Archbishop John C. Wester (Archdiocese of Santa Fe); Eddie Laiche (a high school senior at John Burroughs High School in Burbank, CA and co-founder of Students for Nuclear Disarmament) and Dr. Ira Helfand (BftB Steering Committee member and a leader of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons). The event was moderated by Denise Duffield (BftB Steering Committee member and Associate Director of Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles).