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