Peace and Justice meetings focus on Sept. 11 aftermath
Globe staff report
Posted September 5, 2002

Living with Faith and Hope After Sept. 11 is the theme of the 2002 Peace and Justice Meetings to be held at seven locations in the Diocese of Sioux City throughout September and October.

The meetings are designed to offer insights on Catholic social teaching in the areas of peace and justice. Concrete ways in which people can put - and do put - the teachings into practice in their daily lives will be shared.

According to Bernadette Rixner, chair of the Diocesan Peace and Justice Commission, at the meetings they will look at the church's long tradition of nonviolence and peace as well as its views on warfare.

"We will look at the framework that has developed over the years to help people put situations like this into the context of the church's teachings," she said. "The bishops say, in the pastoral, that they are giving us the framework. We are going to share that with the people who are there and give them the opportunity to look at some of these conditions, to reflect and to share."

The U.S. bishops' document, Living with Faith and Hope After Sept. 11, will be the focus of the discussion. In that document the bishops offer words of consolation as well as criteria for moral discernment of an appropriate response to the tragic events of Sept. 11 and their aftermath.

Marilyn Murphy, social concerns facilitator of the diocese, said, "Their call to action and solidarity is a challenge to each of us as Catholics. There will be an opportunity to share anything we are doing as individuals, as a family, as a parish in answer to their call for action."

Rixner said that all who attend would receive copy of that bishops' pastoral letter. The document's appendix contains quotes from the Catechism of the Catholic Church relating to nonviolence, peace and warfare.

The agenda is the same for all meetings: opening prayer, 10-minute video on approaches to peace, small group discussion of just war and nonviolence, sharing practical ideas for carrying out the work of peacemaking and a prayer service.

The meetings are scheduled as follows:

Southwest Deanery - Tuesday, Sept. 24 at St. Boniface Church, Charter Oak, 7 to 8:30 p.m. Contact person: Colleen Henderson, (712) 885-2615

Monday, Sept. 30 at Cathedral of the Epiphany Church Hall, Sioux City, 7 to 8:30 p.m. Contact Bernadette Rixner, (712) 258-7855

South Central Deanery - Thursday, Sept. 26 at Bishop Greteman Center, Holy Spirit Church, Carroll, 7 to 8:30 p.m. Contact person: Mary Bruner, (712) 792-5020

Northwest Deanery - Monday, Sept. 16, Spalding High School, Granville, 7 to 8:30 p.m. Contact person: Bernadette Rixner, (712) 258-7855

Central Deanery - Wednesday, Sept. 18 at Knights of Columbus Hall, Fonda, 7 to 8:30 p.m. Contact persons: Dee Haubrich, (712) 288-6177 or Mary Mohr, (712) 288-6681

Northeast Deanery - Sunday, Sept. 22 at Holy Family Center (Assumption Church), Emmetsburg with potluck dinner at 5 p.m., program at 6:30 p.m. and closing prayer at 8 p.m. Contact person: Angie Beem, (712) 852-3869

Southeast Deanery - Saturday, Oct. 12 at Our Lady of Good Counsel, Moorland from 1 to 2 p.m. Contact person: Wynn Touney, (515) 576-2296

Parishioners can attend any site that is closest to them or the date that best accommodates their own schedule.

"These meetings are not just for peace and justice contact people or deanery representatives, it is for Catholics throughout the diocese who want to learn more about the church's teaching on nonviolence, war and peace and want to find ways to become peacemakers," said Rixner.

People who attend will be given some concrete ways that they as individuals, families or parish communities can do to live with faith and hope after Sept. 11.

Peace and Justice deanery meetings have been held in the diocese since 1991. They were held on a yearly basis for the first two years and then - since 1992 - have been held every other year, opposite of the Diocesan Ministries Conference.

"The meetings always flow from statements of Pope John Paul II or those of the United States Council of Catholic Bishops," explained Murphy.

In 1991, the meetings looked at celebrating 100 years of Catholic social teaching. The 1992 meeting focused on the pastoral, Putting Children and Families First. Building Communities of Salt and Light was the document that was addressed in 1994. Hear Their Cries: Religious Responses to Child Abuse, a bishops' pastoral, was addressed in 1996. To prepare for the jubilee celebration, the 1998 meetings were based on the theme Building a More Just World in the New Millennium: Acting on Behalf of the Poor and Oppressed. Seeking Environmental Justice was the theme in 2000.

Those who plan to attend the upcoming peace and justice deanery meetings are encouraged to bring friends and neighbors of all faith denominations.