Peace and Justice meetings held

By KATIE LEFEBVRE, Globe staff writer
Posted Oct. 24, 2002

The Peace and Justice meetings held in September and October have come to an end with solutions to a few problems.

The main discussion and theme of the peace and justice meetings went along with the U. S. bishops' document, Living with Faith and Hope After Sept. 11. The three main themes of Catholic social teaching that are in the document are: the dignity of all human life, solidarity and the common good.

"We issued a challenge at each of the meetings to find one new thing they could do as a peacemaking effort whether it be something in their private lives, families, groups or parish," said Bernadette Rixner, chair of the Diocesan Peace and Justice Commission. "I think the people took that challenge very seriously."

There were seven meeting places and times set in the six different deaneries. In all there were about 85 to 90 people who participated in the meetings across the diocese. The meetings were held in parish halls in Fonda, Granville, Carroll, Emmetsburg, Moorland, Charter Oak and Sioux City.

"They were from all walks of life, and they were all different age groups," said Marilyn Murphy, social concerns facilitator of the Diocese of Sioux City. "It was a diverse group of people."

The people that attended were priests, nuns and "seasoned peace and justice people." They are already working for peace, commented Rixner.

The first part of each meeting was showing a video on the church's just war doctrine. The video traced the history of the responsibility for peacemaking back to the times of the Jewish people. It shows how the early Christians understood peacemaking and their responsibility to peace. The video went from that time up to the peace pastoral of 1983.

Then they went into discussions on the bishops' document.

"We focused primarily on what the bishops suggested we might do in terms of working for peace and justice in our parishes," Murphy said. "The primary purpose of the meetings was not only to bring the bishops' message to the people of the diocese but also to dialogue with them on what they were doing in their parishes to work for peace and justice."

Bishop Daniel DiNardo attended the Southwest Deanery meeting in Sioux City and shared insights on some of the issues and questions the U.S. bishops are dealing with in regard to peace. Such questions included how to apply the church's tradition of just war to terrorists and, in light of repeated statements of support for the United Nations by popes and bishops, what can be done to strengthen it and make it more effective.

The response to the discussions was positive and led people in the different deaneries to start doing things for their parishes and communities.

"The dialogues were positive. The presentations were positive," Murphy said. "The people's response was positive to what we might do in bringing peace and justice not only on the international level but also to our own families and parishes."

For example, in the meeting where the smallest number of people attended, there were two women who decided to do a Catholic Relief Services Work of Human Hands Craft Sale in their parish. This will be held on Oct. 27 at St. Mary's in Danbury. They are also going to have a holy hour for peace at the beginning of November in their church.

"There was a section in the pastoral where the bishops say 'this is a time for prayer, a time for fasting, a time for teaching, a time for dialogue, a time for service, a time for solidarity,'" Rixner said. "We talked about these crafts sales as a way of concretely expressing this solidarity because the sales help low-income craftsman. It helps in their need, but it also helps the people who are going to look at the crafts and buy the crafts to know more and be connected with someone in another part of the world."

Another woman took one of the prayers for peace that was for children and decided to put it in her parish bulletin. Someone else took a scriptural rosary from the United States Catholic Conference and used it with a group.

"I was really pleased with these meetings because all the people there went away finding something that they could do," Rixner said. "People were responsive. There was a sense of 'this gives me a good framework. I can make Friday my day to work on peace.'"

The Scripture quote used at the meetings was from John 20:19-21, "Peace I leave you, my peace I give you, as the Father has sent me, so I send you." This along with a prayer of commitment that each person made to commit to doing something for peace.

"These were not meetings of official peace and justice committees, it was open to all of the people in the diocese," Rixner said. "We hope to be doing this again in two years, and hope we can get the message out that we want to share this information and these ideas and get input from everyone."