Summer-Fall 2015 - Solaris Web Design
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Summer-Fall 2015 - Solaris Web Design
Pax Christi Massachusetts Newsletter Violence Ends Where Love Begins Coordinator’s Corner By Pat Ferrone Aware of the waning days of summer, we bask in the softness of warm weather and take pleasure in days shared with friends and family. For a brief time, there is the refreshment of greening growth and a sense of plenitude. Lush vegetables spring from the cultivated earth, and a vivid panoply of color in gardens or in dancing wildflowers along byways is there for the gazing. (www.nggb.com) Even a lone geranium, overgrowing its container with bragging brilliance, is enough to center the heart. Praise for creation and Creator come more easily in this seasonal pause of gratuitous abundance, and we are suffused with thanks. How necessary, it seems, to appreciate the allurement of this brief time and to notice the living metaphors that remind us of the urge toward fullness and purpose Summer-Fall 2015 Volume 22, Number 1, Summer-Fall 2015 that resides in all creation. For instance, as I write, I look out at a towering willow, and some sturdy maples planted several years ago in the fields. By the barn, an ancient scrub apple tree, adorned with more fruit than in seasons past, provides the wild turkeys and deer with both breakfast and dinner, and me with the makings of an apple pie. I imagine the trees as somehow sentient, and marvel at their “tree-ness.” Standing deeply rooted in one spot, they seem to agree to the terms of their lives: bearing fruit in the proper time (if that’s their task), and providing shade in the summer and fiery, eye-pleasing brilliance in autumn. They wave their limbed arms in response to a gentle or mighty wind, and, without cease, purify the air we breathe by absorbing carbon dioxide and sending forth necessary oxygen. With no fuss, they are faithful to the purpose for which they were created. These simple prayer lines by the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore capture this essence: “Silence my soul, these trees are prayers. I asked the tree, “Tell me about God”; then it blossomed.” Teilhard de Chardin, the Jesuit Continued on page 2 Prison Ministry Update By Brian Ashmankas A popular Christian song begins “You always think I'm somewhere on a mountain top, but never think behind bars.” This simple line sums up Pax Christi Central Massachusetts’ participation in prison ministry over the past year. Nowhere else I have ever been is more consistently overflowing with the Holy Spirit than the former weight room filled with handcrafted pews, amazing art depicting God’s mercy and forgiveness, and even an altar and MCI-Shirley (mass.gov) tabernacle now known as Our Lady of Guadalupe Chapel in the medium security prison in Shirley, Massachusetts. Continued on page 4 NOTE: To promote a greener future with a leaner budget, print copies of future issues of this newsletter will be mailed only to our readers who have no access to email. 1 Coordinator’s Corner Continued from page 1 priest, philosopher and paleontologist, regarded the world with reverence, and spoke of an evolving divinization of the cosmos by Christ’s incarnation, and our work and purpose: to cultivate a consciousness that expands beyond the restriction of our small selves, family, and country, to embrace one that envisions the “salvation and success of the universe…” The tools are at hand, if only we have eyes to see: “By virtue of the Creation and still more, of the Incarnation, nothing here below is profane for those who know how to see. On the contrary, everything is sacred.” Gently, he suggests that we “Try with God’s help to perceive the connection - even physical and natural - which binds your labour with the building of the kingdom of heaven; try to realize that heaven itself smiles upon you, and through your works, draws you to itself.” Sr. Ilia Delio OSF, a spiritual heir of Teilhard de Chardin, (with whom she says she shares an “incarnational resonance”), further elucidates the idea of purpose when she says, “Christ is the purpose of the universe, and as an example of creation, (Christ) is the model of what is intended for the universe, that is union and transformation in God…” Though she affirms the “vast interconnectedness of human beings, God and the universe” she does not dispute the mess we have made of this place 2 we call home when she says, “I’m afraid we’ve become the most unnatural of species. We are dying for life, but we try to control nature and we reject one another.” Still, she says, “We are created for love, and that’s what keeps pulling us forward.” Fr. Dan Berrigan, poet and prophet of peace, has dedicated his life to persuasively witnessing against the God-denying manifestations of our violent age, particularly war and the nuclear arms race. With word and presence, he re-calls us to God’s purpose of peace, and admonishes the civil and religious institutions that compel and bless our complicity in the means contrary to gospel values. “Rooted” in the Word, and blessed with the language of the heart, he is an example of the evolving Christ-consciousness that must come to fruition in communities of faith. Fr. Berrigan (democracynow.org) In his book Portraits of Those I Love, he refers to the “law of leveling” mentioned by Soren Kierkegaard in The Present Age, in which passion for truth and action is relegated to silence by the “Law of Survival.” Sometimes it means sticking one’s head in the sand about what’s happening in our names, and/or dutifully (or soporifically) going along with the status quo by not making waves, or keeping silent in home or church or country when more is required. In the world of dominative power of church or state, it expresses itself through political expediency, rational justifications on behalf of the lesser evil, or becoming “masters of the shifts and tides of the world” in order to assure continued dominance Kierkegaard contends that “Leveling can only be halted by the individual attaining the religious courage which springs from his individual religious solitude.” Berrigan agrees, describing the religious individual as one who “has no sense of right timing, cannot read traffic signs, has indeed no interest in reading them, is utterly and incurably irrelevant (to all but one thing), speaks up when everyone urges equivocal prudence, is silent in the midst of hot contention, has no authority beyond the useless currency of human concern.” (S)he is hopelessly “out-of-tune, out-of-joint, out-of-step” with the prevailing winds of shifting positions: truth-tellers in places and situations where the medium of exchange for acceptance is accommodation and silence. As I see it, part of truth-telling in the spirit of Jesus, is to remember the past in order to bring the lessons we’ve learned to bear on the present. 2015 marks the 70th anniversary of the introduction of the atomic bomb into the diabolical lexicon of justifiable weapons of war. On August 6 and 9, in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the U.S., radioactive seeds of death rained down on the civilian population, instantly and indiscriminately vaporizing thousands of people. Pax Christi Massachusetts Some became “shadows of their former selves” when only their images, burned into the side of buildings, remained. Some, aflame, ran to the river for relief, but found death awaiting them instead. Others harbored radiation in their bodies until they, too, succumbed. Pregnant women who survived the blast were likely to deliver babies who were either still-born or vulnerable to genetic anomalies or early death (in his novel Anil’s Ghost Michael Ondaatje quotes the ancient Greek poet Archilocus to make the point, succinctly highlighting the atrocious nature of this event, and all war: “In the hospitality of war we left them their dead to remember us by.”). Years later, Fr. George Zabelka, Catholic Air Force chaplain to the Enola Gay bombing crew, realized the enormity of his blindness in accommodating to evil and said, “All I can say today is that I was wrong. Christ would not be the instrument to unleash such horror on his people,” then adding: “Therefore no follower of Christ can legitimately unleash the horror of war on God’s people.” Period. We cannot be instruments of death. And yet, even after 70 years, we have not repented of the grievous sin of “mass murder” visited on the “enemy” by our government, and we continue to perpetuate the nuclear nightmare in the form of 16,000 weapons in existence, 90% of which are owned by the U.S. and Russia. But can we dare hope that small steps are afoot to move us from our affinity for dead zone thinking? I believe this to be true. We are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses Summer-Fall 2015 who not only recognize the peril, but speak truth, and dream of ways to reconcile and heal. In December 2014, Pope Francis released a message, “Nuclear Disarmament: Time for Abolition.” It is replete with arguments that remove any doubts concerning the immorality of the nuclear arms race. He says, “Now is the time to affirm not only the immorality of the use of nuclear weapons, but the immorality of their possession” and to “embrace the abolition of nuclear weapons as an essential foundation of collective security.” (centerforchristiannonviolence.org) He also acknowledges the presentday problem of nuclear energy gone awry (and the even greater disaster it portends with the use of nuclear weapons) when he says, “The continuing radioactive disaster at the civilian nuclear plants at Chernobyl and Fukushima should be a stark reminder to us that technical fixes are non-trivial and certainly not feasible in the far worse situation of a nuclear weapon detonation in conflict. Not only human lives but the land and water and marine resources would be damaged for the foreseeable future.” We pray to become icons of God’s purpose and Christ’s love in order to turn away from evil ourselves, and to heal this suffering but beautiful world into which we’ve been born. Each day, with a hope and a prayer, we rise to be leavened by love and to leaven our time and circumstances with the work of our hearts and hands in the spirit of Jesus. It’s happening all around us, to be sure, and so we take note of: *The annual Forty Day Fast for the Truth of Gospel Nonviolence, initiated by Fr. Emmanuel Charles McCarthy thirty-three years ago, which took place July 1 - August 9 (for videos and material exploring the topic, see: www.centerforchristiannonviole nce.org). The Fast is a call to all Christian churches to renounce violence unequivocally as insupportable in the name of Jesus Christ and his gospel of unconditional love for ALL. *Neighborhood walks for peace in Springfield and Boston to decry the deadly violence taking place in our cities, often victimizing youth; a growing Pax Christi chapter lead by prisoners at MCI Shirley; an annual Mass to honor conscientious objector Franz Jagerstatter in Western MA. *The extended witness against the death penalty during the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Marathon bomber, by Agape, Pax Christi, Veterans for Peace, Quakers, and others. Although Dzhokhar has been sentenced to death, our focus on the death penalty continues with plans for the Fall Assembly on November 14 with Sr. Helen Prejean, a witness for the defense in the trial and longtime religious activist against state murder. 3 *The action asked of its members by Pax Christi International and Pax Christi USA to support the diplomatically achieved agreement between the P5+1 nations and Iran to reduce its stockpile of low-enriched uranium by 98% and to confine its use of nuclear material to providing energy for the Iranian people. As a result, letters have been written and calls and visits in support of this effort are being made to Congressional representatives and bishops. beginning to soak up all they could learn about nonviolence and forgiveness. In addition, they were just as eager to share their stories – stories of their dark pasts, stories of how they found God (or He found them), and stories of dealing with life in prison as Christians. sessions, with the commencement we shifted the focus from studying about Pax Christi to discerning through prayer what mission our newly expanded group would take on and then acting on it. Ultimately, two missions were decided on – working to end the death penalty, and engaging in restorative justice. Both are dear to the hearts of the inmates, the former because several in our group would not be here today if the death penalty had not been outlawed in Massachusetts, and the latter because all are looking to reconcile with their families, victims, and victims’ families. (www.amazon.com) The other change that came with the commencement is that Charlotte, Roger, and I stepped out of our leadership role at meetings, which are now led by a rotating team of two inmates, usually with the assistance of one member from the outside. This team selects the topic for discussion, researches scripture passages, directs discussion, and leads prayer. Although this diminishes our role in the meeting, it also increases our opportunity to build relationships on an individual level. Pat Ferrone is Coordinator of Pax Christi Massachusetts. Prison Ministry Update… Continued from page 1 We began this ministry just about a year ago, when I shared how Pax Christi had come full circle. Beginning in a prison, it has now returned there. We began this session with Charlotte, Roger, and me leading the group in a discussion – one chapter at a time – of Love Beyond Measure: A Spirituality of Nonviolence, by Mary Lou Kownacki. This book served as an excellent guide in “educating” the inmates on what Pax Christi is all about. We discussed nonviolence and how it is distinct from passivity, God’s forgiveness and mercy, and the meaningfulness of even small acts of good and how doing good does not necessarily depend on achieving results. We also read scripture, heard music, and learned about the history of Pax Christi. Almost universally converts to the faith after their incarceration, the inmates were eager from the very 4 Seeing them as they are today, it is easy to assume that these were nice criminals – if they broke the law here and there or found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time, surely it could be understood given their circumstances. This was not the case. Although many undoubtedly grew up in horrific circumstances, they freely admit that in their past lives they did some truly dark things – drug dealing, theft (in one instance from a priest), and even murder. I do not bring this up to denigrate these men, but to highlight the depth of God’s mercy and forgiveness. Every one of these men owns up to what he did, but has found total redemption in accepting God’s mercy and call for repentance. They have totally turned their lives around. Those who were once the “worst of the worst” are now in my mind the “best of the best”in terms of generosity, evangelization, goodness, faith, hope, and love. Although study would continue and prayer and action were certainly not absent from the first In particular, I will always remember my conversation with a particular inmate. He is a quieter member of the group, and I had rarely spoken to him, but I felt a tug from the Spirit to go talk to him and had an amazing conversation about how the chapel is a sanctuary of peace in an otherwise unpeaceful place. I thought of John 1: “the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.” Another amazing moment involved a starfish. We were reading the parable of the woman who threw starfish back into the sea because even though it seemed Pax Christi Massachusetts to others that she could not make a difference to the beach full of starfish, she knew it did make a difference to each one that she was able to return to its home. To accompany this story, Charlotte brought in a dried starfish to pass around. I remember praying over the starfish that the Holy Spirit would fill it and by extension fill and overfill all those in the room that it touched. Perhaps others prayed something similar as well, but as it began to circulate it was clear that the Holy Spirt had arrived. The depth and the sharing were reminiscent of another Pentecost, and I and several others reported physically feeling the presence of the Spirit. It was the most spiritually moving moment of my life and profoundly affected the direction my life will take. Although I had been discerning for a year and a half at that time, it became profoundly clear in that moment that I should enter seminary. While directing discussion rotates between members each session, it is clear to all that Tim serves as the true leader of the group. He is a man to whom God gave ten talents – many of great charisma, intellect, and skill. In his past life he used these skills to accomplish evil, but now he turns them toward holding this group together, evangelization, and helping the other inmates in a plethora of ways. I would also be remiss if I failed to thank Deacon Arthur Rodgers, Catholic chaplain at MCI Shirley, without whose support this ministry could not have happened. Each session also concludes with a Eucharistic service, where our fellowship with each other and with the Holy Spirit is joined by the presence of Jesus. As we leave each time, they invariably express how much our presence there means to them, and yet Charlotte, Summer-Fall 2015 Roger, and I always feel the same way about what we gain from being with them. Each group always feels that they receive much more from the other than they give. Each group gives all they can, but we know that the experience could never be achieved unless the Holy Spirit makes up the difference, so we continue with the mantra that opens each session “Holy Spirit, go before us and prepare the way.” Brian Ashmankas is a PC Central MA member who entered seminary in August 2015. Local Group Updates Boston Pax Christi In September 2014 PC Boston sent the following letter to Pope Francis, anticipating his September 2015 U.S. visit: Dear Pope Francis: We are members of Pax Christi Boston, a Chapter of Pax Christi International, who pray, advocate and work for peace in our world. We thank you for all you have said and done about making peace as the world leader of the Catholic community. Cardinal O’Malley (osv.com) We invite you to visit Boston with your Gospel message of peace. Pax Christi needs your support in convincing our Cardinal O’Malley and the American Church hierarchy to pray publicly and teach nonviolent peacemaking. The American Church knows that militarism is not compatible with the Gospel message of peace and love and that it is called to teach nonviolent peacemaking. Yet the American Church does not follow that call. As you know, since World War II, the American Church has aligned itself with the United States military and its operations of stockpiling weapons and killing. Catholic priest military chaplains and most Catholic faithful are culturally embedded in violence and power as the solution for winning peace. We are particularly concerned that here in the Archdiocese of Boston and across the country, many Catholic educational institutions carry out Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) and Junior ROTC programs to form and indoctrinate our Catholic young people into future military personnel for the United States armed services. We vigilant peacemakers know that war is always a defeat for humanity. As this evil force continues, the newest members of our human family will know no other way to live and so will carry the violence into the future of our world. Since Cardinal O’Malley has refused to engage with Pax Christi in challenging the spirit of war in our hearts and confronting our complicity with making war, we request that you personally, as Pope Francis, tell him to confront and exorcise the evil of militarism that is killing us. The Cardinal needs to publicly lead our church community in begging God’s mercy and leading us in the way of love and peace that we need to be living. Pope Francis, we need you here on our soil with your proclamation of peace. We need to hear you calling us to reconcile with one another and all God’s Creation. In peace, Pax Christi Boston 5 Rhode Island Pax Christi Marking the 70th anniversary of the August 6 and August 9 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, Roman Catholic parishes throughout the Diocese of Providence were invited to distribute information and to seek prayer about the urgency of nuclear disarmament at their Masses on or before the weekend of August 1-2, 2015. The invitation was issued by Pax Christi-Rhode Island, the local chapter of Pax Christi USA. Pax Christi is the international Catholic peace movement which has NGO status at the United Nations and which is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year as well. In September, 2014, at St. Anthony Church in North Providence, PC Rhode Island hosted a talk by Dr. Joseph Gerson, who was preparing for his work as an American Friends Service Committee delegate to the Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons in December. He described how some 160 nations would participate in this conference in Vienna to plan for the International Peace and the Planet Conference and Mobilization for a Nuclear-Free, Peaceful, Just, and Sustainable World in New York City on May 24-26 this year. These were the days immediately preceding the opening of the United Nations’ 2015 Review of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Four members of PC Rhode Island subsequently attended the May Conference and Mobilization: two days of formal speeches, question and answer sessions, and discussion groups, followed by the Sunday Interfaith Prayer Service and the march to the United 6 Nations. Especially impressive was the presence in the march of over 1,000 Japanese who either survived the bombings of 1945 or were descendants or other relatives of survivors. In his most recent “Without a Doubt” column in The Rhode Island Catholic, Thomas Tobin, Bishop of the Diocese of Providence, wrote in support of the work of Pax Christi. He stated that “the information they provide and the commitment they bring to their mission is most impressive” and that “Pax Christi is working to remind us all of the enormous danger of nuclear weapons, particularly in a world destabilized by fractured governments and terrorist groups and thus ripe for nuclear proliferation.” Bishop Tobin (bostonglobe.com) PC Rhode Island meets monthly on the last Sunday of the month from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at St. William’s Church, on Ponagansett Avenue in the Norwood section of Warwick. New members are welcome. For more information, call Bill Waters at 401-323-1136 or Pat Fontes at 401-516-7678. Blessed Franz Jagerstatter: I Will Serve the Lord Rev. Warren Savage, Lecturer in Religious Studies at Elms College and Catholic Chaplain at Westfield State University, celebrated the annual Mass sponsored by Pax Christi Western MA in honor of Franz Jagerstatter for broadcast on the local NBC affiliate’s “The Chalice of Salvation”on August 23, 2015 and delivered this homily. Joining us for today’s Chalice of Salvation Mass are members of a Catholic Peace and Justice movement known as Pax Christi. These committed men and women of our diocesan family seek to model the Peace of Christ in their witness to the mandate of the nonviolence of the Cross. Each year, the Pax Christi Chapter of Western Massachusetts celebrates a special liturgy in honor of one its icons, Blessed Franz Jägerstätter, who was beatified in an elaborate ceremony in St. Mary’s Cathedral in Linz, Austria on October 27, 2007. Blessed Franz was a poor Austrian farmer who, after consultation with priests and his bishop, long periods of prayer, and reflection on the scriptures, refused to serve in the German army during World War II. He did not support the Nazi cause on religious grounds. Following the voice of his conscience, he could not participate in an unjust war and submit to any role in the destruction of innocent human life. Standing on the solid ground of the gospel, the tradition of Catholic Social Teaching, and the extraordinary witness of Blessed Franz, Pax Christi is a membership organization that rejects war, the remote preparation for war, every form of violence and domination, personal and systemic racism. I can imagine what Blessed Franz would be thinking if he heard today’s readings in the context of Pax Christi Massachusetts what was going on in his country during the Great War, when he was obliged to join the Nazi army. Reflecting on the passage from the Book of Joshua, he would be troubled by those who would betray their faith in God and support an unjust war. He would be emboldened by the courage and example of Joshua in deciding not to forsake but to serve the Lord. Franz Jagerstatter (PCUK) The first reading tells us that Joshua refused to submit to other gods. He speaks his conscience, his heart, when he says: “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Franz had to face his own inner struggle, the battle within his own conscience. He had to decide whether to serve the gods of war and human destruction or the God of peace and love he had come to know through his own inner reflection and the prayerful reading of the scriptures on the passion and death of Jesus. Franz Jagerstatter would also be challenged by and draw inspiration from John’s Gospel, which recalls that during Jesus’ ministry, “many of his disciples broke away and would not remain in his company any longer” (Jn. 6:66) because they found his Eucharistic teaching hard to accept. Many of the disciples of Jesus remarked, “This sort of talk is hard to endure” (Jn. 6:60). Franz could not understand how any Christian could remain so complacent and silent in the midst of a horrible war, in the sickening atmosphere of hatred, and in the face of the systematic destruction Summer-Fall 2015 of a nation of people who were their brothers and sisters. Franz had to refrain from exhibiting any behaviors that would give any sense of approval to the barbaric ways of political and military leaders who seemed to have no souls. He questioned over and over again, why those who called themselves Christian could not accept and give bold witness to Jesus’ teachings on love, peace and nonviolence. Franz Jagerstatter knew that his decision to walk with Jesus instead of Hitler and his army would mean imprisonment and ultimately cost him his life. He was considered a rebel by his people and an unacceptable example of what it meant to be a true patriot. None of this mattered to Franz because he was more intent on being a faithful disciple of Christ and a humble witness to the mandate of the nonviolence of the cross. studies and have become organizers of grassroots anti-war efforts on their campuses. In light of today’s readings, the members of Pax Christi and the wider Christian Church are given a choice amid the uncertainties of this world: to walk with Jesus and honor his teachings or to abandon Jesus and conspire with the demonic forces of our time. In other words, the people of God are given a choice to walk with Jesus, who is the face of God’s love, compassion, mercy, forgiveness, and peace, or to become part of the globalization of human destruction, war, violence, hatred, and indifference. The life and death of Blessed Franz teaches us that being a Christian today is hard. To be an authentic Christian requires a deep examination of one’s conscience in dialogue with the gospel. Franz had no other place to go but to the crucified and risen Christ he had come to know in the Word of God and in the Eucharist. With a clear conscience he lived in the blessed assurance of Pax Christi. Franz Jagerstatter was beheaded on August 9, 1943, at the age of 36, for refusing any collaboration with the Nazi authorities. He had no idea that future generations would honor him as a martyr (a witness), a Servant of God whose life would become a model of Christian resistance not only to war, but also to all forms of evil such as poverty, racism, human trafficking and the destruction of the environment. Thanks to the research of Gordon Zahn, a Catholic conscientious objector during World War II, and his book, In Solitary Witness, The Life and Death of Franz Jägerstätter, many students have advocated for courses on peace Fr.Warren Savage (masslive) The practice of a spirituality of nonviolence calls for a change of heart and a willingness to name and disarm the inner wars raging inside us. We have much to learn from the great cloud of witnesses like Blessed Franz Jägerstätter who sacrificed their lives to illuminate the truth that all people are created in the image and likeness of God and that love of God and neighbor is the foundation of true and lasting peace. In this celebration of the Eucharist, may our minds and hearts be fixed on God’s holy one, Jesus, who has the words of eternal life. 7 Pax Christi Massachusetts 2015 Assembly Dead Man Walking: A Faith-Based Journey to Abolish the Death Penalty a presentation by Sister Helen Prejean Saturday, November 14, 2015 at St. Susanna Parish 262 Needham Street, Dedham MA For directions: www.saintsusanna.org Registration begins at 8:30 – Program 9:00 am to 3:00 pm Parish Mass at 4:00 pm Sister Helen, the author of the autobiographical book Dead ManWalking and of The Death of Innocents, says: “The death penalty is one of the great moral issues facing our country, yet most people rarely think about it and very few of us take the time to delve deeply enough into this issue to be able to make an informed decision.” Registration Form Name_________________________________ Street Address______________________________ City/State____________________________ Phone/E-mail _______________________________ Donation**--$40 at the door, $35 if postmarked by November 4. (Lunch Included) Student Donation**--$15, registration by November 4 suggested. (Lunch included) I would like to be an Assembly Sponsor and will donate an additional taxdeductible gift of $__________ to help defray the cost of the Assembly. Mail Registration and check, made out to “Pax Christi MA” to: Ronald Holman, 15 Chris Drive, N. Attleboro, MA 02760 **Scholarships available 8 For information: [email protected] Pax Christi Massachusetts Seizing Nonviolent Moments: 2015 Pax Christi MA Retreat By Mike Moran On Saturday, April 11, 2015, our own Nancy Small led a daylong retreat on the theme “Seizing Nonviolent Moments: The Spirituality of Transformation” in the Mary Dooley Campus Center at Elms College in Chicopee. Few people are more steeped in the values of Pax Christi than Nancy, a former national coordinator and current Ambassador of Peace for Pax Christi USA and a former board member of Pax Christi Massachusetts. A resident of Worcester, Nancy is also much in demand as a spiritual director. For much of her presentation, Nancy drew on her book Seizing the Nonviolent Moments: Reflections on the Spirituality of Nonviolence through the Lens of Scripture (Cascade Books, 2015), published several months earlier and available for sale and signing at the retreat. Her focus was on biblical cases of how nonviolent responses to conflict situations transformed them toward peaceful outcomes and how that process might apply in the 21st century. One example from the book of Exodus was particularly evocative and powerful for the retreatants: Summer-Fall 2015 the story of how Jochebed, the mother of Moses, his sister Miriam, and, ironically, the Egyptian Pharaoh’s own daughter saved the life of Moses in defiance of an edict by Pharaoh that all Israelite boys should be killed at birth. In considering how a similar nonviolent strategy might be applied against the extreme violence practiced by the so-called Islamic State in the present Middle East, several recent examples of successful public opposition by women were cited, and hope was expressed in supporting various institutions of civil society. Throughout the day group sessions were interspersed with small group discussions and periods of silence in which we free to leave the room and the building on a lovely spring day that showcased the beauty of nature and the wonder of life. The retreat concluded with a Mass celebrated in the same Faculty Dining Room where the retreat was held by Fr. John McDonagh, director of campus ministry for the Springfield diocese, who invoked the nonviolence of Jesus to bring the day to an inspiring close. The 40 retreat attendees particularly enjoyed the hospitality of the Elms College dining staff, who provided a delicious variety of lunch and break time treats. And the retreat’s important message about the effectiveness of nonviolence was extended to a wider audience when reporter David Maxwell from the Catholic Communications Office of the Springfield Diocese interviewed Nancy and several participants for a future broadcast of their “Real to Reel” news program on the local NBC affiliate. Special thanks are due to PCMA board member Sally Markey and other members of the Western MA Pax Christi local group who did the planning for a memorable day. Greater Springfield Campaign Nonviolence: A History Compiled by Rev. Lauren Holm July 2, 2014 Convened by Sr. Jane Morrissey (and other Pax Christi members) September 21, 2014 First event: Walk from Court Square to Rebecca Johnson School with a rally and speakers November 9, 2014 Second event: Walk from/to Blessed Sacrament church through North End with rally and speakers (bilingual) January/February 2015 Showings of the DVD “Trigger: The Ripple Effect of Gun Violence” in various places of worship April 19, 2015 Climate Justice Walk from Holy Name church to Forest Park with rally and speakers. May 24, 2015 Joining the churches in the Six Corners neighborhood for a walk with a rally and speakers September 20, 2015 First anniversary event: Rally with speakers at 3:00 pm at Holy Cross church October 4,, 2015 Domestic Violence Walk at 2:00 pm from St. George Cathedral to Court Square for rally with speakers Rev. Holm is pastor of Bethesda Lutheran Church in Springfield and a leader of Greater Springfield Campaign Nonviolence. 9 . THE AGAPE COMMUNITY’S ANNUAL ST. FRANCIS DAY EVENT Keynote Speaker: Michael Baxter Mike Baxter is a professor of Religious Studies at Regis University in Denver, CO. A co-founder of Catholic Worker houses in Phoenix, Ariz. and South Bend, Ind., Mr. Baxter also served as the national secretary of the Catholic Peace Fellowship. SATURDAY, OCT. 3RD 2015 - 10AM AFTERNOON PANEL DISCUSSION: Facilitator: Michael Boover, theologian and co-founder of the Mustard Seed Catholic Worker in Worcester, currently lives and works at “Annunciation House of Worcester,” a household blending Franciscan, Benedictine (Cistercian) and Catholic Worker influences Jackie Allen & Chris Doucot: co-founders of the Hartford, CT Catholic Worker House and the St. Martin De Porres House of Hospitality. Chris teaches classes at Central CT State University and both are active in nonviolent campaigns Edgar Hayes & Ann Rader: founders of the Freedom Farm Community in Middletown, NY. Working to educate inner-city youth on ecological and social justice through the lens of Christianity Tom Murphy: pastoral minister, recruitment coordinator, and resident of L’Arche Irenicon Community in Haverhill MA. Featuring tours of Musical Performances by Agape’s straw bale house, solar energy the Midwives of Mystery system, compost toilet, and Friends grease car and garden. Please bring a brown-bag lunch and food to share for dinner. 2062 Greenwich Rd., Ware, MA 01082 ● www.agapecommunity.org ● 413-967-9369 10 Pax Christi Massachusetts Pax Christi MA Needs a New Treasurer! Our beloved longtime Treasurer, Ron Holman, has notified the PCMA board that he won’t be able to continue in this position beyond this fall due to increasing other demands on his time. Accounting experience and knowledge of Microsoft Excel would be most helpful background. Please contact Pat Ferrone ([email protected]) if you or another PC member you know may be willing and able to take on these important duties. . St. Francis Day 2014 at Agape By Mike Moran Agape’s 32nd anniversary St. Francis Day program on Saturday, October 4, 2014, focused on the theme “A Vital Conversation: Integrating Ecology, Justice and Peace.” Cold temperatures and persistent rain never dampened the spirits of a large and enthusiastic crowd, which ranged in age from at least one mostly well-behaved infant to one or more nonagenarians. After a warm welcome from the day’s MC, Pax Christi’s own Pat Ferrone, a spirited opening ceremony featured music performed by the Midwives of Mystery and a grounding prayer by Sr. Elle McClellan, which reminded us of the unity of all life. Keynote speaker Mary Evelyn Tucker, co-director with her husband, John Grim, of the Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale University, then described the Forum’s work and its role in making the 2011 documentary film “Journey of the Universe,” which Summer-Fall 2015 tells the 14-billion-year story of the universe through scientific knowledge and artistic expression and was shown the night before. Dr. Tucker credited three major influences for a growing worldwide understanding of the interdependence of all life: (1) the holistic outlook of Asian religions; (2) the “deep time perspective” of the French Jesuit Fr. Teilhard de Chardin; and (3) the “Great Work” of the American Jesuit Fr.Thomas Berry, in which humans will become a mutually beneficial presence to the earth’s systems, by, for example, implementing the UN’s recent Earth Charter. in activism as she reminded us that children learn from the grownups around them. She also counseled living “in the margins” of contemporary society as “a place of dynamism.” Ben Thompson, a graduate student at Boston University, noted the emotional as well as intellectual challenges of political work and advised from his own experience that whatever our course of action, it should be done “from a place of love.” Patrick Cage, a senior at Yale College and student of Dr. Grim, aspired to move from “complicity” with policies that threaten life to “resistance” but in ways to achieve “power with” rather than “power over” others. In saying he felt “empowered” at the end of the day, Patrick was undoubtedly speaking for many other attendees as well. -Mike Moran is a PCMA board member and the editor of this newsletter. Pax Christi MA Board of Directors 2014-2015 John Grim & Mary Evelyn Tucker (earthcharterinaction.org) In opening remarks before he introduced an afternoon panel of three young activists, Dr. Grim cited St. Francis as a model still relevant in the 21st century, for his early anti-consumerist lifestyle and for always remembering to thank and praise creation, as when he wrote the “Canticle of the Sun” on his deathbed. Frida Berrigan, daughter of longtime peace activists Phil Berrigan and Elizabeth McAllister, shared some memorable anecdotes from her own childhood education Coordinator: Pat Ferrone 238 Harris Avenue Needham MA 02492 781-449-3890 [email protected] Secretary: Jeanne Allen 10 Sutton Place Easthampton MA 01027 413-527-0037 [email protected] Treasurer: Newsletter Editor: Ronald Holman Mike Moran 15 Chris Drive 135 Shearer Street N. Attleboro, MA 02760 Palmer, MA 01069 508-695-3896 413-283-5716 [email protected] [email protected] OTHER BOARD MEMBERS: Brian Ashmankas (Millbury); Nancy Carapezza (Wayland); Irene Desharnais (Jamaica Plain); Filomena Didiano (Sterling); Phil Harak (Southampton); Sue Malone (Westborough); Sally Markey (Springfield); Rose Morrissey (Westborough); Fr. Rocco Puopolo, s.x. (Holliston). Quarterly Board meetings (the next are Sept 12 and Dec 12) are held in the Hogan Campus Center at Holy Cross College in Worcester at 10 AM and are open to all PCMA members. 11 Local Groups Beverly P.C. Sr. Linda Bessom, SND 15 Bubier Street Lynn, MA 01901-1704 (781)595-7570x18 [email protected] Mtgs 2nd Tuesday, 7:00 PM St. Mary’s Convent Boston (Citywide) P.C. Christina Abbey Paulist Center, 5 Park St Boston, MA (781) 286-5004 [email protected] Mtgs 2nd Monday, 7:00 PM Cape Cod P.C. Edouard & Francoise Rocher 77 Old Post Road Centerville, MA 02632 (508) 771-6737 Mtgs 2nd Wednesday, 9:30 AM [email protected] Our Lady of Victory Centerville, MA 02632 Central Mass P.C./Our Lady of Guadalupe P.C. (MCI Shirley prison chapter) Sue Malone 45 Adams Street Westborough, MA 01581-3610 (508) 366-2050 [email protected] Mtgs 2nd Wednesday, 7:00 PM St. Rose of Lima Parish Northborough, MA 01532 Holy Cross College P.C. College of the Holy Cross 1 College St, Box 2847 Worcester, MA 01610 Meetings and activities geared to college calendar Holy Cross Parish P.C. 221 Plumtree Road Springfield, MA 01118 Martin & Sally Markey (413)739-3278 [email protected] Mtgs 1st Monday, 6:30 PM Metro West P.C. Faith Madzar 24 Grove Street Natick, MA 01760 (508) 655-0268 [email protected] Mtgs 3rd Monday, 7:00 PM Natick Public Library National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette P.C. Sheila Matthews 199 Maple Street Somerset, MA 02726 508-674-8220 [email protected] Mtgs 1st & 3rd Tuesdays, 7:15 Chapel of Reconciliation Rhode Island P.C. Bill Waters (401) 438-6612 [email protected] Fr. Ray Tetrault (401) 453-2415 St. William Parish 200 Pettaconsett Ave Warwick, RI 02888 Mtgs last Sunday, 6:00 PM St. John’s Prep P.C. St, John's Preparatory School 72 Spring Street Danvers, MA 01923 Bill Mackinson 978-774-1057 [email protected] Prayer for Peace, Tuesday mornings, 7:45-8:00 AM St. Susanna Parish P.C. 262 Needham Street Dedham, MA 02026 Pat Ferrone 781-449-3890 [email protected] Contact for meeting info Western Mass P.C. Jeanne Allen 10 Sutton Place Easthampton, MA 01027 (413) 527-0037 [email protected] Mtgs 2nd Friday, 7:00 PM Elms College, Chicopee If you belong to a Pax Christi group that is not listed above, please let us know so we can add it to our list. If any information above is incorrect, please email corrections or additions to: [email protected] Pax Christi Massachusetts 947 Park Street Attleboro, MA 02703 [email protected] www.paxchristima.org 12 Pax Christi Massachusetts