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