Season of Creation 2023

The Season of Creation is the annual Christian celebration that begins September 1, the Day of Prayer for Creation, and ends October 4, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology beloved by many Christian denominations.

This year, the Catholic Climate Covenant, Laudato Si' Movement, Pax Christi USA, and the Ignatian Solidarity Network are using the time to explore the theme “Let justice and peace flow” and how the call to creation care and integral ecology is also a call to nonviolence. 
 
Participants can participate by receiving a piece of the Vow of Nonviolence each week, and join a live Zoom session where they can make the vow in community on Oct. 2, 2023 – Gandhi’s birthday.  
 
Each week during the Season of Creation you will receive an email with a:
 - short video exploring the weekly theme;
 - scripture quote;
 - practical invitation to practice nonviolence in your daily life;
 - set of reflection questions.
 
To sign up for the weekly emails, or participate via the website click here.  #SeasonOfCreation2023 

January 6 Interfaith Vigil

On January 5, Bishop John Stowe of Kentucky, President of Pax Christi USA and Sr. Carol Zinn, SSJ, Executive Director of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, are joining the Franciscan Action Network and others for an on-line interfaith vigil to commemorate the attack on the nation's Capitol on January 6, 2021. 

According to the organizers, "The aim is to reclaim January 6 and make it a  day of unity, tolerance and respect.  No partisan speeches or politicians, just people sharing their faith in song and prayer. It all starts with our interfaith candlelight prayer vigil on Capitol Hill!"

They will be joined by Rabbi Stephanie Crawley, Associate Rabbi at Temple Micah, Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, President & CEO Interfaith Alliance, Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, Director of the Kairos Center for Religion, Rights, and Social Justice and Imam Dr. Talib M. Shareef, President, Masjid Muhammad, The Nation’s Mosque.

The on-line event will be from 6-7 p.m. For more information or to register, click here.

Catholics and the Poor People’s Campaign

On Thursday, May 5, at 7 p.m., there is a webinar to educate Catholics about the upcoming Poor People’s and Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly and Moral March on Washington and to the Polls on June 18. This assembly is the culmination of a year-long campaign that is seeking legislation to improve the condition of poor people in America. Proposals include expanding voting rights and the Voting Rights Act; a living wage; the right of workers to form and join unions; and high-quality pre-K-12 education for all. 

This webinar is especially for Catholic groups. Among the sponsors are the Franciscan Action Network, Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, Pax Christi USA, Leadership Conference of Women Religious, and NETWORK. Speakers include the National Co-Chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, the Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis; Bishop John Stowe, Bishop President of Pax Christi USA; and Sister Patricia McDermott, President of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas. Locally, the activities of the Poor People’s Campaign have been organized by the New York State Labor-Religion Coalition. I am on their Board of Directors.
 
Click here to register. More information about the Poor People’s Campaign is here.

Kateri Tekakwitha Peace Conference

Bishop Thomas Gumbleton will be coming to the Albany diocese next month to kick off the 16^th Annual Kateri Tekakwitha Peace Conference at the National Kateri Tekakwitha Shrine in Fonda.

Bishop Gumbleton is a retired auxiliary bishop of the Detroit archdiocese and a leading voice for peace, justice, and civil rights in the United States. He will be leading a retreat on Friday, August 15, starting at 10 a.m. His topic is Active Love and Nonviolence: The Only Moral Response To War.

Here is some of his biography from http://www.bishopgumbleton.com/

One of the first bishops to speak out against the Vietnam War, he is a founding member and past president of Pax Christi USA, the American Catholic peace movement. He is also a founder and former president of Bread for the World.

Since becoming a bishop in 1968, he has traveled throughout the world calling for an end to war and the abolition of nuclear weapons. He has spoken out courageously on behalf of the victims of sexual abuse within the Catholic church, and he has advocated for the full participation and the rights of women and homosexuals in the Catholic Church. He has met with victims of war in Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Israel, Palestine, Colombia, Haiti, and Peru. He led a delegation to visit the American hostages in Iran in 1979. Among his many awards and honorary degrees are the 2007 Detroit Spirit of MLK Award and numerous lifetime achievement awards for peacemaking. His homilies are read by thousands each week in the National Catholic Reporter. 

Friday’s retreat will be followed by an evening cruise on the Mohawk River. On Saturday, there will be several workshops:

Panel 1  - “Priorities, Engagements and Commitments" - In the light of the evolving  and Intensifying  crises which confront us, what new models are you imagining,  working on or see developing which offer the possibility for a sustainable life affirming future.
    

Panel 2 - "Daring To Think - To Be Truthful - To Love" - What are the major obstacles that stand in the way of building a peaceful, sustainable, life affirming society? What stands in the way of your own work psychologically/societally? How are you personally confronting these obstacles? What models of resistance seem effective to you? 

Panel 3 - " Sustainable Transformation" - What are the strategies and actions needed to move us forward toward what Fuller thought of as "beautiful solutions". What actions, commitments, work in our personal lives, our local communities, nationally , globally  should take priority in order to successfully  move people to rise up, revolutionize and create the new models which will ensure that we will be "the architects of the future rather than its victims".

For more information about the conference, or to register, go here.

Resources for peace in Gaza

Earlier this week, I wrote in my blog about how the American bishops have called for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. Today, by way of Pax Christi USA, I offer the following resources for prayer, study and action to stop the violence in Gaza. They include:

    - Pax Christi USA official statement on the violence in the Middle East;
    - A catalog of resources from across the Pax Christi International network;
    - Middle East Notes on Israel-Palestine from the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns;
    - Third Thursday for Israel-Palestine actions from the Faith Forum on Middle East Policy;
    - A Prayer for Peace and an End to Violence, by Jim Hug, S.J;.
    - A Muslim-Jewish-Christian Prayer for Peace Prayer Card;
    - The Holy Land Principles – A powerful tool for justice and peace, by Tony Magliano;
    - Other articles, resources on Israel-Palestine.