Following the Vatican Conference on Nonviolence and Just Peace

JPIC Committee, Passionists of North America just signed our support of The Nonviolence and Just Peace Conference statement: An Appeal to the Catholic Church to re-commit to the centrality of Gospel nonviolence. To reflect on the statement and consider signing for your community, as well as learning about the Conference future plans, go to their website here. 

In a directly related initiative, JPIC Committee, Passionists of North America is also signing on as a supporter of A Global Day of Action and Prayer for Syria: A Shift to a JustPeace Approach.  It is a powerful statement which keeps nonviolent solutions and prayer central.  This initiative coincides with the World Day of Peace on September 21.

• More on the Global Day of Action and Prayer for Syria

Eli S. McCarthy, Director of Justice and Peace with the Conference of Major Superiors of Men, offers this powerful reflection. "...the Catholic Church should embody Gospel nonviolence by articulating an explicit Just Peace approach with specific criteria, virtues, and practices to be more faithful to Jesus, better build just peace, better prevent violence, defuse ongoing violence, heal well after violence, draw society away from war sooner, and make a clearer commitment to Catholic social teaching’s explicit call to outlaw war."  Read his whole article here.

Finally, Alex Steinmiller, CP in his "The Word of Life" reflection from August 12th, 2016, says that "nonviolence is a methodology for positive social change that works, whether in our personal lives, in communities and within nations; and that the time has come for the church to apply non-violence at every level." Read Fr. Alex's full reflection here.

Continue reading for more on the Vatican Conference on Gospel Nonviolence
Vatican conference rejects just war theory, asks for encyclical on nonviolence 

Pax Christi Follow Bishop Paride Taban, Cardinal Peter Turkson

More on the Vatican Conference on Gospel Nonviolence
Vatican conference rejects just war theory, asks for encyclical on nonviolence
There were over 80 participants at the three-day April Vatican conference included Bishops, lay people and others focused on Gospel Nonviolence and Just Peace. There were many first person stories from participants coming from conflict zones around the world

• Overview of the conference with preparation, principles and session videos
• Final statement from the conference   

The participants of the conference soundly rejected the Catholic church's long-held teachings on just war theory, saying they have too often been used to justify violent conflicts and the global church must reconsider Jesus' teachings on nonviolence.
Members of a three-day April event co-hosted by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and the international Catholic peace organization Pax Christi have also strongly called on Pope Francis to consider writing an encyclical letter, or some other "major teaching document," reorienting the church's teachings on violence.

• Article from Eli McCarthy from Catholic Moral Theology 
• Parish Action Guide

​​All Photos this post from Pax Christi International

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