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Catholic Peacebuilding Network News Brief
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Enhancing the study and practice of Catholic peacebuilding
January 27, 2023
Apostolic Journey to DRC and South Sudan
In advance of Pope Francis' Apostolic Journey, Archbishop of Juba Stephen Ameyu Martin Mulla expressed hope that the visit might catalyze peace efforts in South Sudan: "We hope the coming of the Holy Father will make us realize the aspect of peace in this country and touch the hearts of politicians." The Holy Father's visit to South Sudan is an Ecumenical Peace Pilgrimage together with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. In the DRC, the bishops' conference issued a statement in mid-December calling the Congolese faithful to spiritual preparation for the visit, and also calling on all Congolese to "perform acts of mercy, reconciliation and the building of peace and fraternity.”
See the following CPN resources on Catholic peacebuilding in the DRC
See the following CPN resources on Catholic peacebuilding in South Sudan
Network Updates
New and Old Wars, New and Old Challenges to Peace

In-person and livestreamed (details upcoming)
Wednesday, March 3, 2023
7:00-8:15pm EST / 00:00-01:15 UTC

Ukraine and a new Cold War, a new nuclear arms race, “forever wars” in Afghanistan and Iraq, and forgotten wars in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Yemen. As foreign policies are being rethought in light of these new and old wars, the need for a moral compass is as great as ever. At the height of the Cold War, two seminal documents, Pacem in terris (1963) and The Challenge of Peace (1983), provided that moral compass. In a similar way, Pope Francis’ encyclicals and statements have ignited a new debate about the ethics of nonviolence, nuclear deterrence, and war. Are nonviolence and nuclear disarmament the new moral and policy imperatives or do today’s new and old challenges to peace reinforce the need for the just war tradition and strengthened nuclear deterrence?

Join CPN for a panel discussion on these questions with Cardinal Robert W. McElroy, Major General (ret.) Robert Latiff, Mary Ellen O'Connell, A. Rashied Omar, and Gerard F. Powers.

This event is part of the University of Notre Dame's 2022-23 Forum on War and Peace. Details about the event livestream will be available soon. A reception will follow the event for in-person attendees. 

Global Developments
PERU: Catholic leaders seek peace amid political turmoil

According to a January 20 statement: "The bishops of Peru see with great pain the harsh political and social confrontation in our homeland. We regret the violence unleashed because violence only breeds more violence. The death of more than 50 Peruvian brothers is a deep wound in the heart of our People; as well as the suffering of all the wounded, civilians and police. This requires us to decisively change course: we want peace!" The bishops went on to offer themselves as mediators in the country's ongoing social and political conflict. On January 18, Pax Christi International conducted an interview (in Spanish) with Maryknoll Sr. Patricia Ryan, who works in Peru with the group Derechos Humanos y Medio Ambiente-Puno, about human rights violations and repression occurring in the country.
COLOMBIA: Connecting local and national peacebuilding

On January 12-13, the Episcopal Conference of Colombia, through the National Secretariat for Social Pastoral-Cáritas Colombiana and the Office of Colombian Church-State Relations, with the National Conciliation Commission, held meetings at the Dioceses of Istima-Tadó and Quibdó in the Department of Chocó. The purpose of the meetings was to dialogue about the role of the local church in the construction of integral peace in Chocó and to connect those efforts to those of the church at the national level. Learn more through interviews (in Spanish) with meeting participants Manuel Rodríguez PalaciosMonsignor Mario de Jesús Álvarez Gómez, and Jorge Alberto Córdoba.
MYANMAR: Junta burns historic church and homes in Catholic village

A military raid in the village of Chan Thar in the Mandalay Archdiocese of Myanmar occurred January 13-14. Soldiers burned the 129-year-old Church of the Assumption along with dozens of homes in the village.
A joint statement from Cardinal Charles Bo of Yangon, Archbishop Marco Tin Win of Mandalay, and Archbishop Basilio Athai of Taunggyi denounced the attack and pointed to the Hague Convention in an appeal for protection of sacred buildings. The statement also noted the impact of the attack on national peace efforts: "As a nation, we need to heal. Healing comes through our deep sense of interrelatedness. Places of worship promote this interdependence, leading to peace. When they are burnt mercilessly, returning to normalcy becomes a great challenge." Pope Francis also spoke out to criticize the attack.
Resources and Announcements
2023 Catholic Social Tradition Conference: Justice Sown in Peace

The University of Notre Dame's Center for Social Concerns will be hosting its biannual Catholic Social Tradition conference from March 23-25. It will recognize the 60th anniversary of the seminal Catholic social tradition encyclical, Pacem in Terris, as well as celebrate the dual 40th anniversaries of the U.S. Bishops peace pastoral, The Challenge of Peace, and the founding of the Center for Social Concerns. This international gathering will examine justice issues by thought leaders like Prof. Dr. Michelle Becka of Julius-Maximilians-University, Wurzburg; Sr. Helen Prejean, CSJ of Dead Man Walking fame; and Marie Dennis of Pax Christi International, as well as a panel of higher education experts. The conference will focus on particular issues central to our time: migration, violence, racism, internationalization, and the role of political structures. Join us at this conference of global scholars working to expand the Catholic social tradition through intellectual, artistic, and social engagement.

The registration deadline is March 10, 2023. A registration fee of $125 is required. There is no registration fee for Notre Dame, St. Mary's, or Holy Cross College faculty, staff, and students; however, registration is still required.

 
Religious Nationalism and Pope Francis’ ‘Culture of Encounter’

Published in La Civiltà Cattolica (subscription required), this article by David Hollenbach, SJ, examines the increasing presence of religion in discussions of international politics in recent years. This is partly due to the recognition that religious communities are contributing to some of the conflicts that mar the international scene today. Religiously inspired nationalist movements are among the more dangerous ways that religion can lead to conflict today. On the other hand, religious communities can also be important agents of peace. Pope Francis has been an important religious contributor to peace, both through his actions and his teaching. Hollenbach sketches several examples of how religious nationalism threatens peace, but also notes several forms of faith-based resistance to religious nationalism. Ultimately, Hollenbach highlights how Pope Francis’ “culture of encounter” can provide a remedy for such religious nationalism and help build peace.
"Engaged Research and a Just Peace"

In a post on the Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church Forum, Janna Hunter-Bowman reflected on her research with immigrant-led social movements in the United States. Hunter-Bowman notes that many of these movements that are seeking social transformation and peace are led by Catholic women whom she identifies as "agents under duress" who are organizing and mobilizing as an act of struggle for dignity and solidarity. The forum post primarily focuses on Hunter-Bowman's engaged research methodology and how it can contribute to peacebuilding scholarship and practice.
The War in Ukraine: Catholic Theological and Ethical Reflections One Year In

Online Event
February 23, 2023
5:00-6:30pm GMT / 12:00-1:30pm EST
In this online event hosted by the Las Casas Institute for Social Justice, Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford, a panel of five Catholic theologians will reflect on the Ukraine-Russia war that began on February 24, 2022. They will share their thoughts about the war as well as on recent developments in Catholic teaching and thinking, including from Pope Francis, regarding the ethics of war and peace. Panelists include: Maria Power, Fellow, Las Casas Institute, Blackfriars Hall; Tobias Winright, Professor of Moral Theology, St Patrick’s Pontifical University, and Associate Member, Las Casas Institute, Blackfriars Hall; Laurie Johnston, Professor of Theology and Religious Studies, Emmanuel College; William T. Cavanaugh, Professor of Catholic Studies and Director of the Center for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology, DePaul University; and Fr. Petro Balog, OP, Associate Director, Verbum Serves at Thomas Aquinas Institute, Kyiv, Ukraine.
New Peace Accords Matrix report on victims' rights in the Colombian peace process
The Peace Accords Matrix at the University of Notre Dame's Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies recently released the special report, “Victims at the Center: Status of Implementation of the Final Accord with a Victims’ Perspective.” It examines the period from December 2016 through September 2022 and provides a quantitative and qualitative overview of the Colombian Final Accord’s stipulations focused on victims’ rights. The report incorporates five key areas of analysis including the right to truth, the right to justice, the right to reparation, guarantees of non-recurrence, and victims’ participation.
The New Humanitarian points to church-led Wunlit Conference as a model for peacebuilding in South Sudan

Writing for The New Humanitarian, Philip Kleinfeld and Okech Francis outlined major factors that need to be considered to fix the problems that have been encountered in the peace process in South Sudan. They focus on the need for community-level initiatives that are sustained for the long-term, involve significant political leaders, and meaningfully address economic concerns. They point to the church-led Wunlit Conference of 1999 as a model of effective community-level peacebuilding.
Catholic Nonviolence Initiative Curriculum

Pax Christi International's Catholic Nonviolence Initiative, with the Casa Esther Catholic Worker Community of Omro, Wisconsin, organized a five-lecture series on nonviolence. Recordings of all lectures are now available, along with study guides, reflection questions, and other curricular resources. 
Book Launch: Violence and Peace in Sacred Texts
Online Event
February 7, 2023
1:00-2:00pm EST / 6:00-7:00pm GMT


Religiously inspired violence remains a tragic feature of today’s world. On February 7, the Milstein Center for Interreligious Dialogue at Jewish Theological Seminary will host a discussion of the forthcoming book, Violence and Peace in Sacred Texts: Interreligious Perspectives, a collection featuring essays by 11 experts from a range of religious backgrounds. The discussion will include the book’s editors, Helen Paynter and Maria Power, in conversation with Rabbi Deborah Kahn-Harris and Alan Mittleman, who contributed essays to the collection. They will talk about the interpretation of violence in their sacred texts and the role that world religions have played both in war and conflict and in the creation of peaceful settlements.
Please send information on Catholic peacebuilding to cpn@nd.edu.  
 
The Catholic Peacebuilding Network (CPN) is a voluntary network of practitioners, academics, clergy and laity from around the world which seeks to enhance the study and practice of Catholic peacebuilding, especially at the local level.  CPN aims to deepen bonds of solidarity among Catholic peacebuilders, share and analyze “best practices,” expand the peacebuilding capacity of the Church in areas of conflict, and encourage the further development of a theology of a just peace.  While it is a Catholic network, CPN believes that authentic and effective Catholic peacebuilding involves dialogue and collaboration with those of other religious traditions and all those committed to building a more just and peaceful world.
Secretariat Staff:
Gerard Powers, Coordinator
Caesar Montevecchio, Assistant Director
Rev. William Headley, CSSp, Adjunct Faculty

 
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