Florence: Pax Christi 80th International Conference - first full day

Image: Ann Farr

Building Bridges for Tomorrow:

Our first full day (Thursday 6th November " began with the Spirituality moment led by the African delegates. The group let us in a dance a song, a poem and a prayer, thanking God for his goodness to us all.

SESSION 1: CONNECTING THE THREADS - Nonviolent Lives, Nonviolent Church, Nonviolent World.
Our Speakers were: Marie Dennis, Catholic Institute for Nonviolence Director; Kanini Kimau, Reconcile Peaced Institute; Dan Moriarty, Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns; Faud Giacaman, Arab Education Institute Palestine; and Nicolas Paz, Catholic Nonviolence Director - Facilitator.

Kanini spoke of her work in Kenya trying to reconcile factions among communities. Many people only knew violence all their lives. Once when she spoke of peace - the meeting ended when that word, Peace, was mentioned. So much so, that even the young people said: "if you bring young people from this other group, we will kill them!" She related how a young person shot a doctor driving to work, saying,"I wanted to test my gun to see if I could kill someone in a car". She just continued to bring children together to play together and so with perseverance broke down barriers of hate. The two communities began digging well to supply water for all. Patience is a virtue!

Dan from the USA, reminded us of his time in Bolivia working with the Maryknoll Institute. He outlined the plan of action in trying to deal with structural violence... listening to local people; reflecting and questioning; working out priorities and then leading to individual and regional action plans.

Session 2: DEMOCRACY AND JUST PEACE:
The speakers were: Christina Matiello, CIPAX Centro Interconfessionale per la pace, Italy; Anselmo Lee, Pax Christi, South Korea; Ghislain le Ray and Farah Sakr, New Foundation Project: Scott Wright, Ambassador of peace Pax Christi USA; Franco Dinelly, Pax Christi Italy - Facilitator.

Christina,spoke of her work on peace and reconciliation in the Israeli/ Palestinian conflict.

Scott told us of his work with migrants on the Mexican/US Borders and the fact that no migrants are getting through at present. He said we have a crisis in democracy. The USA has lost much of its credibility in the world. He spoke of migrants being targeted and so afraid to leave their shelters. Yet in spite of difficulties are still full of hope.
Anselmo spoke of his work promoting 'Laudato Si' in South Korea. He spoke of "youth uprising' and great hopes for the future.

Session 3: ECOLOGICAL JUSTICE:
The speakers were: Sr Maamalifar Poreku, JPIC Union Superiors General USG and UISG. Jose Bacardi Chata, DHUMA, Pax Christi Peru; Guilherme Cavalli, Missionary Indigenous Council - CIMI, CNBB Brazil; Martha Ines Romero, PCI Secretary General -Facilitator.
The speakers sought to break new ground in the Church's Social Justice Teaching, Laudato Si, by situating "integral ecology" at the heart of creating a just and sustainable world to enable the flowering and restitution of God's creation.

Group discussions followed; We spent a good part of the afternoon in group discussions. I was in a small group - two Philippians, a Korean. One New Zealander,and one USA delegate. What a world-wide group. We discussed a call to action by Pax Christi members and proposals for the future.

What a day we had!