Conversation on Peace

A Conversation
on
PEACE IV

Our 4th Conversation Fleshes Out Plan
Monday, October 29th, 2001

The fourth “Conversation on Peace” took place on Monday Oct. 29. About 25 people participated in the conversation. The group broke into three small groups according to interest. The three areas of interest were: Political Influence, Education, and Networking. All three areas created specific actions for non-violent peacemaking. They are as follows:

Political Influence: There will be a meeting at St. Joan of Arc on Monday Nov. 12, 7:00 PM in Hospitality Hall. Senators Dayton and Wellstone, and Representatives Sabo and McCollum have been invited. We are anticipating that staff members from the various offices will accept the invitation, not the Senators or Representatives themselves.

St. Joan of Arc will present these elected officials a signed statement about our position on non-violent resistance. This statement was based on the homilies given recently by George Wertin. We are asking St. Joan of Arc parishioners to sign this statement if they agree with it.

There will be four SJA parishioners that will give a brief presentation on the evening of Nov. 12. They are:

Margaret Lulic on how our dependence on oil has contributed to the present situation
Steven Walsh on understanding why others around the world hate the U.S.
Julie Madden on the importance of having an Israeli-Palestinian agreement.
Ray Tanis on the economic logic for non-violent action.

After these presentations our guests will have an opportunity to respond. There will then be time for comments and questions from the audience.

Education: The education group wants to begin their educating here at St. Joan’s. Some of their action ideas are:

Create a Conscientious Objectors group among our teens and young adults.
Have a large education program to educate the parish on what non-violence is and how it works.
Education on the Middle East and the Islamic religion.
Use the bulletin and the web site to post resources for non-violent alternatives.
Conduct a survey on what parishioners want to know about non-violence and the present situation.

Networking: The networking group is the group creating the statement that will be used in the Nov. 12 event. Other ideas they had:

Use the statement to invite other churches and groups into what we are doing here at St. Joan’s.
Create an on-going dialogue with the Islamic Center.
Publish the statement in the newspaper.
Create an SJA Peace Banner

Non-Violent Alternatives to War

Monday, Nov. l2, 7:00 PM in Hospitality Hall at St. Joan of Arc.

Please come to this important meeting and invite all interested people.

We have invited Senators Wellstone and Dayton, and Representatives Sabo and McCollum to St. Joan of Arc. (We are anticipating that they will send a staff person in their absence.) They will be presented with a statement on non-violence signed by many St. Joan of Arcers. (Here is the statement to be signed.) Please read and sign this statement after the masses on Sunday Nov. 4 and Sunday Nov. 11. This statement is now ready for viewing. Agenda for the evening is in the process of being established and will be posted here when it is ready.

This is an opportunity for a large number of people to voice their concern over the war in Afghanistan. There are non-violent alternatives that could be much more effective against terrorism than the present military action. We hope to have our voice heard by our elected officials.

Peter Eichten is SJA's Parish Administrator and an organizer of the Conversations on Peace.

Our 1st Conversation on Peace
Our 2nd Conversation on Peace
Our 3rd Conversation on Peace
Our 5th Conversation on Peace
Our 7th Conversation on Peace
Our 8th Conversation on Peace
SJA Reacts to Terrorism

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