People’s Peace Initiative

A Catholic collaboration to articulate the challenges of peace in the 21st century

Dec 08, 2009 - The Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns was one of the initial collaborators with Pax Christi USA, the Catholic peace movement, on the People’s Peace Initiative, which began in 2003. The final document has just been published in English and Spanish; all information is available at Pax Christi USA’s website.

The risen Jesus gave peace as his first gift to his followers. As disciples of Christ, we seek to make the peace which Jesus gives us visible in our lives and in our world. In doing so, we become peacemakers and may deserve to be called "children of God." - Bishop Wilton T. Gregory

The People’s Peace Initiative is a collaborative effort of national Catholic organizations to articulate the challenges for Catholic peacemaking in the 21st century. Begun in 2003 as we celebrated the 20th anniversary of the U.S. bishops’ peace pastoral, Pax Christi USA issued an invitation to national Catholic organizations and ministries to join in developing a grassroots process of reflection that would lead to the writing of a “people’s peace letter.” Central to the vision are Jesus’ Gospel values and the experiences and insights of marginalized people—especially communities of color, women and the impoverished in the U.S. and around the world. (For a complete list of participating organizations, please click here).

The two components of this initiative included:

• The writing and publication of a document, based on input from small group reflection processes in parishes, dioceses, organizations, small faith communities, universities and more.
  
• An invigoration of the “vocation of peace-making” and strengthening of relationships among Catholic organizations at the local level to further the work of building a more just and peace-filled world.