Programs

EDUCATION

JUST WAR/JUST PEACE

Just War or Just Peace?  No matter how you read it, we live in a world that is torn between the two.  We all say we want peace, but we can’t seem to agree on how to achieve it.  We’ve heard that “war is hell,” but we keep waging it.  Religious faiths add another dimension to the dilemma.  They preach peace, but often condone violence, even going so far as to provide a “Just War Theory.”  How are young people to make any sense of the contradictions?

Just War/Just Peace is an eight-lesson program for high school students that provides numerous opportunities for young people to explore relevant issues and critically analyze them.  It is rooted in the teachings on peace and war found in many religious faiths.  It uses diverse instructional strategies, including internet research, reading, discussion, moral dilemmas, simulations, and creative expression.  It does not take a stand, but encourages students to come to their own informed positions on such topics as patriotism and responsible citizenship, faith and service.  Its most basic and important goals are the cultivation of critical thinking and the deepening of faith to guide decision making and moral development in a world of difficult choices and endless contradictions.

The Just War/Just Peace manual is available for $20 plus $3 shipping and handling.  If you would like a copy, please contact the PCMNY office.

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FIRST STEPS: A CHRISTIAN CONFLICT RESOLUTION PROGRAM

Rooted in Scripture and designed primarily to help participants develop skills to resolve peacefully conflicts at home, with friends, at work, and in the larger community, First Steps participants are invited to view conflict and an opportunity for growth.

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FROM CONFLICT TO COMMON GROUND: A CHRISTIAN CONFLICT RESOLUTION PROCESS FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

Pax Christi Metro New York has developed From Conflict to Common Ground, a fifteen-session program designed to teach young people positive, creative approaches to the conflicts they face daily. The program is unique because it instructs students in the methodology of peacemaking and places conflict resolution in a Christian context.

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SEVENTY TIMES SEVEN

Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.”    Matthew 18:21

Seventy Times Seven is a workshop based on the book, Seventy Times Seven: Forgiveness and Peacemaking by Doris Donnelly.  It incorporates prayer and various exercises to help participants develop understanding and skill.  Topics include Defining Forgiveness, Misconceptions, Personal Experiences, Steps to Forgiveness, Obstacles and Ways to Overcome Them.
Workshops average two hours. The suggested donation is $150 for a group or $15 per person.  They can be arranged by contacting Pax Christi Metro New York at 212-420-0250 or info@nypaxchristi.org

SPECIAL PROGRAMS

PCMNY YOUNG PEACEBUILDER AWARD

In the Spring of 2013, Pax Christi Metro New York (PCMNY) was the recipient of a donation specifically designed to enable us to recognize the peacebuilding efforts of students of high school age. The award is inspired by the peacebuilding work of the Maloof family, whose story you can read as told by the son, David, at http://bustedhalo.com/features/finding-god-in-a-palestinian-refugee-camp. 

While David’s experience was international, the Young Peacebuilder Award is open to a wide range of peacebuilding activities at home or abroad. We believe that there are many young people who are engaged in excellent work to promote peace and who do so, at least in part, because of their faith. We also believe that their good work often goes unrecognized. We want to take this opportunity to correct that oversight and to encourage even more peacebuilding efforts.

The PCMNY Young Peacebuilder receives a $500 prize, along with a Certificate. Nominations are accepted on behalf of High School Juniors. The Award is presented at a festive Peacemaker Reception in the Spring.

We hope you agree that this is a great way to affirm deserving students for their important work for peace and an excellent way to foster more faith-filled endeavors to counter our violence-plagued culture with the youthful energy and creativity that nurture peace.

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RELIGIOUS ORDERS FOR PEACE

Franciscan Friars-Holy Name Province
Franciscan Sisters of the
Franciscan Sisters of the Poor
Franciscan Sisters of Peace
Maryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic
The Redemptorists
Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary
Sisters of St. Dominic, Amityville
Sisters of Good Shepherd
Sisters of St. Joseph

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PARISHES FOR PEACE

Blessed Sacrament, Staten Island
St. Andrew the Apostle, Brooklyn
Our Savior, Bronx
St. Francis De Sales, Manhattan
St. Francis Xavier, Manhattan

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USEFUL EXTERNAL LINKS

• Fellowship of Reconciliation:  An interfaith organization devoted to transforming all forms of social, environmental, and economic injustice through active and radical nonviolence. 
• Abolition 2000:  A coalition of over 150 disarmament and peace groups including NGO’s worldwide working for the abolition of nuclear weapons.
• The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom:  Founded in 1915 during World War I, with Jane Addams as its first president, WILPF works to achieve through peaceful means world disarmament, full rights for women, racial and economic justice, an end to all forms of violence.
• The Nonviolence Web:  A nonviolence mega-site that hosts a number of peace groups’ web pages, including those of Pax Christi USA.
• NETWORK: A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, educates, lobbies and organizes to influence the formation of federal legislation to promote economic and social justice.
• World Wide Bells for Peace Foundation: Helping to make the Hudson River Valley the world’s first “Peace Valley” by 2020.
• Catholic Charities:  The social service arm of the Catholic Church that protects and nurtures children, feeds the hungry,shelters the homeless, strengthens families in crisis, supports the physically and emotionally challenged, and welcomes and integrates immigrants and refugees.
• World Beyond War: a global nonviolent movement to end war and establish a just and sustainable peace.