Pax Christi Minnesota

Sr Patricia Cappell is the new Pax Christi USA leader who is taking a leadership role in social issues.    October 25, 2011

http://ncronline.org/news/peace/new-pax-christi-leader-hopes-integrate-racism-social-teaching

Keynote speech by Coleen Rowley
What:“Ethics and Social Psychology Responsible for Good People Doing Wrong”
Where: Pax Christi Church in Rochester, MN
When: Sept 16, 2011 @ 7 PM – 9 PM!

Workshops at at the Annual Pax Christi Minnesota State Assembly
What: “Breaking the Culture of Silence and choosing a Nonviolent Path”
Where: Pax Christi Church in Rochester, MN
When: Sept 17, 2011 @ 8:15 AM – 3:30 PM!

 

Links to the Registration form, Speaker Bios and Brochure

Registration Form for the event at Pax Christi Church in Rochester

Pax Christi Brochure – Sept 16-17, 2011 (Size 14 by 8.5)

Pax Christi Brochure – Sept 16-17, 2011 (Size 11 by 8.5)

Pax Christi MN Bios

Ethics and Social Psychology of Good People doing Wrong

Keynote Speaker

Coleen Rowley grew up in a small town in northeast Iowa . She obtained a B.A. degree in French from Wartburg College, Waverly, Iowa and then attended the College of Law at the University of Iowa and graduated with honors in 1980 also passing the Iowa Bar Exam that summer.

In May of 2002 Rowley brought some of the pre 9-11 lapses to light and testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee about some of the endemic problems facing the FBI and the intelligence community. Rowley’s memo to FBI Director Robert Mueller in connection with the Joint Intelligence Committee’s Inquiry led to a two year long Department of Justice Inspector General investigation. She was one of three whistleblowers chosen as persons of the year by TIME magazine.

In April 2003, following an unsuccessful and highly criticized attempt to warn the Director and other administration officials about the dangers of launching the invasion of Iraq, Rowley stepped down from her (GS-14) legal position to go back to being a (GS-13) FBI Special Agent. She retired from the FBI at the end of 2004 and now speaks publicly to various groups, ranging from school children to business/professional/civic groups, on two different topics: ethical decision-making and “balancing civil liberties with the need for effective investigation.”

In February 2005 and again in 2007, a majority of Minnesota congresspersons and senators nominated Rowley to serve on the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board but she was not selected by the Bush Administration. This Board was mandated by 2004 federal intelligence reform legislation implementing the recommendations of the 9-11 Commission (but it came to be undercut and then deliberately left vacant by both the Bush and Obama Administrations).

Rowley has authored a chapter on civil liberties in a book published by the Milton Eisenhower Foundation entitled, Patriotism, Democracy and Common Sense: Restoring America’s Promise at Home and Abroad. She also ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Congress in Minnesota’s Second Congressional District in 2006.  Coleen has been married to Ross Rowley for 31 years and they have three daughters, one son and two grandchildren

In addition to giving the keynotes on Saturday, Coleen will be giving a public talk on Friday night

 

Schedule of Events

8:15 …………….. Registration

9:00 …………….. Opening prayer and Welcome

9:30-10:45 ……. Morning Keynote

11:00-11:45 …… Morning Workshops

12:00-12:45 …… Lunch

1:00-1:45 ………. Workshops

2:00-2:45 ………. Speakers Panel

3:00 ………………. Announcements

3:15 ……………….. Closing prayer

Workshop Presenters

Kay Anderson – Sharing Secrets of Faith and Hope in Haiti.  Kay will also facilitate the speakers panel.

Chante Wolf – Member of Vets for Peace speaking on sexual violence in the military (panelist)

Steve Clemens – Voices for Creative Nonviolence; on Afghanistan trip 3/2011

Ben Kohler – Center for Victims of Torture (panelist)

Jim Hubley – 50^th Anniversary of Freedom Riders

Eve and Adam Judy – Mission 21: A Minnesota perspective of ?Human Trafficking (panelists)

 

How to find Pax Christi

Address:  4135 18^th Avenue NW; Rochester 55901

FROM 52 NORTHBOUND: Exit right on 55th St. NW. Turn left to cross overpass Hwy 52. Take 55TH St. to 18th Ave. and turn right, follow 18th to 41st St. Pax Christi Church is on the right corner, parking is down behind church.

FROM 52 SOUTHBOUND: Exit right on 37th St. Go to 41st St. and turn right, go to 18th Ave. and church is on northwest corner.

FROM 63 NORTHBOUND: Exit right on 37th St. Go to 18th Ave. and take a right, go to 41st St. and church is on the NW corner.

FROM 63 SOUTHBOUND: Exit left on 37th St. Take a left, go to 18th Ave. take a right, go to 41st St. and church is on NW corner.

What is Pax Christi?

Pax Christi is the Catholic Peace and Justice Movement.  Pax Christi Minnesota is one region of Pax Christi USA.

We believe in:

• Nonviolence and Peacemaking
• Disarmament, Demilitarization, and Reconciliation with Justice
• Economic and Interracial Justice in the U.S.
• Human Rights and Global Restoration

Statement of Purpose:

Pax Christi USA strives to create a world that reflects the Peace of Christ by exploring, articulating, and witnessing to the call of Christian nonviolence. This work begins in personal life and extends to communities of reflection and action to transform structures of society. Pax Christi USA rejects war, preparations for war, and every form of violence and domination. It advocates primacy of conscience, economic and social justice, and respect for creation.

Pax Christi USA commits itself to peace education and, with the help of its bishop members, promotes the gospel imperative of peacemaking as a priority in the Catholic Church in the United States. Through the efforts of all its members and in cooperation with other groups, Pax Christi USA works toward a more peaceful, just, and sustainable world.

Pax Christi USA is a section of Pax Christi International, the Catholic peace movement.

 

Minnesota Regional Coordinator and Regional Rep for New Ulm

Jim Hubley
901 Woodfern Drive
Marshall, MNÂ 56258
(507) 532-6846
jhubley@chartermi.net

Regional Rep. for Archdiocese of Mpls/St. Paul

Chris Namaste Curran
9318 Columbus Avenue South
Bloomington, MN 55420
(507) 206-1347
Collage94601@yahoo.com

Regional Rep. for Crookston Diocese

Anne DeMers, OSB
620 Summit Avenue
Crookston, MN 56716
218-281-3441
ademers@msb.net

Regional Rep. for Duluth Diocese
Maria Volk, OSB
1028 East 8th Street
Duluth, MN 55805
(218) 723-6095
mariavolksister@gmail.com

Regional Rep. for St. Cloud Diocese

Merle Nolde, OSB
1845 20th Avenue SE
St. Cloud, MN 56304
320-251-2225
mnolde@csbsju.edu

Regional Rep. for Winona Diocese

Helen Schroeder
1502 9th Avenue NE
Rochester, MN 55906
(507) 285-1662
Hero89@charter.net

Friends,
After taking the month of June off, we will once again gather on the fourth Saturday of the month for prayer/meditation and reflection. Barbara Kopp will facilitate.
We meet July 23 from 9-10:30 AM at St. Joan of Arc parish center.

The reading selection is attached here and also printed below. 

THE INVITATION By Oriah Mountain Dreamer

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain!

I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it, or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul; if you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see beauty even when it’s not pretty, every day,and if you can source your own life from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, “Yes!”

It doesn’t interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up, after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

[From Barbara Kopp:] How does poetry or prose work in your spiritual life?

Maybe you have a writing of your own you would like to bring and share.

39. You Are My Attentive One by Rose Tillemans, CSJ from I’m Still Dancing (pg 64)

I ask you, Attentive One.

to give me a sense of your presence during my day.

Help me to absorb reverently

the moments you give me

and find in them a wealth of meaning.

Keep me from moving too fast.

Hold me gently in the NOW

that I might not miss its gifts and graces.

If any moments of my day seem tedious,

enliven my heart to see their richness as well.

Unfold for me the significance

of a routine task as being an opportunity

to know you and your gracious creation more fully.

I realize that if I try to see, hear, and touch attentively,

I will live more fully.

I want to become alive to the time

you give me because it is so sacred.

May I be attentive to you, Holy Attentive One,

in every moment of this day.

40. Still God of the Dance by Rose Tillemans, CSJ from I’m Still Dancing (pg 65)

Dance, dance,

wherever you may be;

The God of the Dance

will set your soul free.

And if by chance

your body is too lame,

dance in your heart

brightened by the flame

of God’s energizing love

freely bestowed with unheard of

grace and goodness and ease.

Come dance, come dance, please.

The God of the Dance will

take away your every fear

and lead you from darkness

into a light that is ever near.

Dance, dance,

Wherever you may be;

The God of the Dance

will set your soul free.

Interfaith Peace Training Retreat – July 29-31, Circle Pines, MN

* exercises * meditation * small groups * skills practice * storytelling * analysis * project planning *

 

This training in the spirituality and practice of active nonviolence can liberate your gifts, wisdom and inner strength and build group solidarity.  It is a journey through experiences of violence, a practicum on creative nonviolence, a study of how social change happens, and an exercise to build a community group to work together.  You will learn skills for daily life — in families and workplaces, schools, congregations and organizations.  Certificates.  $200 full cost; some scholarships.  Ages 18 years & up. Seeking diversity of religious traditions, age, class, race, and political perspectives.

 

Sign Up!  The Rev. Don Christensen, rachelanddon@msn.com, (651) 690-2609  

Joan Haan, joan@pleromacoaching.com (651) 641-0946

 Registration Deadline: July 15

national program website: www.creatingacultureofpeace.org

Breaking the Culture of Silence: Choosing a Nonviolent Pathway

Our annual state Pax Christi assembly will take place in Rochester at the Pax Christi Catholic Church on Saturday, September 17th from 9-4.  Our keynote speaker this year is Colleen Rowley, an FBI whistleblower.  Please check the website again in a couple of months for more detailed information and for the registration form.