CATHOLIC PEACE MOVEMENT

paxchristiflorida — Sat, 28 May 2011 15:00:42 +0000

Pax Christi Florida, founded in 1982, is a regional section of Pax Christi USA and Pax Christi International.

Gov. Scott signs another death warrant

Execution scheduled for Feb. 15 at 6:00 pm

“The dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil. Modern society has the means of protecting itself, without definitively denying criminals the chance to reform.” -Pope John Paul II (Gospel of Life, 27)

For action suggestions and prayer-study-action resources, click here.

Realizing how important this election is, NETWORK – the Catholic Social Justice Lobby in Washington, DC, organized a coalition of national Catholic organizations working to build on the momentum they helped create during the 2008 election.

The coalition, called Election 2012: Catholics Vote for the Common Good, is working to mobilize Catholics across the U.S. in order to challenge candidates to commit to working for the good of all. In 2012, the goal is to create common-good* platforms for each state and the District of Columbia, which will be signed and delivered to candidates and public officials. Each of these 51 individual platforms will be written with the input of people in that state or the District of Columbia, and they will include a national preamble designed to outline a common-good perspective.

Pax Christi Florida was blessed to have Jean Sammon of NETWORK as our assembly leader last October during which time Pax Christi Florida was provided the opportunity to be one of the first in Florida to provide input into the Platform for the Common Good from our state. To learn more about this project, click here.

Thanks to PCF Council Member, Jim Rucquoi, video samplings from PCF’s assembly are available via YouTube…see below. Photographs of PCF’s assembly were provided by Maureen O’Connell and Nancy O’Byrne and are found in the right-hand column.

PCF’s 2011 Fall Assembly on YouTube

God, Country, and the Common Good

Part 1 – What’s wrong with the government?

Part 2 - So what’s right with the government?

Part 3 – A Living Liturgy

Part 4 - Mind the Gap

Part 5 – Where do we go from here?

At the Pre-Assembly event, participants were informed and inspired by reports from the PCF Council Members who attended the American Catholic Council gathering held in Detroit in June, 2011. Below is a reflection written by Adele Azar-Rucquoi related to that event.

At the gathering of the American Catholic Council in Detroit held in June, 2011, 2000 Catholics were brought back to the reality of an early church which all the people of God helped to govern, as well as always welcoming its married priests.

Two clear points of emphasis emerged over our weekend: the role of experience against top down dogma in our church that through the ages has always influenced and informed Catholic teaching. And secondly, the right and responsibility of every Catholic to develop and act on his/her own conscience.

Swiss theologian Hans Kuhn, American theologian Anthony Padovano, author James Carroll, long time Dominican and activist, mystic Matthew Fox, and Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister, all fired our spirits as they brought us back to our authentic Catholic roots and updated us on numerous issues plaguing today’s church, including an inexcusable bias against both women’s ordination and full membership of our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters.

How glorious to hear again voices we can believe in, this Voice of Catholic Inclusion – an expression of glaring redundancy if ever there was! The gathering was only a beginning.

As Detroit’s own late Cardinal Deardon once remarked, “We are trying to begin a new way of doing the work of the Church in America. We may fail, but let us try and let the people say, ‘They cared enough to try!’

For more information about the American Catholic Council, click here.

Where the Relief Money Did and Did Not Go

Haiti After the Quake

by Bill Quigley and Amber Ramanauskas

Haiti, a close neighbor of the US with over nine million people, was devastated by earthquake on January 12, 2010. Hundreds of thousands were killed and many more wounded.

The UN estimated international donors gave Haiti over $1.6 billion in relief aid since the earthquake (about $155 per Haitian) and over $2 billion in recovery aid (about $173 per Haitian) over the last two years.

Yet Haiti looks like the earthquake happened two months ago, not two years. To read more, click here.

Next Year’s Wars – 10 Conflicts to Watch in 2012

by

Louise Arbour, Foreign Policy

To read, click here.

Latest Pax Christi Newsletters

NOTE: Due to the size of some of the e-newsletter, they may take a few minutes to download.

Pax Christi Florida’s January 2012 e-newsletter

Pax Christi USA’s Dec 2011/Jan 2012 e-newsletter

Pax Christi International’s January 2012 e-newsletter

For additional Pax Christi and related news items, click here.

she moves me

blogging for mother earth

by

PCF Council Member, Jim Rucquoi

i want to sit on this rock with you awhile, friend, think out loud a bit. first up, these new readings i’ve bumped into that continue to shake me awake. ever since starting out on my bike three years ago for mother earth, mother’s been whispering in my ear something fierce. after climate ride california last year i can think of little else. scattered news of old that held me in its addictive clutches fails to move me anymore. you move me, mother, front & center at last.

Please click here to enter.

Photos from Pax Christi Events

In right column, you will find photos of Pax Christi Florida’s 2011 Assembly, God, Country, and the Common Good led by Jean Sammon of NETWORK – Catholic Social Justice Lobby in Washington, DC. This event was held October 15 and 16 at the Life Enrichment Center in Fruitland Park, Florida. For additional Pax Christi Florida event photos, click here.