Pax Christi: Embracing the Future with Confidence and Hope

The Catholic peace organization Pax Christi  just wrapped up its fortieth national conference in Atlanta, Georgia. I did not attend, but received updates, audio files, and photos from each day of the event. I was glad to see that Bryan Massingale was one of the keynote speakers, and I wanted to share the outline/ highlights of his talk: 

1. If Pax-Christi USA is to remain relevant and on the frontier of 
    peace-making with justice
    ....It must become proactively and intentionally 
    multicultural. 


2. If PC USA is to remain relevant and on the frontier of peace-making with justice . . . 
     It must not only claim that it is anti-racist, but must also cultivate cross-racial solidarity.

     -->THE BOTTOM LINE:  If PC USA is to have a future in a browning nation and Church,
             It must not only claim that it is anti-racist, but must also cultivate 
             cross-racial solidarity... and confront and lament its unconscious 
             racial malformation.

3.  If PC USA is to remain relevant and on the frontier of peace-making with justice . . . 
     It must be perceived not just as anti-war, but also make explicit linkages 
     between peacemaking, consumerism, and ecological justice. 

4.  If PC USA is to remain relevant and on the frontier of peace-making with justice . . . 
     It must intentionally welcome people of all gender identities and sexual 
     orientations.

5. If PC USA is to remain relevant and on the frontier of peace-making with justice . . . 
     It must embrace a comprehensive justice vision, one that the Bible 
     describes as "Shalom."

6. If PC USA is to remain relevant and on the frontier of peace-making with justice . . . 
    Its members (both organizationally and individually) will have to develop 
    contemplative stances and practices.
   

Book Spine Blessing

I entered this into the National Library Week Book Spine Poetry Contest a few weeks back. It's a fun way to toy with found art. Below are the lines I intended for the poem (there is a book's subtitle that I would want to leave out) --

Blessed are thou

on the road

naked

immediate as air

somewhere in advance of nowhere

tattoos on the heart

writing down the bones

how much is enough?

--when the heart waits

everything belongs.