Panel: Catholic Nonviolence and Racial Justice
Document Type
Multimedia
Publication Date
9-2020
Abstract
We stand at a moment of significant opportunity to make constructive social change. In particular, this summer, we’ve seen renewed energy in campaigns around the country for racial justice. In our first session, we focused on nonviolent action that disrupts and challenges the violence of racism. In this second, we talk with Catholic activists. The tradition and global network of Catholic Nonviolence offers creative, spiritual paths for making constructive social change. We learn from black Catholics in the U.S. and Kenya on how their Catholic faith shapes and inspires their nonviolent activism for racial justice. We also learn about the global Catholic Nonviolence Initiative accompanying BIPOC voices from violent conflict zones, engaging the Vatican, and working to develop Catholic social teaching to focus more on nonviolence. Finally, we learn about how a U.S. Catholic peace organization, Pax Christi USA, integrates an anti-racism lens to its work.
Panelists
Eliane Lakam is a community organizer and trainer who believes in the power of education in nonviolent peacebuilding and reconciliation. Her training sessions offer ways to cultivate daily practices for living a nonviolent life and are rooted in practices that restore the dignity and humanity of those affected by violence. She is a recent graduate of Georgetown University and Harvard University.
Teresa Wamũyũ Wachira, I.B.V.M. (Loreto Sisters), is a senior lecturer in peace and conflict studies at St. Paul’s University, Nairobi, Kenya. She specializes in the education of young women and training them for nonviolent peacemaking and reconciliation work. She is a contributor to the book Just Peace Ethic Primer: Building Sustainable Peace and Breaking Cycles of Violence.
Marie Dennis is on the executive committee of the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative and former co-president of Pax Christi International. She edited the book Choosing Peace: The Catholic Church Returns to Gospel Nonviolence.
Johnny Zokovitch is the executive director of Pax Christi USA, the national Catholic peace and justice movement. Previously, he lived at and co-directed the Gainesville (Florida) Catholic Worker House. He holds a master's in theology with a concentration in biblical studies from the University of Notre Dame.
Keywords
Catholic Social Teaching, social justice, nonviolence, racial injustice
eCommons Citation
Lakam, Eliane; Wachira, Teresia Wamũyũ I.B.V.M.; Dennis, Marie; and Zokovitch, Johnny, "Panel: Catholic Nonviolence and Racial Justice" (2020). Documents, Events, Reports, and Promotional Materials of the Ferree Chair of Social Justice. 8.
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/ferree_docs/8
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