Pax Christi: From Pilgrimage to Peacebuilding
Written by Bishop John Stowe, OFM Conv.
In 1945, even before the Second World War came to an end, a lay woman and a French bishop organized pilgrimages among French and German communities to promote reconciliation. The hope was that their common faith in Jesus would allow them to contribute to a new era of peace with justice and prevent further war. This was the beginning of the Catholic Peace Movement known as Pax Christi. After the war, the effort spread beyond France and Germany, and in 1952 Pope Pius XII declared Pax Christi the official Catholic Peace Movement. In 1972, a small group of lay people, religious and clergy worked with Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton to found Pax Christi USA.
I first became involved in this work as a theology student in Berkeley, CA, during the first Gulf War. I was asked to become the bishop-president in 2018, and I continue in that role today. Pax Christi USA is most interested in promoting the spirituality of non-violence as integral to the Gospel. It is important to emphasize in this time of polarized politics that non-violence is a spirituality traced to the Beatitudes in the Gospels and has been constantly present within Christianity, although since the time of Constantine’s legalization of Christianity and Augustine’s articulation of a “just war” theory, the non-violence of Jesus has often been overlooked.
In his World Day of Prayer for Peace address of January 1, 2017, Pope Francis raised the profile of the spirituality of non-violence and its place in the Church. He stated, “To be true followers of Jesus today also includes embracing his teaching about nonviolence.” On many occasions, Pope Francis described the state of the world as in the midst of a Third World War fought piecemeal. And he knew that the Church must play a critical role as a peacemaker in the world. He suffered visibly from his encounters with victims of war, and he actively engaged in efforts to end the wars in Sudan, Ukraine, Gaza, Congo, and so many others. He recognized that wars begin in the human heart and so strongly endorsed a spirituality of non-violence, as practiced by Jesus, Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Saint Teresa of Calcutta, and by so many others.
Since the 1990s, Pax Christi has been deeply engaged in the work of dismantling racism as a component of building peace with justice. This anti-racism work complements the work for the abolition of nuclear weapons, for the reduction of military spending so that greater investments can be made in providing basic necessities to those in need, and for the rejection of war as a solution to conflicts.
The tens of thousands of members nationwide participate through more than 250 local chapters. They follow a three-fold process of prayer, study, and action as they discern how best to promote peacebuilding and the spirituality of non-violence. Today, there is a strong concern about the militarization of our cities and the brutal tactics of immigration enforcement, which violate human dignity, and contribute to the spiral of violence. For more information, visit www.paxchristiusa.org.
