Life, Peace, and Justice Commission of the Diocese of Reno
"If you want peace, work for justice." - Pope Paul VI
Statement of Purpose for the Commission:
We, the Life, Peace, and Justice Commission, attest to the unity we share
in the Body of Christ through the Holy Spirit. In solidarity, directed
by Catholic Social Teaching and inspired by Scripture, we commit ourselves
to encourage our parish communities to work for justice and peace. We speak
for the voiceless in our community and world, seeking to advocate for the
dignity of all and promote the unity that we share as the creation of a
loving God.
Relevant Links:
Key Themes of Our Catholic Social Teaching
Office of Social Justice - Archdiocese
of St. Paul and Minneapolis
Bread for the World
Network - A National Catholic
Social Justice Lobby
Moratorium 2000
School of America Watch
Catholics Against Capital Punishment
Issues the Commission is working on:
These are some of the issues the commission is working on. For additional
information about these items or the goals of the commission please contact
Fr. Chuck Durante (329-1656).
We need your prayer and support as we work to make this commission a voice
for justice in our churches, our community and our world.
"No one has a right to sit down and feel hopeless. There's
too much work to do." - Dorthy Day
"Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and
stretched them out,
who spread our the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk
in it;
I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness,
I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people,
a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring our the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness."
Isaiah 42:5-7
PEACE PRESENCE
A coalition has come together in our community to create a voice for a
nonviolent resolution of our current crisis. The Patriots for Peace
and Justice propose that we stop the bombing, honor our constitutional values,
and acknowledge that peace is patriotic. On Monday, October 22, and
each Monday thereafter that the bombing continues, the group will sponsor a
"Peace Presence" in front of the Federal Building at Liberty and S.
Virginia Streets, at 5:30 PM.
The nonviolent approach, which we advocate, seeks to understand and find truth,
thereby providing a clear defensible route to justice, that is in line with our
own constitutional values. The First Amendment of the Constitution
guarantees the freedom of speech and the right to petition the government for a
redress of grievances. It is this right that we are exercising.
Further, it must not be forgotten that the dissent of the minority may someday
become the voice of the majority. Certainly, our own experience with
the Civil Rights Movement of African Americans is witness to this reality.
Vengeance and retaliation cannot be the answer to this situation, for they
simply increase the spiral of violence and perpetuate and deepen the culture of
violence. We must condemn and deplore the acts of those responsible for
the bombings in our country, but these persons should be brought to justice
through legal means and the accepted standards of international law.
Justice and peace are realized through just and peaceful means, for means and
ends are inter-related. As Martin Luther King so eloquently stated,
"We must achieve peaceful ends through peaceful means."
Last edited 02/25/04