Peace Stories
Israelis rebuild Palestinian houses on the West Bank
Pax Christi and The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions have worked to rebuild Palestinian houses, such as those of Salim and Arabiya Shawamreh which has been destroyed three times in the last fourteen years by the Israeli army. The last rebuild of the couple’s house has remained standing since 2003, the effect of demolition on Palestinian families is also explained.
“I won’t wait for justice… I’ll go and find it .”
“I won’t wait for justice…I’ll go and find it” shows how women are making strides towards gender equality and empowerment in the Gasaro village, Eastern Rwanda. This has been enabled by the work of CAFOD in supporting a paralegal scheme to equip women with the knowledge and expertise of court proceedings to get justice for the genocide crimes committed in 1994.
Faith in the future
Barry and Margaret Mizen recall the murder of their son Jimmy last year and convey their determination that good things must come out of his death. They talk about how faith has been the only thing that has made sense of his death, they describe their close relationship with God at this point and how they have understood the true meaning of forgiveness as not wanting any revenge or any kind of vendetta.
Subsidiarity and free and fair elections in Malawi
Progressio has been working with the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) of Lilongwe Diocese to spread awareness of what is involved in organising free, fair and non-violent elections. Development Worker Mandlekosi Mpofu from Zimbabwe has been helping CCJP organise training throughout three areas in the diocese to spread the word about how ordinary people can contribute.
The struggle for peace in Northern Ireland
The terrors in Northern Ireland lasted for years and many were injured and even more lost their lives. Mairead Corrigan who like so many had lost loved ones, led the way for Irish women in the struggle for peace. “If we want to reap the harvest of peace and justice in the future,” Mairead said, “we will have to sow seeds of nonviolence, here and now, in the present.”
Seeds of Hope – East Timor Ploughares
Four British women took matters into their own hands when they broke into the British Aerospace Factory in Lancashire in 1996 and destroyed a plane intended to be sold to the cruel Indonesian regime. The four women made this deliberate decision to oppose the injustice of the regime.
Taking to the streets for peace
“Turning swords into ploughshares is creative work that demands new approaches and insights in an ever changing world.” Pax Christi explain how they amongst other Catholic organisations have worked to expose the ethics around the arms trade in Catholic Social Teaching. This is done in the hope of exposing how military technology fuels wars and conflict.
Role Models for the Theme of Peace
Sarah Hipperson, the struggle for peace
Sarah Hipperson moved to Greenham Common in Berkshire to confront the threat posed by American nuclear missions there. Inspired by her faith, she felt it was not right for UK to hold nuclear weapons stronger than the Hiroshima Bomb as self defence. Today she still works on peace issues, continuing activism despite now being in her 80′s.
Mairead Corrigan Maguire – making peace in a broken world
Mairead Corrigan has worked for the peace movement born out of the troubles in Northern Ireland in order to reap the harvest of justice in the future, by sowing the seeds of non violence here today. She has worked continuously on peacemaking and non violence guided by Christ’s example.
Marie Fatayi-Williams
Marie Fatayi-Williams’ son Anthony was killed in the July 2005 terrorist bombs in London. Marie made an appeal on the day he was murdered to terrorists around the world – that anyone can be mislead and terrorism is most certainly not the answer, peace can’t be delivered by terrorism and hatred only begets hatred.
Franz Jagerstatter Story – Against the Stream
When Jagerstatter was sentenced to death in Berlin 1943 he spoke of how nothing could separate him from the love of God. He was recognised as a martyr, encouraged to stand up for peace, justice and human dignity.
