Decade to Overcome Violence

Goals of the Decade to Overcome Violence

Resources

INTERNATIONAL ECUMENICAL PEACE CONVOCATION & LIVING LETTERS

Churches world-wide to participate in major mobilization for peace

Concrete plans to mobilize churches around the world for peace were approved by the World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee in early March. What is expected to become a major worldwide mobilization of churches for peace will culminate with an International Ecumenical Peace Convocation to be held in early May 2011 and an Ecumenical Declaration on Just Peace.

Part of the approved plan is for some 50 ecumenical "living letters" teams to visit churches facing situations of violence between 2007 and 2011. The "living letters" teams will be a concrete expression of solidarity as well as an attempt to share insights and learn from each other. At least three visits will take place in 2007, and some 15 visits a year are envisaged between 2008 and 2010.

The plan includes a series of expert consultations in partnership with research institutes and NGOs, while theological faculties and seminaries will be invited to get involved in drafting the Declaration. An essential goal is to involve the action groups and church-based peace organizations which are already at work and can significantly contribute to the process, given their experience and commitment. Artists' contributions will also be sought.

"The aim is to reach out to as many interested church groups as possible and to invite their contributions to the Declaration in the form of texts, prayers, songs, pictures," says Geiko Mueller-Fahrenholz, a German theologian who is coordinating the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) expected to adopt the Declaration.

Tentative dates for the Convocation are 4-11 May 2011, in a venue still to be decided. Its motto will be "Glory to God and peace on earth". Some 2000 participants from churches, organizations and networks will attend, as well as representatives from other faiths. The WCC executive committee will decide the venue of the event in September 2007.

Both the Convocation and the Declaration were asked for by the WCC's 9th Assembly, held in February 2006 in Brazil. The Convocation will mark the end of the WCC's Decade to Overcome Violence: Churches Seeking Reconciliation and Peace 2001-2010.

And you visited me

Central to the IEPC mobilizing strategy, the "living letters" proposal takes stock of recent ecumenical experiences, like the pastoral visits to the US churches after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and to Lebanese churches during the Israeli attacks in the summer of 2006, as well as a campaign of church-to-church visits during the 1988-98 Decade of "Churches in Solidarity with Women".

"Because the churches are faced with various forms of violence such as civil wars, domestic violence, interreligious strife, or environmental destruction, intensive encounter with women and men from other contexts with similar problems can be a means to express support and to help find new approaches," say the IEPC planners.

They also hope that through these visits - three in 2007 and 15 per year from 2008 to 2010 - churches will be able to engage in the process leading up to the Convocation and contribute to developing the Declaration.

What we can affirm together

The Ecumenical Declaration on Just Peace will have no claim to being an "ecumenical consensus statement," says Mueller-Fahrenholz. It will rather be "an act of public witness and an affirmation of enduring hope in a world torn apart by violence". Without claiming "to speak for everyone," it will attempt "to speak to everyone who cares to listen".

A "theological and spiritual text," the Declaration will address six main areas of concern: the massive reality of human self-destruction; gender-related and intergenerational violence; the entertainment industry's use of the fascination of violence; violence against nature; the violence inherent in economic injustice in its globalized ramifications and structural expressions; and the age-old scourge of war that continues to plague the lives of multitudes around the globe.

As an expression of the ecumenical witness to peace, the Declaration "must include acknowledgement of the fact that, in the course of the centuries, Christian churches have exerted much violence, be it towards women or 'lower' classes, towards 'heretics' or 'heathen', or in the justification of wars, racism, slavery, economic exploitation and other forms of oppression," Mueller-Fahrenholz stresses.

An effort will also be made to "engage with representatives of other faiths in the search for ministries of peace that enable us not only to overcome widespread - and growing - prejudice and mistrust, but also to struggle against recent trends that turn political conflicts into religious confrontations," he adds. //

For more on the IEPC, visit:  www.overcomingviolence.org/iepc

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Europe Focus 2007

"Make me a Channel of Your Peace"
Challenged to Overcome Violence in Europe

Saint Francis of Assisi, has given us an example of peace making and peaceful living. The Prayer of a Peace Maker, attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi, is known very widely and we all can join into the supplication with our heart and mind: Make me an Instrument of Your Peace. This prayer was chosen as the theme for the Focus on Europe 2007 of the Decade to Overcome Violence (DOV) by the Steering Group, composed of young adults from all over Europe. The theme invites us to accept the challenge of overcoming violence in Europe actively and intentionally, while relying on God’s promise and power, not ours.

Life, and each human life, is a gift of God - so is peace! These gifts compel us to being joyful, but also responsible, as individuals, as citizens and as communities. Whether we speak of human rights, human dignity, or human security, the indiscriminate value of human life constitutes a basic notion for understanding just peace. God wishes fullness of life for every human being. Why should we not seek this fullness of life? Why would we put national or material security over human security? Why would we put the safety of earthly possessions over the sanctity of life?

In considering the European context, the Steering Group identified several key issues. These issues are already being addressed by many among us and most of them will be considered by the European Ecumenical Assembly in Sibiu, Romania, September 2007. Further exploration in the framework of the DOV Focus on Europe 2007 will vary depending on local contexts. Overcoming violence, physical, psychological, sexual, and violence in the form of deprivation and negligence implies making the connections between the issues, telling our stories, comparing our notes and coordinating our actions, across generations and across ethnic and religious and communities.

We are challenged to see, name and overcome violence with regard to...

… Trafficking - thousands of people, mostly women and children are subject to exploitation

… Youth - the violence industry is aiming at youth as prime consumers

… Migration - European countries face this major challenge of our time of globalization

… Militarization - military spending, service, and development jeopardizes just peace

… Domestic and Interpersonal Violence –causes more deaths than armed conflict

… Human Security - a common task beyond borders and above national interests

… The Environment - facing the consequences of violence towards the earth

… Violence in the Church – looking within ourselves

… A Theology of Just Peace - churches moving from just war theory to just peace practice



DOV Study guide now available in 10 different languages

The DOV Study guide "Why violence? Why not peace?" is now available for downloads in ten different languages from all over the world. More translations are on their way and will be added as soon as they are ready.

Should you wish to translate it into an additional language, please contact the DOV Office.

Read more...

Goals of the Decade to Overcome Violence:

• To address holistically the wide varieties of violence, both direct and structural, in homes, communities and in international arenas, and learn from the local and regional analyses of violence and ways to overcome violence;
• To challenge the churches to overcome the spirit, logic and practice of violence; to relinquish any theological justification of violence; and to affirm anew the spirituality of reconciliation and active non-violence;
• To create a new understanding of security in terms of co-operation and community, instead of in terms of domination and competition;
• To learn from the spirituality and resources for peace building of other faiths, to work with other faiths in the pursuit of peace, and to challenge the churches to reflect on the misuse of religious and ethnic identities in pluralistic societies;
• To challenge the growing militarization of our world, especially the proliferation of small arms and light weapons.

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Resources:

Stuck With The Truth: A video on truth telling in the Middle East, available from AVEL. (519) 442-3366; Fax: (519) 442-3444; E-mail: avel_booksandvideos@on.aibn.com .

To Seek Justice and Resist Evil: A guide for study, action and worship, available from at Presbytery Resource Centre or from United Church Resource Distribution: 1-800-288-7365; or UCRD@united-church.ca .

Mending the World: An Ecumenical Vision for Healing and Reconciliation, available at your Presbytery Resource Centre or from United Church Resource Distribution: 1-800-288-7365; or UCRD@united-church.ca .

The World Council of Churches Decade to Overcome Violence Web Site: www.overcomingviolence.org

The Decade to Overcome Violence Poster: Available from United Church Resource Distribution: 1-800-288-7365; or UCRD@united-church.ca .

Hamilton Conference Website: Church leaders' statements for a non-violent response concerning Iraq can be found on the Urgent Action page at www.hamconf.org .

Canadian Council of Churches Website: Rejection of the 'expensive futility of ballistic missile defence' and a letter to Prime Minister Paul Martin: www.ccc-cce.ca/english/news/

Sisters in the Spirit Campaign: A one-year campaign launched by the Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC) to end violence against Aboriginal women: www.nwac-hq.org.

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