Culture of Peace
The Culture of Peace Committee is committed to educate and advocate on behalf of peace through justice in a nonviolent manner. The congregation's Corporate Stance for Nuclear Disarmament serves as the foundation for the issues and actions that are selected for attention by the committee.
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“Peace demands the most heroic labor and the most difficult sacrifice. It demands greater heroism than war. It demands greater fidelity to the truth and a much more perfect purity of conscience.”
~Thomas Merton
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Within this framework, our committee’s main emphasis for 2008 - 09 is disarmament. We believe along with other Dominicans that “Our country and our world will be safer by the reduction and eventual elimination of all weapons including nuclear, chemical, biological and conventional."
To that end:
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We have adopted a Corporate Stance on Nuclear Disarmament (11/15/07) and work to make it real in our individual and congregational life by growing into nonviolence in thought, word and deed.
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We advocate our legislators on behalf of disarmament and oppose the development, deployment and sale of costly conventional weapons.
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We educate our members and the broader public on living in a nonviolent manner through workshops and media resources, and we advocate the development of non-violent communication.
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We support the establishment of a cabinet-level Department of Peace within the U.S. federal government.
- We collaborate with other justice groups, for example, the West Michigan Justice and Peace Coalition, in projects such as hosting the Arlington Midwest project on the Marywood Campus in September ,08.
Nuclear and Weapon Disarmament
The Dominican Sisters ~ Grand Rapids have joined with many of our Dominican Sister congregations, and have taken the following Corporate Stance on Nuclear Disarmament:
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The Dominican Sisters call upon the United States government to lead the way to the global abolition of nuclear and all weapons of mass destruction by adopting a plan to lock down, dismantle, reduce and eliminate such weapons.
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We call for immediate development, adoption and implementation of a plan that will ensure that there will be no new nuclear weapons, no new materials for nuclear weapons, and no testing of nuclear weapons.
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We will work with all people of goodwill until there is no possibility that a nuclear weapon or other weapon of mass destruction can come into the hands of anyone wishing to do harm.
Rationale
As women religious, the Dominican Sisters ~ Grand Rapids believe in the sacredness of all creation including the Earth. We stand in witness of the triumph of life over death, love over hatred, and hope over fear.
Theological Consideration
Social and Papal Teaching does not support the proliferation and use of nuclear weapons.
Historical Reality
There are more than 30,000 nuclear weapons in the world, with the United States estimated to have 10,925 of those weapons in 1999.
Specific Actions
Sisters who participate agree to take one or more actions from a list that includes prayer, study, action and advocacy on behalf of this issue.
Culture of Peace Links
Link to IDJ Promoters Statement issued January 9, 2009 in Geneva.