Peace Abbey – Page 4 – Engaging Peace

Engaging in peace: A personal story (Part 2)

Posted on February 11, 2013February 5, 2013 by kathiemm

By guest author Dorothy Walsh

Coming from a middle class family, I had to learn about what Gandhi called the worst kind of violence: poverty.

Men and women on the streets struggling with addictions or homelessness needed someone to hear their stories and not judge them. I found I could offer kindness and compassion without becoming a victim myself.

Working at STEP, a treatment on demand facility with staff members and clients coming out of prison, reinforced my connection to my brothers and sisters.

Over the years, I have taught a mediation course at a local college and organized and developed a volunteer program at the homeless shelter, Rosie’s Place. I also supervised students from nine schools in the Boston area who set forth emboldened in the quest to show that there are alternatives to violence even in an unjust society.

While at the Peace Abbey, I met and greeted peacemakers from all over the world. I had the honor of presenting Rosa Parks with the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award, giving a big hug to Joan Baez, sitting with Maya Angelou, and traveling to South Africa with the Mandela Award. More recently, I participated in giving a Courage of Conscience Award to the Benebikira Sisters of Rwanda (http://engagingpeace.com/?p=1155).

I have found that in every situation someone shows up who can help us find the courage to begin again, to rise above the dark clouds and find the rainbow. This was true even in the closing of the Peace Abbey, a sanctuary of peace not only for me but for countless others.

Before long, I was introduced by friends to storytelling and writing and began telling prison and other stories from my life’s journey. In a world with much violence, we do well to remember the words of Gene Knudsen Hoffman (1919-2010), “An enemy is one whose story we have not heard.”

This story-telling venture led to the “Oneness and Wellness” program I am currently hosting for Dedham Cable TV, sharing the stories of guests who seek to make this world a better place for all.

Dot Walsh, lifelong peace activist

Creating a culture of peace (Stories of engagement)

Posted on September 20, 2012September 9, 2012 by kathiemm

[Editor’s note: In recognition of International Day of Peace on September 21, we offer this story of engagement from guest author Dot Walsh, a lifelong peace activist.]

International Peace Day poster — International Day of Peace poster. Used with permission.

Being asked to write something about my life journey on the path of peacemaking is both humbling and challenging.

What I am most sure about is that the journey has always been about people.

When I recall memorable moments in different situations, it is the connection to a human face and story that has most meaning.

Reading of the suffering of the Jewish people during the Holocaust and the devastation as a result of war fueled my belief that there must be different answers to world problems.

The Vietnam War found me married with a small baby who went with me to meetings and marches. It was then I knew that I could only embrace the views of pacifism; there was no good war.

Later in life I was introduced to the prison system in Massachusetts, first as a volunteer in the Norfolk Fellowship program and then employed in several different situations. I saw the connection between the violence of war and the violence of poverty.

Spending time working with the women at Rosie’s Place and the clients at a treatment on demand organization helped me to learn more about the roots of violence.

With Mother Teresa’s visit to Walpole prison in 1988, I found the connection to a place that honored the principles of non-violence. The Peace Abbey in Sherborn, MA, became my new home.

During my years working at the Peace Abbey, its director, Lewis Randa, introduced me to people whose lives of courage were inspiring. Sometimes it was the unknown people in everyday life who planted seeds of peace and went about unnoticed as well as those who were famous.

Each has a place in the transformation of humanity from violence to non-violence.

Since the closing of the Peace Abbey, I have joined with Dr. Mathieu Bermingham and The Center for Peace and Well-Being to continue my quest.

We can have a world that values every act of kindness. We can nurture and educate everyone and create a culture of peace.

Dot Walsh

Hiroshima never more

Posted on August 6, 2012August 10, 2012 by kathiemm

August 6 is the second anniversary of EngagingPeace.com and the 67th anniversary of the destruction of Hiroshima and much of its population by an atomic bomb.

Peace Abbey's Gandhi statue at Occupy Boston — Peace Abbey’s Gandhi statue at Occupy Boston. Photo by GorillaWarfare, used under CC CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication

Today’s post focuses on celebrating efforts to end the threat of nuclear weapons, as well as cluster bombs, landmines, and drones. It celebrates initiatives to achieve lasting peace through the only effective method: non-violence.

We begin another case study on moral engagement, focusing specifically on the Peace Abbey of Sherborn, MA (soon to be housed in the Healey Library at UMass/Boston). We have mentioned the Peace Abbey in several previous posts and begin today with their mission statement:

“The Peace Abbey is dedicated to creating innovative models for society that empower individuals on the paths of nonviolence, peacemaking, and cruelty-free living. We offer a variety of programs and resources that teach, inspire and encourage one to speak out and act on issues of peace and social justice. Faith in action is the cornerstone of our fellowship and activist pacifism is our creed. The Peace Abbey serves as a model for religious organizations, communities, and individuals seeking non-violent, pacifist pathways to peace and social justice.”

Many renowned peace advocates, including Mother Teresa, Howard Zinn, Maya Angelou, David Dellinger, Muhammad Ali, Daniel Berrigan, Barry Crimmins, and Thich Nhat Hanh, visited the Peace Abbey facilities in Sherborn.

Looking back on Hiroshima Day in 1945, writes Noam Chomsky, the world learned that “humans, in their dedicated quest to extend their capacities for destruction, had finally found a way to approach the ultimate limit.” Chomsky also reminds us of the many occasions since 1945 that the world has been on the brink of nuclear war and the annihilation of much of the human race and other life forms.

Today let us be grateful for organizations such as the Peace Abbey that are working to replace the threat of war with the possibility of peace.

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology

Stories of engagement: Ralph DiGia

Posted on March 14, 2011March 12, 2011 by patdaniel

[Editor’s Note: Today’s story of engagement, by Ora Lora Spadafora, celebrates Ralph DiGia (1914-2008). Written as if in DiGia’s own voice, the tribute was presented in 2010 at the Peace Abbey in Sherborn, Massachusetts during a ceremony remembering conscientious objectors buried on the Abbey’s “C.O. Hill.”]

Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Ralph DiGia and I live and work for peace just as I have for many decades.

Thank you for inviting me here to tell my story. The first time I was in Massachusetts I came here to be in a protest rally for Sacco and Vanzetti. But I didn’t stay very long that time because I had to get back to the War Resisters League in New York, which offered me a great opportunity as a pacifist and worker for social justice. And believe me, there have been many opportunities.

Years later during the Vietnam War, I was sent to jail for three years because I was a Conscientious Objector for ethical reasons, but I guess those reasons weren’t good enough. Ah, but that was over forty years ago, and we still keep going to war.

Now it’s Iraq and Afghanistan, and soon it will be other countries yet to be named. We never do stop going to war, do we? And I’ve seen them all having lived almost through the entire twentieth century, including The War to End All Wars…and that was almost a hundred years ago now.

Can I tell you something, just between you and me? War doesn’t end war. Only peace ends wars. But if you’re here today, you already know that.

Sounds simple enough, but there are still many people who don’t believe that…I mean millions of people don’t believe peace ends war.

For the past twelve years that I’ve been resting here, I’ve had a lot of time to think about this. I have to tell you I can still feel that same fire and passion I did years ago. What it comes down to is renewing our vision.

But since I can’t get around the way I used to, I’d like to ask you keep this vision of peace alive. Vision is not the ability to predict the future; it is a commitment to pursue possibility.

This is the time to ask “Why Not?” once again. Not for our own sake but for those who come after us. Our children, our loved ones and for all those we’ve never met, but who also hunger and thirst for peace in their lives.

I’ve devoted my life to Peace and will always work towards that no matter what the consequences are! So please join me. Thank you, and Peace.

Tribute to Ralph DiGia by Ora Lora Spadafora