Pace e Bene

We begin by acknowledging the roots of nonviolent peacemaking. The Engaging Our Conflicts StudyProgram acknowledges the many rich sources of nonviolent peacemaking, especially movements of poor people, communities of color, and all who have faced fierce oppression and who have long histories of nonviolent struggle.

 

Nonviolent peacemaking does not mean perfection! Alain Richard, a former Pace e Bene staff member who has been engaged in peacemaking activities for much of his life, often says, “Just because I talk about nonviolence doesn’t mean that I am nonviolent. I will probably not be really nonviolent until fifteen minutes after I am dead!” Nonviolence is not a state of idealistic perfection. It is something we construct and grow into. As Gandhi stressed, nonviolence is a continual series of “experiments with truth” through which we gradually learn how to be nonviolent.

Nonviolent peacemaking does not assume that the world is nonviolent. Sometimes we think that for nonviolent peacemaking to be effective, the whole world has to somehow become nonviolent. Nonviolent peacemaking does not hold to this illusion. In fact, it assumes that the world is often violent and unjust. But it also recognizes that there is a path that can heal.

      Nonviolence does not attempt to create a world where there is no conflict. It recognizes that we face conflict all through our lives. This program explores the ways in which nonviolence is a more effective means of addressing and resolving conflict than violence.

 

The Engaging Our Conflicts Study Program is only a first step. The path of nonviolent peacemaking is a lifelong journey. Much experimentation, learning, and action are needed. Therefore, we are modest about this ten-part study program. Typically, one will not fully understand, much less integrate, the power of nonviolence in such a short time.  Nevertheless, this process has an important goal: to offer an orientation to nonviolent living and to begin the process of groundingoneself in that life. Engaging Our Conflicts introduces a vision and a toolbox of methods and techniques for nonviolent peacemaking. 

 

This process is grounded in our Christian spiritual tradition. We, as people of faith, believe that God is a part of this transformative power for action. That is not saying that we wait on God, rather we accept God’s invitation and become the actors of this invitation inspired and inspirited by the Holy.