Stretching the Imagination,

Co-Creating a New World —

Pace e Bene Begins Third Decade by

Celebrating the Past and

Building for the Future

 
For twenty years, Pace e Bene has fostered nonviolent change through education, community, and action. On Friday, September 25 through Sunday, September 27, people from across the United States gathered in Las Vegas (where the organziation began in 1989) to reflect on Pace e Bene’s journey and to prepare for the future.

Longtime civil rights leader and Professor Emeritus of Religion and Social Change at Iliff School of Theology, Dr. Vincent Harding, joined Pace e Bene’s founders — Sr. Rosemary Lynch, OSF, Friar Louie Vitale, OFM, Peter Ediger, Julia Occhiogrosso, and Friar Alain Richard, OFM — and others in the Pace e Bene Community to mark the beginning of organization’s third decade.  (See a photo gallery at the bottom of this page — and click here for a link to an interview Dr. Harding gave on Thursday, September 24 to KNBR, the Las Vegas affiliate of National Public Radio.)

Friday

On Friday we assembled at Christ Church Episcopal, where Pace e Bene director Ken Butigan welcomed the attendees and read aloud notes of support from members of the Pace e Bene community who could not be with us — Sr. Josephene Olagunju in Nigeria; Brendan McKeague, in Australia; and Martine Sauvageau, in Montreal.

A chance to reflect more deeply on the journey of nonviolent change; to strengthen our connection; and to envision how to put the vision of nonviolence into practice more deeply

Then we turned to the main business of the evening: hearing from Pace e Bene’s five original founders.  They reflected on the hopes and dreams that they originally had for this organization, then shared some of their learnings over the past two decades that can offer insights for the next stage of our journey. 

Each was then presented with a certificate honoring their vision and service —followed by a spirited song full of acute wit and wisdom provided by Mary Sprunger-Fosse and Peter Ediger!

Saturday

On Saturday, after a powerful ritual of transformation led by Mary Litell and Jonathan Relucio, Dr. Harding invited the group to imagine concrete ways that Pace e Bene can deepen and mobilize its predominate constituencies (mostly older and white) and at the same time increase its efforts to listen and respond to communities of color.  Rev. Cynthia Stateman and Alain Richard offered responses to Dr. Harding’s presentation.

This was followed by a series of morning workshops: Developing Anti-Oppression Commitments, by Cile Beatty and Judith Kelly; Spiritual Grounding, by Mary Litell; Interfaith Cooperating, by Vanessa Gomez Brake; and International Strategy for the Nonviolence Movement, by Alain Richard and David Hartsough.

Saturday afternoon, after a period of group contemplative silence led by Vanessa Gomez Brake, Dr. Harding asked us to help him write a letter “to my son and my nephew and my brother,” Barack Obama, an invitation that elicited a profound conversation about this historical moment.  Laura Slattery offered a response to Dr. Harding’s afternoon presentation, followed by another slate of workshops: Being and Doing - Acting and Praying, by Rosemary Lynch and Louie Vitale; Listening and Training, by Ken Preston; and Collaboraing in the Nonviolence Movement, by Ken Butigan.

After a briefing for those contemplating risking arrest the next day at the Nevada Test Site — and a powerful presentation by the West Las Vegas Cultural Center — we shared a wonderful evening meal (prepared by Peggy Devitt and eight volunteers from Las Vegas), after which Rosemary Lynch and LR Berger read powerful poems and the St. James Gospel Choir (directed by Susan Braire) sang.  The evening culminated in the presentation of Pace e Bene’s Nonviolence Award to Dr. Harding by Peter Ediger.

Sunday

On Sunday, we vigiled at Creech Air Force Base (north of Las Vegas), which is the US ”Drone Aircraft” base.  Air Force personnel direct drone surveillance and bombing missions in Afghanistan ands Pakistan from Creech.  Jim Haber of Nevada Desert Experience provided critically important background information on this facility.

We then participated in a ritual for peace at the Goddess Temple at nearby Cactus Springs, followed by a ceremony at the Nevada Test Site, where 928 atomic bombs were detonated and which continues to support the development of nuclear weapons.  We were welcomed by John Wells, tribal southern representative to the Western Shoshone National Council, on whose lands the test site is situated.  Wells issued Western Shoshone permits to participants, authorizing them to be on this land. 

A number of people chose to engage in nonviolent civil  resistance by crossing the line onto the top secret facility, where they were briefly detained, cited, and released.

This three-day event offered each of us an opportunity to reflect more deeply on the journey of nonviolent transformation; to strengthen the connection between all of us; and to envision how to put the vision of nonviolence into praactice more deeply in our lives, in Pace e Bene, and in the world.

We are grateful to all the organizers and participants for this time of learning, celebration, and visioning, including the local event committee: Joann Bingham, Peggy Devitt, Julia Occhiogrosso, Megan Rice, Midgene Spatz, Ann Walsh, and Sonja Brouwers.  We also are deeply thankful to: Lorenzo Llanillo who videotaped the entire gathering; Beth Dana, who staffed the Pace e Bene book table; Vanessa Gomez Brake, who organized outreach and many other items for this event; David Hartsough, who donated books on nonviolence thaat were distributed during the weekend; and all those who made financial contributions to Pace e Bene’s Twentieth Anniversary Campaign, which helped make this gathering possible.

A special thanks goes to Pace e Bene staff-person Peter Ediger who tirelessly coordinated this project, and who edited the book marking our first twentry years — Living With the Wolf: Walking the Way of Nonviolence.

Pace e bene / Peace and all good!