Hold Fast to the Vision
Alain Richard, Julia Occhiogrosso, Ken Butigan, Louie Vitale, Rosemary Lynch, and Peter Ediger at an early Pace e Bene “animating group” planning meeting.
One of my earliest memories is when I was probably three or four years old: my mother was lacing my shoes as I sat on the edge of the kitchen table with the radio broadcasting a news report about dying soldiers. I assume that was in Vietnam and it was years before I would be able to reflect on this memory with any kind of understanding. At the same time as I was formulating an aversion to the horror, violence, and futility of war, I was incrementally being introduced to the principles and practices of engaged nonviolence.
First, during my years in Catholic grade school when I read the Gospels I was exposed to the difficult teachings of Jesus. “You have heard it said an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, but, I say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” A teaching he would poignantly exemplify during his crucifixion when He proclaimed, “Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do.”
In high school I learned about Cesar Chavez, the plight of the farmworkers, and their nonviolent campaign for justice. “Nonviolence is our Strength,” was Chavez’s message. These words touched me to my core. Even with the limitations of my youthful grasp, these words resonated deeply as true. To this day I have the lapel pin I wore, that carried this verse.
Fast forward to 1982 while living and working with the Los Angeles Catholic Worker, where I would learn about Dorothy Day’s pacifist stance. She saw all war as a contradiction to the Gospel of love. For her it was a complete undoing of the Corporal Works of Mercy. Her uncompromising belief in the Mystical Body of Christ and the sanctity of all life caused her to adhere unequivocally to her pacifist stance for herself and the Catholic Worker Movement.
In 1989 I was invited by Franciscan Friar Louis Vitale to be part of a group of people who were wanting to expand their understanding and practice of nonviolence. They believed that nonviolence held within it a capacity to yield a more peaceful and just society. Together we founded Pace e Bene, which translates from Italian to mean peace and all good. It was the greeting used by St. Francis.
Last month I attended Fr. Louie’s memorial service. Ken Butigan, who joined Pace e Bene in its first year and is still working for Pace e Bene today, pointed out that I was the last surviving member of the Pace e Bene founders. How grateful I am to have been part of this circle. What a gift to have had Fr. Louie Vitale, Fr. Alain Richard, Sr. Rosemary Lynch, and Peter Ediger as my mentors in nonviolence.
It was under the influence of the Pace e Bene community that all the fragments of ideas and intuitions that had taken root in me about nonviolence began to gain cohesion. I began to see nonviolence as a viable tool I could use to resolve interpersonal and communal conflict. I would use nonviolent principles to de-escalate tensions in our food line and be proactive with interventions that could prevent conflict from arising.
Through Pace e Bene, I came to lead nonviolence workshops where participants began to break from the stereotypical perspectives they held about nonviolence. They saw that to practice nonviolence was not to passively submit to aggression. Principled nonviolence is creative and concrete, and yields effective and life affirming outcomes. We saw that the characteristics of violence, whether interpersonal or global were the same. Similarly, the principles of nonviolence which are operative and effective on a small scale could be employed to avoid and respond to large scale conflicts as well.
Once again, we are witnessing the heart-breaking violence and devastation of living beings in the futile cycle of violence and retaliatory violence in Palestine and Israel. This is the familiar tired scenario of war, where no one wins and innocent lives are lost or fated to suffer long into the future.
In the face of devastating violence, I feel compelled to hold fast to the vision of a culture of nonviolence. I want to share what has been gifted to me about the power and efficacy of engaged nonviolence. I want to encourage those who have not done so to study nonviolence. For the sake of all victims of war and violence it becomes a sacred duty to embrace and work towards an alternative.