War & Environment Discussion Group
Mar
9
to Apr 13

War & Environment Discussion Group

  • Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

War & Environment Discussion Group

Facilitated by Alisha Foster
Saturdays, March 9 – April 13, 2024
9-10am PT // 10-11am MT // 11am-12pm CT // 12-1pm ET
Free, but registration for the World BEYOND War Course required ($25-100 sliding scale)

Discover ways to stop war and save the environment in your own community!

Our friends at World BEYOND War are launching a 6-week, self-guided study course on War and Environment. This is a perfect course to take if you’re planning to take action with our Peace & Planet Mobilization. We’re organizing a cohort of Pace e Bene/Campaign Nonviolence people—like you!—to register. And, to support you in turning the course’s rich knowledge into action, our staff member Alisha Foster will host a companion weekly virtual discussion group. 

Step 1: Sign up for the course with World BEYOND War ($25-100 sliding scale)
Step 2: Join our free discussion group.

By joining both the course and our Pace e Bene cohort's discussion group, you have many chances to dive deep into the topics of war and environment. You’ll be able to study the issues, discuss the solutions, and identify ways to move into action . . . all in time for the April 22–May 1 Peace & Planet Mobilization. The course starts on March 4 and our discussion group will start soon after that, on Saturdays 9am PST/12pm EST. Let us know you’re interested here. 

The War & Environment Course is a self-paced course designed to be done over 6 weeks. The content will be available starting on March 4th and a new session will be posted each week thereafter. Learn more about the curriculum here: https://worldbeyondwar.org/war-and-the-environment-2024/ 

What you can expect from the companion discussion group:

  • Training on how to identify the military-industrial complex and its environmental harms in your own city/university/workplace/region

  • Mentoring and peer support to help you construct a local Peace and Planet campaign concept

  • Space to process new knowledge about the war machine and the climate crisis with like-minded individuals

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Join an Upcoming DC Peace Team Training
Mar
30
to Apr 27

Join an Upcoming DC Peace Team Training

  • Online trainings led by the DC Peace Team (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Check out these upcoming online trainings led by our friends at DC PEACE TEAM


Upcoming Trainings:

  • Sat. 3/30 Election Situations: Bystander Intervention 10am-1pm ET. Details and registration here.

    If you have questions about any of these trainings contact Eli McCarthy.

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Pilgrimage for Peace
Apr
14
12:00 PM12:00

Pilgrimage for Peace

Please join in for a beautiful day with peacemakers from many different activist and religious organizations when we come together to remember victims and to pray for an end to violence!  We will gather at 2:00pm at Heifer International, walk through the River Market and across the Junction Bridge to rest at the Beacon of Peace & Hope for an inspiring 3:00pm Remembrance Service of those who perished at the hand of violence during this past year in central Arkansas.  

To see our 2023 Pilgrimage and Remembrance service please view the livestream at Facebook Live Remembrance Service

Pace e Bene is a sponsor of this event. Find more information here: https://www.pilgrimageforpeace.com/

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Peaceful Creativity: Unified Playfulness for Inner Transformation
Apr
23
9:00 AM09:00

Peaceful Creativity: Unified Playfulness for Inner Transformation

Peaceful Creativity: Unified Playfulness for Inner Transformation

2-Hour Workshop with Daniel Rudolph
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
9-11am PT // 10am-12pm MT // 11am-1pm CT // 12-2pm ET
$30, scholarships available

Embark on a transformative journey towards inner peace through the power of creativity and playfulness. The Peaceful Creativity workshop is designed to empower individuals to infuse their lives with a deeper sense of creativity, joy, and tranquility, thereby cultivating a greater sense of inner peace in their daily routines and relationships.

In this enriching workshop, participants will explore practical skills and perspectives that can be directly applied to their lives. Through embodied practice and reflection, attendees will uncover the transformative potential of creativity as a pathway to inner peace.

What you will get out of this workshop:

  • Practical tools for incorporating playfulness into your daily life

  • Opportunities for movement and stillness practices 

  • Permission to slow down and be authentic, silly, creative and out of the ordinary

  • Space to play, share, reflect with others in a meaningful way.

  • Tangible practices to train creative, lateral, thinking.

Don't miss out on this chance to embark on a journey of self-discovery and inner transformation through the joy of play! Secure your spot today and get ready for a joy-filled adventure towards a more peaceful and fulfilling life.

Facilitator

Dan is the founder, and chief developer of Unified Playfulness.He has trained and learned from various renowned clown and playfulness teachers including; Avner Eisenberg, Anthony Trahair, Mery Miguez, Barnaby King, Moshe Cohen and many others. He has also spent 2.5 years living in a monastic setting, practicing and learning about meditation practices and mystical wisdom. His work integrates wisdom from both playfulness and mindfulness lineages and has a focus rooted in systems change. He regularly offers and facilitates online and in-person sessions with individuals and groups. For more information you can reach Dan here: danrudolph108@gmail.com

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River Dragon Launch Party, Book Discussion, and Author Q&A
Apr
23
4:00 PM16:00

River Dragon Launch Party, Book Discussion, and Author Q&A

River Dragon Launch Party, Book Discussion, and Author Q&A

Tuesday, April 23, 2024
4-5:30pm PT // 5-6:30pm MT // 6-7:30pm CT // 7-8:30pm ET
RSVP here and invite friends. 

Will Ari Ara risk everything—the crown, love, even her life—for what she believes?

Calling all readers, educators, and peace-lovers! It’s time to bring an exciting new peace novel into the world. Join the community of readers publishing River Dragon, the newest novel in the award-winning Ari Ara Series.

At long last, fifteen-year-old Ari Ara is returning to the riverlands to take up her duties as royal heir. Nervous and excited, she leaps into the heart-pounding tests that will prove she’s worthy of the throne. But hidden dangers lurk beneath the rituals of the Ordeal of Queens. Ancestor spirits haunt her. Nightmares plague her. Not everyone wants a follower of the Way Between as the next ruler. Surrounded by warriors and war culture, Ari Ara’s commitment to peace threatens her chances of wearing the crown. A hard choice lies before her: will she stay true to what she believes? Or will she stay silent so that she can become queen?

Through triumph and disaster, heartbreak and friendship, Ari Ara rises to the challenges of each test. But when a long-buried secret comes to light, the true cost of peace is revealed.

“Peace literature at its best. This book is water in a world on fire.”

Find more about the book here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/river-dragon/x/4376219#/

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People Power & Peace
May
6
to Jun 17

People Power & Peace

  • Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

People Power & Peace

6-Week Course with Rivera Sun
Mondays, May 6 – June 17, 2024
No Class May 27
1-2:30pm PT // 2-3:30pm MT // 3-4:30pm CT // 4-5:30pm ET
$95, scholarships available

We have more power than we think. Everyday people, like you and me, have the potential to halt or prevent war through nonviolent strategies.

Join us for an inspiring 6-week course, where you'll explore powerful stories from around the globe. From Liberia to Northern Ireland, Colombia to the Philippines, you'll discover how communities have successfully halted or averted wars through nonviolent action.

Through fascinating real-life examples, you will learn from effective strategies used in peacebuilding initiatives, civilian-based defense, and nonviolent actions. You will discover practical approaches used before, during, and after a war erupts - leaving you with a comprehensive understanding of how people power can be used at every stage of a conflict.

This participatory, engaging course will include breakout room discussions, creative exercises, and weekly assignments to take the knowledge deeper. A detailed resource list of more articles, books, and documentaries is offered for each session. This course is designed to empower you! You'll connect to practical strategies and powerful tools for how you can foster peace in our world and in your community.

  • Discover inspiring stories: Dive into captivating real-world examples from Algeria, Nicaragua, the Philippines, and beyond, where communities have successfully halted or averted wars through nonviolent strategies.

  • Explore nonviolent strategies: Examine how societies effectively stopped, replaced, or prevented war through various nonviolent strategies, including peacebuilding, citizen-led ceasefires, and nonviolent action.

  • Delve into powerful peace work: Investigate the role of local ceasefires, zones of peace, civilian-based defense and peace teams like Nonviolent Peaceforce, discovering how they've made a tangible difference in conflict zones worldwide.

  • Find your power: Tap into your capacity to build peace and learn to apply the strategies, practices, and skills from this course. 

As we bear witness to ongoing conflicts in regions like Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, and beyond, this course equips you with the knowledge and tools to push for peace in surprising and effective ways. By understanding and learning from these inspiring stories, you'll come away with renewed vision, ideas for action, and the knowledge of how people like you have taken meaningful action to build a more peaceful world. 

You will:

  • Come away with ideas for action on ongoing conflicts

  • Learn from current and historic examples

  • Understand the role of nonviolent action in peace efforts

  • Discover we have more power than we think

  • Explore promising strategies like peace teams and civilian-based defense

  • Have chances to apply knowledge to your peace efforts

Week 1 - People Power & Peace: Using an impressive range of strategies, ordinary people like you and me are finding ways to replace, prevent, halt, and end war. These stories give us new tools and approaches for working for peace.

Week 2 - Replacing War With Nonviolent Struggle: With mass protests, boycotts, strikes, and other actions, people are achieving major social-political goals without the use of violence. We will look at examples from Bolivia to Estonia and beyond to see how nonviolent struggle is replacing war. 

Week 3 - Preventing War From Breaking Out: From Algeria to Niger to the Philippines, there are extraordinary examples of how people have intervened when wars seemed inevitable. We will learn from these examples and many more.

Week 4 - Waging Struggle Differently: When war crashes down around us, it’s not just a choice of ‘kill or be killed’. Examples from Nazi-occupied countries during WWII and by enslaved African-Americans during the US Civil War show that the ‘resistance’ often includes powerful ways of ‘fighting’ without violence. This session will also examine the role of civilian-based defense in Lithuania, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Quebec and beyond.

Week 5 - Peace Teams, Ceasefires & Bringing War To a Close: From Liberia to Northern Ireland, people power has stopped brutal and entrenched wars. In this session, we will look at those examples, and also the role of peace teams, zones of peace (such as in Colombia), and citizen-led ceasefires in bringing wars to a close.

Week 6 - Building Lasting Peace: By fostering a culture of peace and dismantling the military-industrial complex, societies can make wars less likely to occur. We will look at examples of nations without armies, anti-militarism campaigns, draft resistance, military base closures, peace education, and peace infrastructure around the world.



Facilitator

Author/Activist Rivera Sun is the Editor of Nonviolence News, a nationwide trainer in strategy for nonviolent movements, and the author of many books and novels, including The Dandelion Insurrection and The Way Between. She serves on the Advisory Board of World Beyond War and Backbone Campaign. Rivera helps coordinate Campaign Nonviolence Action Days and our Nonviolent Cities Project. www.riverasun.com




Register Below

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The Assisi, Italy Peace & Justice Pilgrimage
Jun
23
to Jun 30

The Assisi, Italy Peace & Justice Pilgrimage

  • Organized by Pace e Bene and Franciscan Action Network (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

The Assisi, Italy Peace & Justice Pilgrimage
June 23 - 30, 2024

Sponsored by the Franciscan Action Network and Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service

Led by Pace e Bene’s Dr. Ken Butigan and Friar Michael Lasky, OFM

Join Pace e Bene and Franciscan Action Network for a one-week pilgrimage to Assisi, Italy June 23 - June 30, 2024, to pray, study the lives of St. Francis and St. Clare, build community, and deepen your commitment to Gospel nonviolence. Together, we will walk in the footsteps of these peacemakers whose courageous nonviolence, compassion for others, kinship with creation, and work for peace and reconciliation have inspired people everywhere.

The Peace & Justice Pilgrimage to Assisi seeks applications for 30 pilgrims. Participants would be invited to make this journey not as a sight-seeing trip, but as a pilgrimage to learn how the examples of St. Francis and St. Clare can help us take another step on our own paths of spirituality and action. This trip then will be a retreat time of prayer, personal renewal, and invigorating discussion, a holy pilgrimage in the long tradition of Christian spirituality.

Discover more details and sign up to join the pilgrimage at the link below.

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Engaging Nonviolence II: Inner Skills & Outer Practices For Interpersonal and Social Conflict
Mar
6
9:00 AM09:00

Engaging Nonviolence II: Inner Skills & Outer Practices For Interpersonal and Social Conflict

  • Pace e Bene Online Event with Nina Koevoets and Rivera Sun (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Engaging Nonviolence II: Inner Skills & Outer Practices For Interpersonal and Social Conflict

Co-Facilitated by Nina Koevoets & Rivera Sun
Wednesdays, March 6 – April 10, 2024
9-10:30am PT // 10-11:30am MT // 11am-12:30pm CT // 12-1:30pm ET
$95, scholarships available

In this new 6-week online course, you will explore the power of nonviolence in our relationships, communities, and daily lives. Engaging Nonviolence II explores skills for interpersonal conflicts, builds our inner awareness, and fosters our capacity to engage nonviolence in wider settings, such as interrupting harassment on the subway, or participating in nonviolent actions. 

When we learn nonviolent practices, we gain ways to communicate, problem-solve, and deal with the challenges we face. From friends and family to coworkers and community, this 6-week course offers practical, useful skills for a wide variety of interpersonal conflicts. We will look deeply into ourselves to find our potential—and barriers—around activating nonviolent power and each week will offer new opportunities to put what we’re learning into practice. With your fellow participants, you will have many chances to explore role plays, dive into exercises, and engage in group discussions. Pace e Bene trainings are fun, participatory, and always lively. 

Co-facilitated by Pace e Bene trainers Rivera Sun and Nina Koevoets (who coauthored the Engaging Nonviolence Study Guide), this 6-week course draws from many sessions of the book as well as integrates new knowledge. Purchasing the Engaging Nonviolence Study Guide is recommended, but not required. 

Engaging Nonviolence II is open to people of all experience levels. You do not need to have taken Engaging Nonviolence I (our introductory class) to take this course. 

We will look at:

  • Session 1: Conflict & Identity

  • Session 2: Inner Awareness & Nonviolence

  • Session 3: Communicating Through Challenges 

  • Session 4: Stepping Up, Stepping In

  • Session 5: (Nonviolent) Power

  • Session 6: Unleashing Our Potential

Facilitators

Nina Koevoets has been studying nonviolence and conflict resolution for more than a decade. Her master in Conflict Resolution did not include what regular people can do to build peace, so she sought answers elsewhere. She joined a training program with the Metta Center for Nonviolence in the USA and worked several months in India and Israel-Palestine. These experiences gave her new perspectives and ideas about the challenges and potential of nonviolent action. In 2015 she implemented her own training courses that included exercises from the Engage Study Program. As she became more familiar with the materials by facilitating several trainings and workshops the idea for a new Study Program became more clear and so this book came into existence.

Author/Activist Rivera Sun is the Editor of Nonviolence News, a nationwide trainer in strategy for nonviolent movements, and the author of many books and novels, including The Dandelion Insurrection and The Way Between. She serves on the Advisory Board of World Beyond War and Backbone Campaign. Rivera helps coordinate Campaign Nonviolence Action Days and our Nonviolent Cities Project. www.riverasun.com

Register Below

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Read For Peace! All-Ages Book Group on The Crown of Light 
Feb
6
4:00 PM16:00

Read For Peace! All-Ages Book Group on The Crown of Light 

  • Pace e Bene Online Event with Rivera Sun and Savanna Holden (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Read For Peace! All-Ages Book Group on The Crown of Light 

Co-Facilitated by Savanna Holden & Rivera Sun
Tuesdays, February 6, 13, 20, and 27, 2024
4-5pm PT // 5-6pm MT // 6-7pm CT // 7-8pm ET
$60, scholarships available (Please ask! We want you to come.)
Intergenerational, open to ages 11 and up
Books must be purchased separately. Find them here or ebooks here.

Special Offer: Bring a younger or older friend for free. 


Build a culture of peace through peace literature and readers of all ages!

Bring your kids, grandparents, and friends of all ages to this lively, 4-week discussion group that explores an exciting fantasy novel about waging peace. Author Rivera Sun and youth facilitator Savanna Holden are co-facilitating a special intergenerational book club on The Crown of Light. 

The novel is a part of the award-winning Ari Ara Series and tells the story of a nonviolent Peace Force that halts violence and stops war in the border region between two feuding nations. Note: You do not need to have read the other books in the series. This story stands alone.

Readers age 11 and up will enjoy this book group. This story features a 14-year-old heroine and an intergenerational group of friends. 

With readers of all ages, this book group will have engaging conversations about the scenes of waging peace, the characters’ commitment to nonviolence, and the challenges they surmount. Discussion will be interspersed with real life examples, trainings in the skills the characters are learning, and some of the nonfiction stories that inspired the book. A great way to learn peace skills!

Stories of peace grow cultures of peace. 

Please bring an older/younger friend with you to this book group. Once you have registered, you can send us their email to ensure that they get the zoom link and invitation.

About the Book

In the jagged peaks of the Border Mountains, Ari Ara revives the ancient legend of the Peace Force, gathering friends and strangers to stop violence and prevent war. With the Way Between guiding their footsteps, they set out to wage peace. Before long, a rising threat makes them take drastic action.

Mysterious raiders are attacking villages, burning homes and terrifying families. Fingers point to the secretive Paika. For centuries, their clans have survived by double-crossing and backstabbing everyone else. But when young Finn Paikason is caught spying on the Peace Force, he swears the raiders are imposters. Ari Ara wants to believe him, but can she trust him? She can’t be certain – especially since this boy with storm-tossed eyes might be stealing her heart.

Stopping fights among villagers, thwarting bandit ambushes, and preventing battles across borders, Ari Ara and her friends seek the truth amidst a web of lies. Old enemies come back to haunt them. Friendships are strained to breaking. Tensions heighten between the two nations. When the Lost Heir is taken hostage, the Peace Force races to solve the mystery before the sparks of violence erupt into war.

Your heart will race along with the heroine’s in this exciting tale of waging peace.

Reviews

“The Crown of Light is a book that contains everything a great novel needs: a heroic female protagonist, colorful supporting characters, adventure, suspense, and most importantly, nonviolence used as a means to solve conflicts. I highly recommend the Ari Ara Series to educators and students!” —Robin Wildman, Nonviolent Schools Rhode Island

"I have been in youth work forty-five years, and I have never encountered a more important work than the Ari Ara series to share with young people and their advocates.” —Michael Harrington

“Ari Ara is the bedtime reading adventure for younger generations that completes my circle of peace literature.” —Patrick Hiller, father, bed-time story reader, Peace and Conflict Studies scholar

“The entire Ari Ara Series offers students a warm, exciting, and hopeful adventure, full of problem-solving, love of life, and worthy models of personal growth and peacemaking.” —Scott Springer, The Bay School, Maine

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Online Forum—Building a World Without Nuclear Weapons: An Urgent Imperative
Jan
27
11:00 AM11:00

Online Forum—Building a World Without Nuclear Weapons: An Urgent Imperative

  • Friends of Pace e Bene Online Event (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Pace e Bene is cosponsoring this event.

“To love our enemies means we have to begin the process of ending our preparations to kill them, including our preparations to drop nuclear weapons on them.”

—Living in the Light of Christ’s Peace: A Conversation Toward Nuclear Disarmament
A Pastoral Letter by Most Reverend John C. Wester, Archbishop of Santa Fe
January 11, 2022, page 16

As we approach the second anniversary of Archbishop Wester’s pastoral letter, cited above, and the third anniversary of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) entering into force, Pax Christi Massachusetts is planning an online forum on January 27, 2024, 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm ET, entitled Building a World Without Nuclear Weapons: An Urgent Imperative, to examine the existential threat and moral implications of nuclear weapons, to enter into dialogue about solutions, and to urge prayer and action from individuals and groups.

Registration details are still being developed, but three powerful speakers have already been secured: Archbishop Wester; Dr. Ira Helfand, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW)/Back from the Brink, and Marie Dennis, Catholic Nonviolent Initiative/Pax Christi International. Claire Schaeffer-Duffy of SS. Francis and Therese Catholic Worker, Worcester, will serve as moderator.

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Making Magic Happen: Troubleshooting 101
Jan
11
4:00 PM16:00

Making Magic Happen: Troubleshooting 101

  • Pace e Bene Online Course with Rivera Sun (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Making Magic Happen: Troubleshooting 101

Two-hour training with Rivera Sun
Thursday January 11, 2024
4-6pm Pacific / 5-7pm Mountain / 6-8pm Central / 7-9pm Eastern
$30, scholarships available

Tech trouble. Disgruntled students. Breakout room mishaps. Microaggressions. Airtime hogs. In this two-hour course, we’ll explore how to handle the bumps and problems that can arise during an online training. We’ll look at how to avert or avoid some of them. And we’ll talk about what to do if something goes wrong. This webinar will be facilitated by Rivera Sun, and designed to be highly participatory. Bring your questions! Come with examples! Be ready to share your ideas and approaches to troubleshooting. Our time together will be compassionate and anchored in non-judgment. A sense of humor and perhaps even some laughter will guide us through accepting our humanness, looking at “mistakes,” and creatively finding alternatives for moving forward. This webinar is useful for experienced and new facilitators, alike. (It may also be useful for folks who are running meetings online.) 

You will learn:

  • Skills for handling challenging participants

  • Nonviolent approaches to dealing with conflict

  • Ways to address problems among participants

  • Simple tricks for dealing with tech trouble

  • And more . . .

Pace e Bene trainers have facilitated dozens of courses and trained thousands of people online. Our course participants appreciate our personable, heart-centered approach. We emphasize participatory learning and use tech to tap into group knowledge and wisdom. From meditations to games to immersive exercises to role plays, we have skills to share with you about how to lead trainings with joy, laughter, soulfulness, humanness and professionality. Our approach to technology is to keep it simple and seamless, prioritizing human connection and deep learning. On top of this, we are fearless and playful in trying new things with virtual tech, leading to some of the most enjoyable and meaningful courses in nonviolence available online.

Sign up for all four of the Making Magic Happen Trainings here

We are gearing up to do a Train the Trainers Intensive with our Engaging Nonviolence Curriculum in February-March 2024. Interested? Let us know here.

Course Fee: $30. Scholarships are available for anyone who cannot afford to attend. Email Erin at info@paceebene.org to request a scholarship. If you can pay the full fee, consider adding a higher amount for the scholarship fund to increase accessibility for others to participate. 

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Making Magic Happen: Keeping It Lively
Dec
7
4:00 PM16:00

Making Magic Happen: Keeping It Lively

Making Magic Happen: Keeping It Lively

Two-hour training with Rivera Sun
Thursday December 7, 2023
4-6pm Pacific / 5-7pm Mountain / 6-8pm Central / 7-9pm Eastern
$30, scholarships available

Energize. Inspire. Engage. Keeping it lively in virtual trainings takes skill and creativity. In this two-hour webinar with Rivera Sun, explore how you can keep people awake, active, and ready for more. We’ll look at everything from how to structure your webinar to how to use breakout rooms skillfully. Along the way, you’ll get a closer look at how to make the chatbox useful (not distracting), how to vary discussion, Q & A, and slides, and how to use short videos to infuse a sense of fun and entertainment into your training. This course is useful for anyone interested in doing online presentations, whether that’s a formal webinar or an informal teach-in with a group of friends. Everyone is welcome from beginners to seasoned instructors. 

You will learn:

  • How to plan a fun and lively course

  • How to use participatory exercises

  • How tech can engage (without getting complicated)

  • How to use music, photos, art, poetry to liven things up

  • How, when, and why to use breakout rooms

  • And more … 

Pace e Bene trainers have facilitated dozens of courses and trained thousands of people online. Our course participants appreciate our personable, heart-centered approach. We emphasize participatory learning and use tech to tap into group knowledge and wisdom. From meditations to games to immersive exercises to role plays, we have skills to share with you about how to lead trainings with joy, laughter, soulfulness, humanness and professionality. Our approach to technology is to keep it simple and seamless, prioritizing human connection and deep learning. On top of this, we are fearless and playful in trying new things with virtual tech, leading to some of the most enjoyable and meaningful courses in nonviolence available online.

Sign up for all four of the Making Magic Happen Trainings here

We are gearing up to do a Train the Trainers Intensive with our Engaging Nonviolence Curriculum in February-March 2024. Interested? Let us know here.

Course Fee: $30. Scholarships are available for anyone who cannot afford to attend. Email Erin at info@paceebene.org to request a scholarship. If you can pay the full fee, consider adding a higher amount for the scholarship fund to increase accessibility for others to participate. 

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Online Grief Circle
Dec
7
9:00 AM09:00

Online Grief Circle

  • Friends of Pace e Bene Online Event (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Online Grief Circles w/ the MK Gandhi Institute

Every Thursday
9-10am Pacific / 10-11am Mountain / 11am-12pm Central / 12-1pm Eastern
Virtual event, free or by donation

"Every one of us is an expert on what it is like to live on an endangered planet." - Joanna Macy

What keeps you up at night? What contributes to hopelessness? Join colleagues at the MK Gandhi Institute for support online and in community, to honor our pain for the world and to unlock love and energy. Every kind of grief is welcome in this gentle and affirming circle. This group meets every Thursday from 12-1 pm Eastern. People are welcome to drop in as their schedule permits. Find out more here.

Questions? kit@gandhiinstitute.org 

Note: Pace e Bene views Grief Circles as one of the forms of practicing nonviolence toward oneself, doing inner work, and building our capacity to be present at this challenging and transformative time. 

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Beyond Violence: Creating a Culture of Peace
Dec
2
10:00 AM10:00

Beyond Violence: Creating a Culture of Peace

  • Friends of Pace e Bene Online Event (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Beyond Violence: Creating a Culture of Peace is dialogue based convening of representatives of the various peace and nonviolence movement networks. An online conversation for designing a national convening of peace movements is scheduled for December 2. We invite those who wish to help design the national peace convening to attend the design sessions. The greater diversity in design, the greater the effect of the convening! https://mutualpeace.org/#convening

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Campaign Nonviolence Affinity Groups—Virtual Gathering
Nov
29
3:00 PM15:00

Campaign Nonviolence Affinity Groups—Virtual Gathering

  • Pace e Bene Online Gathering with Rivera Sun and Ken Butigan (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Campaign Nonviolence Affinity Groups—Virtual Gathering

Wednesday, November 29, 2023
3-4:30pm PT / 4-5:30pm MT / 5-6:30pm CT / 6-7:30pm ET

Campaign Nonviolence Affinity Groups—November Gathering

Get connected and move into action! Campaign Nonviolence Affinity Groups are small teams of 5-15 people who build close-knit relationships and move into action together. (Find out more here.) Everyone is welcome to pop into our monthly virtual gathering of all the affinity group members, nationwide. You will hear what the current affinity groups are doing, find friends, or launch a group. Join us!

REGISTER BELOW

Facilitators

Rivera Sun

Ken Butigan

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A Mindful and Nonviolent Holiday Season
Nov
28
1:00 PM13:00

A Mindful and Nonviolent Holiday Season

  • Pace e Bene Online Course with Piero Falci (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

A Mindful and Nonviolent Holiday Season

with Piero Falci
One 90-minute session on Zoom
Tuesday, November 28, 2023
1-2:30 pm Pacific / 2-3:30 pm Mountain / 3-4:30 pm Central / 4-5:30 pm Eastern
$30, scholarships available

Piero Falci

Let’s be honest. Although the end-of-the-year holidays are supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year, uncomfortable family gatherings, awkward office parties, crowded malls, airports, streets and parking lots, and other similarly unpleasant situations can make it the most stressful time of year.

Spending time with family members and friends who hold different personal, political, and cultural views can be very challenging and demand a lot of restraint in order to avoid the emergence of explosive arguments.

Although you might not be able to eliminate family dysfunction or shopping and travel stress, mindfulness tools can help you cope with these stressors more wisely.

Join us for a conversation with Piero Falci, Mindfulness Meditation and Mindful Living teacher, and the author of A Better Life in a Better World: Can Mindfulness Save Us from Ourselves? on how to apply nonviolence and mindfulness techniques in order to experience the minimum amount of stress and the maximum amount of joy during this season.

Fee: $30. Scholarships are available for anyone who cannot afford to attend. Email Erin at info@paceebene.org to request a scholarship. If you can pay the full fee, consider adding a higher amount for the scholarship fund to increase accessibility for others to participate. 

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Making Magic Happen: Heart & Spirit in Online Courses
Nov
9
4:00 PM16:00

Making Magic Happen: Heart & Spirit in Online Courses

  • Pace e Bene Online Course with Rivera Sun (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Making Magic Happen: Heart & Spirit in Online Courses

Two-hour training with Rivera Sun
Thursday November 9, 2023
4-6pm Pacific / 5-7pm Mountain / 6-8pm Central / 7-9pm Eastern
$30, scholarships available

This two-hour webinar with Pace e Bene Trainer Rivera Sun focuses on how a training on zoom can invoke our deep humanness. There are ways to foster a feeling of connection and profound meaning among the participants. As a facilitator, there are approaches that can help you infuse online webinars with soulfulness and a sense of heart. In this training, we will look at sharing personal stories, using storytelling in powerful ways, the importance of centering, how to lead a meditation or contemplative exercise, how to hold space and breathe through intensity, and the role of listening deeply and actively. In this webinar, you will also learn ways that you (as a facilitator) can invite participants to engage all these skills, too. 

You will learn:

  • How to stay centered and grounded

  • How to make your participants feel comfortable and relaxed

  • How to use poetry, quotes, and music to open hearts and minds

  • How to use stories to engage imagination

  • How to bring depth and soulfulness

  • And more … 

Pace e Bene trainers have facilitated dozens of courses and trained thousands of people online. Our course participants appreciate our personable, heart-centered approach. We emphasize participatory learning and use tech to tap into group knowledge and wisdom. From meditations to games to immersive exercises to role plays, we have skills to share with you about how to lead trainings with joy, laughter, soulfulness, humanness and professionality. Our approach to technology is to keep it simple and seamless, prioritizing human connection and deep learning. On top of this, we are fearless and playful in trying new things with virtual tech, leading to some of the most enjoyable and meaningful courses in nonviolence available online.

Sign up for all four of the Making Magic Happen Trainings here

We are gearing up to do a Train the Trainers Intensive with our Engaging Nonviolence Curriculum in February-March 2024. Interested? Let us know here.

Course Fee: $30. Scholarships are available for anyone who cannot afford to attend. Email Erin at info@paceebene.org to request a scholarship. If you can pay the full fee, consider adding a higher amount for the scholarship fund to increase accessibility for others to participate. 

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Beating Guns: Hope for People Weary of Violence
Nov
8
4:00 PM16:00

Beating Guns: Hope for People Weary of Violence

  • Friends of Pace e Bene Online Event (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Nuns Against Gun Violence is excited to host “Beating Guns: Hope for People Weary of Violence,” a webinar with author and activist Shane Claiborne. The webinar will take place on Zoom on November 8, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. ET.

Shane Claiborne is a prominent speaker, activist, and best-selling author. Claiborne is a champion for grace, which has led him to jail advocating for the homeless and to places like Iraq and Afghanistan to stand against war. Now grace fuels his passion to end the death penalty and help stop gun violence. His recent book Beating Guns: Hope for People Weary of Violence will serve as inspiration for his presentation. Claiborne will also address concrete ways that we can work for an end to gun violence.

Director of the Peace, Justice, and Ecological Integrity Office for the Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth, Rev. Terrence Moran notes, “Shane Claiborne is deeply rooted in gospel nonviolence and very experienced in dialogue across ideological divides.  Nuns Against Gun Violence is excited to offer this opportunity to learn from him.”

Following Claiborne’s presentation, two women religious will address how their congregations are addressing gun violence. Sr. Patricia Millen, OSF will address how her congregation, the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia, took a corporate stance on gun violence. Sr. Annette McDermott, SSJ will discuss the outreach of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Springfield to the people of Springfield after a recent episode of gun violence.

Jennifer Kryszak, Director of Strategic Planning for the Franciscan Peace Center, states, “We are living at a time when gun violence affects all segments of our society. This webinar will address some of the on-going effects of that violence by providing us with hope for a future free of gun violence and concrete ways that we as individuals and communities can take action.”

The webinar is open to the public. For more information about the webinar, please visit https://clintonfranciscans.com/news--events/event-calendar/event/2023/11/08/beating-guns-hope-for-people-who-are-weary-of-violence.

About Nuns Against Gun Violence

Nuns Against Gun Violence is a coalition of Catholic Sisters and their allies that affirms the value of human life through prayer, education, and advocacy for common sense, evidence-based, gun violence prevention. Formed in 2023, the coalition consists of more than 40 congregations of Catholic Sisters and allied organizations.

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Engaging Nonviolence: An Online Community Course
Nov
6
2:00 PM14:00

Engaging Nonviolence: An Online Community Course

  • Pace e Bene Online Course with Ken Butigan and Rivera Sun (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Engaging Nonviolence: An Online Community Course

Six-week course with Rivera Sun and Ken Butigan
Mondays November 6 - December 11, 2023
2-3:30pm Pacific / 3-4:30pm Mountain / 4-5:30pm Central / 5-6:30pm Eastern
$95, scholarships available

Join Rivera Sun and Ken Butigan in this 6-week series exploring transformational nonviolence for personal growth, healthy relationships, and a more just and peaceful world. Together, we’ll plumb the power of nonviolence as a way of life, a set of principles, a collection of practices for navigating conflict, and a toolbox for making change.

Pace e Bene has trained tens of thousands of people in exploring nonviolence. This Community Course is an introduction to principled and strategic nonviolence using Pace e Bene's Engaging Nonviolence Manual, and will familiarize participants with the overall contents of the Engaging Nonviolence study program. 

Participants will connect with up to 50 people who share their interests in discovering the many dimensions of the nonviolent life. It will be an opportunity to build community while tapping the power of nonviolence for transforming our daily lives and changing our society. And as an online series, you’ll engage with this exciting field from the comfort of your own home.

The Engaging Nonviolence course is designed to be accessible, fun, friendly, and fearless. Join us!

Cost: $95 USD. Need a scholarship? Just let us know. Our Solidarity Scholarships are open to everyone without hassle or fuss. Email us at info@paceebene.org

Note: Having a copy of Engaging Nonviolence is recommended but not required for participation in this course. All necessary course materials will be provided during lessons.

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Peaceful Cities: Local Strategies for Peacebuilding and Nonviolence
Oct
26
4:00 PM16:00

Peaceful Cities: Local Strategies for Peacebuilding and Nonviolence

  • Friends of Pace e Bene Online Event (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Join us for an engaging virtual learning event titled Peaceful Cities: Local Strategies for Peacebuilding and Nonviolence where we will explore how ordinary people can transform their cities to be more peaceful and connected places. This event features a panel discussion joined by leaders of place-based peacebuilding initiatives and city-wide nonviolent projects throughout the United States. Participants in this virtual learning event will leave with a better understanding of how to create harmony, justice, and positive change in their local areas using a variety of community organizing and bridgebuilding methods. In addition to our national panelists, Peace Through Action USA will discuss how its capstone Calvert Peace Project works to build and nourish a culture of peace through an emphasis on social and civic engagements. This free virtual learning event aims to inspire and incubate a variety of nonviolent approaches that participants can implement right at home.

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Campaign Nonviolence Affinity Groups—Virtual Gathering
Oct
25
3:00 PM15:00

Campaign Nonviolence Affinity Groups—Virtual Gathering

  • Pace e Bene Online Gathering with Rivera Sun and Ken Butigan (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Campaign Nonviolence Affinity Groups—Virtual Gathering

Wednesday, October 25, 2023
3-4:30pm PT / 4-5:30pm MT / 5-6:30pm CT / 6-7:30pm ET

Campaign Nonviolence Affinity Groups—October Gathering

Get connected and move into action! Campaign Nonviolence Affinity Groups are small teams of 5-15 people who build close-knit relationships and move into action together. (Find out more here.) Everyone is welcome to pop into our monthly virtual gathering of all the affinity group members, nationwide. You will hear what the current affinity groups are doing, find friends, or launch a group. Join us!

REGISTER BELOW

Facilitators

Rivera Sun

Ken Butigan

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A Mindful and Nonviolent Holiday Season
Oct
24
1:00 PM13:00

A Mindful and Nonviolent Holiday Season

  • Pace e Bene Online Course with Piero Falci (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

A Mindful and Nonviolent Holiday Season

with Piero Falci
One 90-minute session on Zoom
Tuesday October 24, 2023
1-2:30 pm Pacific / 2-3:30 pm Mountain / 3-4:30 pm Central / 4-5:30 pm Eastern
$30, scholarships available

Piero Falci

Let’s be honest. Although the end-of-the-year holidays are supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year, uncomfortable family gatherings, awkward office parties, crowded malls, airports, streets and parking lots, and other similarly unpleasant situations can make it the most stressful time of year.

Spending time with family members and friends who hold different personal, political, and cultural views can be very challenging and demand a lot of restraint in order to avoid the emergence of explosive arguments.

Although you might not be able to eliminate family dysfunction or shopping and travel stress, mindfulness tools can help you cope with these stressors more wisely.

Join us for a conversation with Piero Falci, Mindfulness Meditation and Mindful Living teacher, and the author of A Better Life in a Better World: Can Mindfulness Save Us from Ourselves? on how to apply nonviolence and mindfulness techniques in order to experience the minimum amount of stress and the maximum amount of joy during this season.

Fee: $30. Scholarships are available for anyone who cannot afford to attend. Email Erin at info@paceebene.org to request a scholarship. If you can pay the full fee, consider adding a higher amount for the scholarship fund to increase accessibility for others to participate. 

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Making Magic Happen: Simple & Seamless Tech For Online Trainings
Oct
19
4:00 PM16:00

Making Magic Happen: Simple & Seamless Tech For Online Trainings

  • Pace e Bene Online Course with Rivera Sun (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Making Magic Happen: Simple & Seamless Tech For Online Trainings

Two-hour training with Rivera Sun
Thursday October 19, 2023
4-6pm Pacific / 5-7pm Mountain / 6-8pm Central / 7-9pm Eastern
$30, scholarships available

The secret to wonderful online trainings is to keep tech simple . . . and do it well. In this two-hour course, facilitator Rivera Sun will guide you through the best tips and tricks to making facilitating online courses seamless and smooth. Whether you’re interested in facilitating nonviolence (Pace e Bene’s superpower) or something else, this fun and friendly training will help you keep your students engaged and lively. (And help you stay calm and relaxed.) You’ll learn not only the technological how-to’s, but also the “soft skills” of facilitating tech with grace and ease. We’ll also share what to do if tech glitches—because it happens. This course is for people who want to facilitate online meetings, webinars, courses, or discussion groups and are looking to skill-up their abilities. It is useful if you’ve never facilitated a webinar and if you’ve facilitated dozens. 

You will learn:

  • Zoom basics—and how to use them seamlessly 

  • How to make people feel comfortable using tech 

  • The art of using breakout rooms—set up, preparing participants, guidelines, time length, and debriefing

  • How to balance presentation, slides, video, breakout rooms & discussion

  • How to use the chatbox as a tool, not a distraction

  • How to stay centered and not get flustered over tech

  • Some ways to be inclusive of many learning styles and abilities

  • And much more!

Pace e Bene trainers have facilitated dozens of courses and trained thousands of people online. Our course participants appreciate our personable, heart-centered approach. We emphasize participatory learning and use tech to tap into group knowledge and wisdom. From meditations to games to immersive exercises to role plays, we have skills to share with you about how to lead trainings with joy, laughter, soulfulness, humanness, and professionality. Our approach to technology is to keep it simple and seamless, prioritizing human connection and deep learning. On top of this, we are fearless and playful in trying new things with virtual tech, leading to some of the most enjoyable and meaningful courses in nonviolence available online.

Here’s what course participants say about Rivera Sun’s ease with tech and facilitation:

“Your style of facilitation on zoom was effective and efficient and creative.”

“The way the course was facilitated was brilliant.”

“You made it look so easy! It was seamless.”

“Best online group facilitation of zoom I’ve ever experienced!”

These skills are meant to be shared. Join us—and bring some friends. 

Sign up for all four of the Making Magic Happen Trainings here

We are gearing up to do a Train the Trainers Intensive with our Engaging Nonviolence Curriculum in February-March 2024. Interested? Let us know here.

Course Fee: $30. Scholarships are available for anyone who cannot afford to attend. Email Erin at info@paceebene.org to request a scholarship. If you can pay the full fee, consider adding a higher amount for the scholarship fund to increase accessibility for others to participate. 

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Making Magic Happen Series
Oct
19
4:00 PM16:00

Making Magic Happen Series

Making Magic Happen Series

Four-part Series with Rivera Sun
Thursdays October 19, November 9, December 7, and January 11
4-6pm Pacific / 5-7pm Mountain / 6-8pm Central / 7-9pm Eastern
$85, scholarships available

With many trainings happening online, facilitating nonviolence (or anything) has gained new challenges. In this webinar series, trainer Rivera Sun will share how to make tech seamless and virtual trainings magical. This series will be interactive and participatory. It will be both philosophical and practical, offering outer skills like adaptations for Zoom and also look at the inner work of facilitation. Rivera Sun will offer best practices from training hundreds of people online throughout the pandemic and onward.

You can register for individual sessions, linked below, or sign-up for all 4 sessions at the bottom of this page—and get a 25% off discount!

These sessions are recommended for all Engaging Nonviolence facilitators, nonviolence trainers shifting to online webinars, educators on any subject, and others who hope to gain more skills at facilitating online.

Pace e Bene trainers have facilitated dozens of courses and trained thousands of people online. Our course participants appreciate our personable, heart-centered approach. We emphasize participatory learning and use tech to tap into group knowledge and wisdom. From meditations to games to immersive exercises to role plays, we have skills to share with you about how to lead trainings with joy, laughter, soulfulness, humanness and professionality. Our approach to technology is to keep it simple and seamless, prioritizing human connection and deep learning. On top of this, we are fearless and playful in trying new things with virtual tech, leading to some of the most enjoyable and meaningful courses in nonviolence available online.

Course Fee: $85. Scholarships are available for anyone who cannot afford to attend. Email Erin at info@paceebene.org to request a scholarship. If you can pay the full fee, consider adding a higher amount for the scholarship fund to increase accessibility for others to participate. 

Signing up after the series has started? You can still sign up for the full series and we will send you a recording of the sessions you missed.

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The Path to Nonviolence and the New Story
Oct
18
to Oct 19

The Path to Nonviolence and the New Story

  • Pace e Bene Online Book Club with Beyond War NW (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

The Path to Nonviolence and the New Story

Online Book Club hosted by Ann Cole, Martin Jones, and Kara Steffensen from Beyond War Northwest
Wednesdays, October 18 - November 15, 2023
4-5:30pm PT // 5-6:30pm MT // 6-7:30pm CT // 7-8:30pm ET
Fee: $80, scholarships available

You need to purchase the book separately. See below on how to find it.

The societal structures and culture that surround us create a story in which we live, and that story can be a strong determinant of our priorities, our values, and our actions. In this five-week book club, three special guest facilitators from Beyond War Northwest will lead an exploration of the stories we’ve been told and the uplifting alternative that awaits in The Third Harmony: Nonviolence and the New Story of Human Nature.

We are currently living in a world fraught with violence and war; a frantic, materialistic, consumer society, with an emphasis on accumulating stuff, with profit over people’s welfare, competition, separateness, distrust of others, exploitation of the natural world, and scarcity. In this Old Story, there is a socially indoctrinated sense of powerlessness.

But there is a New Story in the making based on science and the great wisdom traditions. It’s a world where nonviolence is growing, offering new humane alternatives to violence, hatred, and war; a world that is people-oriented, not profit-driven; where anger and fear are transformed into love and compassion; where competitiveness and separation are transformed into collaboration and inclusion; and where respect for all of creation replaces exploitation of nature.

We will study the history of nonviolence as developed and practiced by Gandhi, MLK, and others. Michael Nagler’s The Third Harmony: Nonviolence and the New Story of Human Nature shows how both physical and behavioral sciences support nonviolence as the natural human state. The book offers a roadmap for how to live nonviolently in thought, word and deed; and how to harness the power of nonviolent action to help bring about the New Story we hunger for.

In this course, each 90-minute session involves engaging readings, insightful discussions, and personal reflections on nonviolence. Learn from the wisdom of great leaders like Gandhi and MLK and explore how nonviolence can reshape our world. Special guest Michael Nagler joins the fifth session for an author Q&A. Join us for this journey towards a more compassionate and collaborative future.

About the Book

The problems that beset us—war, poverty, isolation, and the climate crisis—are rooted in an old story about the universe: purposelessness, scarcity, competition, and inevitable violence. Citing the convergence of modern science and the great wisdom traditions of the world, Michael Nagler argues that the universe is conscious and purposeful, we are spiritual beings, and cooperation and collaboration are our natural relationship. For this new story to unfold, to save ourselves from the present political and planetary disaster, nonviolence is essential.

Where to purchase The Third Harmony: Nonviolence and the New Story of Human Nature:

  • From Metta Center for Nonviolence: https://www.mettacenter.org/bookstore/p/the-third-harmony-book

  • From the publisher: https://bkconnection.com/books/title/The-Third-Harmony

  • Also available on Amazon.

Presenters

Ann Cole has been a Beyond War NW board member and participant since 2003. She has been trained in nonprofit management and has served on several boards. She is a licensed counselor and Dance/ Movement Therapist. After taking Michael Nagler's 6-month course on Nonviolence with Martin and Kara, the three have offered study groups on Third Harmony: Nonviolence and the New Story of Human Nature and an Ecochallenge course: Seeing Systems—Peace, Justice, and Sustainability.

Martin Jones is a retired physician living in Eugene, Oregon. He has been active in Beyond War since its “reboot” in 2002 and in Beyond War Northwest since its formation in 2011. The focus has been on education about the futility and horror of war, the interconnectedness of us all, and the many nonviolent options available to us to create a less violent and more peaceful world. He has been involved in peace and other public health issues such as gun control and anti-smoking campaigns. Martin is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and a former Oregon Physician Citizen of the Year. He has developed and taught Beyond War courses on creating a less violent world, and he has been a co-facilitator in The Third Harmony book studies as well as in “Seeing Systems: Peace, Justice and Sustainability”, a 6-week course developed by Ecochallenge.  

Kara Steffensen grew up in a large family in rural Oregon and has been involved in peacemaking and environmental protection since childhood. She has an academic background in Latin American Studies, Spanish and Philosophy. She has worked for the National Parks Foundation in Costa Rica, as a Spanish Medical interpreter in Eugene, and an assistant mural painter with youth and children. She has also been a community organizer for peace, democracy. and the environment in Eugene for over 30 years. She has worked with many local groups such as neighborhood associations, Our Children’s Trust, 350 Eugene, Ecomurals, and Beyond War Northwest. She is interested in building more bridges and inventing new, hybrid forms of activism and community building to strengthen the work of climate activists, democracy activists, and peacemakers. She is currently studying the work of Thomas Berry, Brian Swimme, and Teilhard de Chardin, which helps her to bring an Earth-centered approach to peacemaking and spiritual practices. She is married with two sons, and the family has a big garden. During the harvest season, she is busy, but you can often get good pie on her front porch this time of year, so if you visit Eugene, get in touch and stop on by.

Course Fee: $80. Scholarships are available for anyone who cannot afford to attend. Email Erin at info@paceebene.org to request a scholarship. If you can pay the full fee, consider adding a higher amount for the scholarship fund to increase accessibility for others to participate. 

Want more Third Harmony? Sign up for the film screening and discussion here.

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Third Harmony Film Screening & Discussion
Oct
1
1:00 PM13:00

Third Harmony Film Screening & Discussion

Third Harmony Film Screening & Discussion

Hosted by the Nonviolence Study & Practice Affinity Group
October 1, 2023
1-3pm PT // 2-4pm MT // 3-5pm CT // 4-6pm ET
Free, register below

Join us to watch the movie The Third Harmony: Nonviolence and the New Story of Human Nature together, and then have an online discussion of the movie. The Third Harmony tells the story of nonviolence, humanity’s greatest (and most overlooked) resource. As per Joanna Macy, "I am exhilarated and grateful to the filmmakers for bringing forth such a fine gift for the future of life on Earth. Hurray! and deep bows."

About the Film: Drawing on interviews with veteran activists like Civil Rights leader Bernard Lafayette, scientists like behaviorist Frans de Waal and neuroscientist Marco Iacoboni, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, political scientist Erica Chenoweth, futurist Elisabet Sahtouris and others, The Third Harmony tells the story of nonviolence, the greatest overlooked resource in human experience.

The film also delves into the important role that nonviolence plays in the wider struggle to develop a new theory of human nature, how every one of us can add to our personal growth and fulfillment while benefiting society through the use of this time-tested power.

About the Nonviolence Study & Practice Affinity Group: We are a small group that studies nonviolence and finds ways to apply it in our lives and communities. Sometimes, we attend a course together or explore a resource on the Pace e Bene website or YouTube page. Whether restorative circles, divesting, Soul of Nonviolence podcasts, Nonviolence News, nonviolence pledges, Engaging Nonviolence etc, there's a lot to put into practice! If you are interested in this, let us know here.

Want more Third Harmony? Join the book club here.

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Resist Through Redirection: Choose Your Own Adventure
Sep
23
9:00 AM09:00

Resist Through Redirection: Choose Your Own Adventure

  • Pace e Bene Online Workshop with Chrissy Kirchhoefer (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Resist Through Redirection: Choose Your Own Adventure

with Chrissy Kirchhoefer
Saturday, September 23, 2023
9-10:30am PT // 10-11:30am MT // 11am-12:30pm CT // 12-1:30pm ET
Free, register below

You don’t support global militarism, but do your dollars? If you protest the government’s involvement in wars and military actions, and you advocate for peace and nonviolence, have you considered how your taxes might be working against you? In this workshop, you’ll get the chance to learn about your role in financing the war machine and what you can do about it.

Join National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee (www.nwtrcc.org) outreach director Chrissy Kirchhoefer and members of Pace e Bene's War Tax Resistance Affinity Group for an engaging overview of the many options available for interrupting the smooth flow of resources into war and the resulting devastation to life, human and non human. Bring your questions, concerns, skepticism and friends—all are welcome!

About the Tax Resistance Affinity Group

If you want to end the war then instead of sending guns, send books. Instead of sending tanks, send pens. Instead of sending soldiers, send teachers. —Malala Yousafzai

What else is possible to do with the thousands of dollars we give to war each year, via our federal taxes? Could tax resistance serve as a vehicle for reparations for both domestic and foreign policy that has caused and causes harm? We meet monthly online to learn about historic and current forms of tax resistance, and related topics based on interest. Group members will support one another to discern how/whether to engage in tax resistance. If interested in joining the group, let the coordinators know here.

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#NoWar2023 Conference: Nonviolent Resistance to Militarism
Sep
22
to Sep 24

#NoWar2023 Conference: Nonviolent Resistance to Militarism

  • Pace e Bene Co-sponsored Event (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Pace e Bene/Campaign Nonviolence endorses this global 3-day conference on nonviolent resistance in the face of invasions, occupations, and military violence. Nonviolent resistance to war and militarism is of critical importance to building a culture of peace.

You say you're against war, but what's the alternative? Managing conflict nonviolently is one of the three core strategies of World BEYOND War's alternative global security system. But when the rule of law and diplomacy are failing and violence is underway, both seasoned activists and newcomers alike often question whether unarmed resistance can be effective against military invasion, occupation, and war. Throughout three days of virtual panels, training, and discussion sessions, #NoWar2023 will make the case for the efficacy of nonviolent resistance as a tool for conflict resolution, highlighting case studies from around the world of unarmed civilian based defense against invasions, occupations, and dictatorships.

Hosted virtually on the Zoom Events platform, World BEYOND War's #NoWar2023 annual global conference brings together peace and anti-war individuals and organizations from around the world to share, reflect, strategize, and organize towards the abolition of war.

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Campaign Nonviolence Affinity Groups—Virtual Gathering
Aug
30
3:00 PM15:00

Campaign Nonviolence Affinity Groups—Virtual Gathering

  • Pace e Bene Online Gathering with Rivera Sun and Ken Butigan (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Campaign Nonviolence Affinity Groups—Virtual Gathering

Wednesday, August 30, 2023
3-4:30pm PT / 4-5:30pm MT / 5-6:30pm CT / 6-7:30pm ET

Campaign Nonviolence Affinity Groups—August Gathering

Get connected and move into action! Campaign Nonviolence Affinity Groups are small teams of 5-15 people who build close-knit relationships and move into action together. (Find out more here.) Everyone is welcome to pop into our monthly virtual gathering of all the affinity group members, nationwide. You will hear what the current affinity groups are doing, find friends, or launch a group. Join us!

REGISTER BELOW

Facilitators

Rivera Sun

Ken Butigan

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Mindful and Nonviolent Communication: An Introduction
Aug
8
1:00 PM13:00

Mindful and Nonviolent Communication: An Introduction

  • Pace e Bene Online Course with Piero Falci (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Mindful and Nonviolent Communication

With Piero Falci
4 week course, 1.5 hour sessions
Tuesdays, August 8-29, 2023
1-2:30 pm Pacific / 2-3:30 pm Mountain / 3-4:30 pm Central / 4-5:30 pm Eastern
Fee: $65, scholarships available 

Join Piero Falci for a 4-part, experiential workshop where we will explore the elements of mindful communication as a nonviolence practice. In a participatory setting, you will learn to bring more awareness to your conversations with attentive listening and thoughtful speaking. Take your nonviolence practice to the next level through focusing on how you use words, speech, and dialogue with friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers.

Communication is a rich and complex activity. Most people can speak and listen, but not everyone is capable of communicating skillfully. Research has shown that one of the most important elements for mental, emotional, and physical health is a nourishing social network. Having a group of good friends is an incredibly powerful medicine. Healthy relationships are fundamentally important for our health, and communication has a huge impact on our relationships. Good, clear, efficient communication is the most fundamental element for preserving and improving relationships. Unskilled communications, on the other hand, create tensions that may become difficult to dissipate. 

This special 4-part workshop is presented as part of Pace e Bene’s mission to provide nonviolence training for nonviolence toward self, toward all others, and toward the world, through nonviolent thought, word, and deed. This course will be offered twice in 2023. Learn more about facilitator Piero Falci here

Cost: $65. If you are in need of a scholarship, just let us know. No one will be turned away. Email us at info@paceebene.org

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Gender Justice and Nonviolence 
Jul
27
5:00 PM17:00

Gender Justice and Nonviolence 

  • Pace e Bene Online Workshop with Rev. Jerry Maynard and Rev. Lauren Grubaugh-Thomas (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Gender Justice and Nonviolence 

Online workshop with Rev. Jerry Maynard and Rev. Lauren Grubaugh-Thomas
Thursday, July 27, 2023
5-6:30pm Pacific / 6-7:30pm Mountain / 7-8:30pm Central / 8-9:30pm Eastern
Fee: $35, scholarships available


Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. held that nonviolence is "a way of life for courageous people." This "way of life" includes all of who we are and who we are becoming, including our beautiful and diverse gender identities and expressions. As more and more people are targeted in our society because of their gender, faithful and strategic nonviolence is needed. Our trainers, Rev. Lauren Grubaugh-Thomas and Rev. Jerry Monroe Maynard, will lead us in exploring nonviolence as a powerful lens for gender justice in our churches, social circles, and global human family. You'll come away with practical tools rooted in proven strategies and informed by lived experiences. 

Fee: $35. Scholarships are available for anyone who cannot afford to attend. Email Erin at info@paceebene.org to request a scholarship. If you can pay the full fee, consider adding a higher amount for the scholarship fund to increase accessibility for others to participate. 

Facilitators

The Rev. Lauren Grubaugh Thomas (she/her) is a nurturer of faithful dissidents in Littleton, Colorado. She empowers communities to embrace the sacred art of nonviolent social change through her local church ministry, chaplaincy, and community organizing. A certified Kaleidoscope Institute dialogue Facilitator, she holds a Master of Divinity with an emphasis in Christian Ethics from Fuller Theological Seminary.

As a Two-Spirit Person (Xochihua) Father Jerry strives to offer healing medicine at the intersections of church & society through protest, praise, and community organizing in Houston, TX. For several years, Father Jerry has provided training in-person & online with different nonviolence/peace organizations—including Pace e Bene/Campaign Nonviolence—offering an integrated approach to faith-based social action. 

Father Jerry holds a Doctorate of New Theology from The New Theology School where they serve as The Berrigan Brothers Professor of Social Justice specializing in contextual & constructive theologies with areas of focus including gospel nonviolence, queer religious experiences, anti-oppression & peace studies. Father Jerry also holds a Master’s Degree in Contextual Ministry from Northwind Theological Seminary with a concentration in Postmodern Ministry & Leadership with master-level certifications as a Coach & Trainer. 

For more, click here.

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Campaign Nonviolence Affinity Groups—Virtual Gathering
Jul
26
3:00 PM15:00

Campaign Nonviolence Affinity Groups—Virtual Gathering

  • Pace e Bene Online Gathering with Rivera Sun and Ken Butigan (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Campaign Nonviolence Affinity Groups—Virtual Gathering

Wednesday, July 26, 2023
3-4:30pm PT / 4-5:30pm MT / 5-6:30pm CT / 6-7:30pm ET

Campaign Nonviolence Affinity Groups—July Gathering

Get connected and move into action! Campaign Nonviolence Affinity Groups are small teams of 5-15 people who build close-knit relationships and move into action together. (Find out more here.) Everyone is welcome to pop into our monthly virtual gathering of all the affinity group members, nationwide. You will hear what the current affinity groups are doing, find friends, or launch a group. Join us!

REGISTER BELOW

Facilitators

Rivera Sun

Ken Butigan

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A World of Change: Summer Film & Discussion Series
Jul
25
3:00 PM15:00

A World of Change: Summer Film & Discussion Series

  • Pace e Bene Online Film Series with Ken Butigan (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

A World of Change: Summer Film & Discussion Series

Online Series with Ken Butigan
Thursdays, July 27 - August 31, 2023
3-4:30pm PT / 4-5:30pm MT / 5-6:30pm CT / 6-7:30 ET
$65, scholarships available

Films. Friends. Fantastic stories. Fascinating conversations. Join Pace e Bene’s six-week summer film series featuring A Force More Powerful on the power of nonviolent action in South Africa, Poland, Chile, India, Denmark, and the US. In each of these six sessions, we will watch one of the incredible 30-minute documentary video segments on a classic nonviolent struggle for change. Then, Pace e Bene's Ken Butigan will share further insights, reflecting on the struggle's many lessons for building a more just and peaceful world today. In a fun, engaging, and participatory way, this course offers you a dive deep into the power of nonviolence to unleash social change. In groups discussions and breakout rooms, we will explore each example in depth. This six-week program will illuminate the steps for effective social transformation—and what it takes to change the world.

What YOU will gain:

  • Inspiration and empowering stories

  • Useful and applicable understanding of how nonviolent change occurs

  • Community and connection

  • Enlivening conversations

  • Tools you can apply to your situation

  • Knowledge you can use from local issues to global change

Highlights of the Film:

  • Historic footage of the Salt March in India

  • A look at the Nashville sit-ins' trainings and role plays

  • The escalating power of Poland's Solidarity strike

  • How pots-and-pans banging broke through fear of Chile's dictatorship

  • The power of timing in organizing a successful boycott in South Africa

  • Staggeringly courageous Danish resistance under Nazi occupation

A Force More Powerful is a documentary series available through the International Center for Nonviolent Conflict.

Pace e Bene’s Ken Butigan has been an organizer in a series of movements for social change, including campaigns addressing homelessness, nuclear weapons, freedom for East Timor, and US wars in Central America and Iraq.

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From Reflection to Action: An Interfaith Remembrance of the Trinity Test
Jul
16
3:00 PM15:00

From Reflection to Action: An Interfaith Remembrance of the Trinity Test

Friends of Pace e Bene Event

Impacted Communities and Religious Leaders Call for Nuclear Abolition

To commemorate the anniversary of the first detonation of an atomic weapon in 1945 at the nearby Trinity Test Site, the complete elimination of nuclear weapons must be prioritized.

“From Reflection to Action: An Interfaith Remembrance of the Trinity Test” will be held at:

Santa Maria de la Paz Community Hall,
11 College Ave, Santa Fe, NM 87508
4:00 pm MT Sunday July 16, 2023

 

This free public event will feature music, speakers, exhibitions, and moments of reflection and prayer. Pre-registration is encouraged, and the event will be live streamed.  

Pre-register: form.jotform.com/ASFPMD/July162023Event

Live stream: youtube.com/watch?v=2EnpL0aDQ1E

Among the scheduled speakers is Most Reverend John C. Wester, Archbishop of Santa Fe. “We can no longer deny or ignore the extremely dangerous predicament of our human family,” says Wester. “We are in a new nuclear arms race even more dangerous than the first, and I believe we need to rejuvenate a sustained, serious conversation about universal, verifiable nuclear disarmament.”

The Archbishop’s call is made more urgent by Putin’s nuclear saber rattling over Ukraine and the failure of nuclear weapons powers to ever honor the 1970 NonProliferation Treaty’s mandate to enter into serious negotiations leading to disarmament. All currently existing nuclear weapons powers are “modernizing” their arsenals to keep nuclear weapons forever. New Mexico is at the center of the U.S. government’s $1.7 trillion modernization plan, specifically with the expanded production of plutonium “pit” bomb cores at the Los Alamos Lab and disposal of resulting radioactive wastes at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.

Seventy-eight years ago the government didn’t warn or evacuate the estimated tens of thousands of people living within a 50-mile radius of the Trinity Test blast. The detonation produced more heat and light than the sun, generating radioactive ash that fell for days. The communities downwind of the blast saw a spike in infant deaths in the months after the explosion and, generations later, continue to suffer its effects.

“We don’t ask IF we’ll get cancer, we ask WHEN it will be our turn,” says Tina Cordova, event co-organizer and founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium. “The government basically walked away from the people of New Mexico and has taken no responsibility for all the sacrifice, suffering, and the dying.”

Attendees will learn about actions they can take toward a world without nuclear weapons, such as calling on members of Congress to co-sponsor H.Res.77, “Embracing the Goals and Provisions of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons” and joining forces with the grassroots Back from the Brink coalition to spur cities, towns, and counties across New Mexico to adopt resolutions urging the United States to prioritize negotiations with the other eight nuclear-armed states toward the complete elimination of nuclear weapons, and extend and expand victim assistance and environmental remediation related to local nuclear weapons activities.

The event is organized by the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, Soka Gakkai International-USA, Nuclear Watch New Mexico, Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, and United Church of Santa Fe. For more information, call the Archdiocese of Santa Fe’s Office of Social Justice at 505.831.8205. 

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From Conflict To Community: Transforming Conflicts Without Authorities
Jul
10
4:00 PM16:00

From Conflict To Community: Transforming Conflicts Without Authorities

  • Pace e Bene online book club with Rivera Sun and Gwen Olton (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

From Conflict To Community: Transforming Conflicts Without Authorities

4 Week Book Group on Zoom
facilitated by Rivera Sun w/ Author Q&A with Gwen Olton on July 31
Mondays, July 10-31
4-5:30pm PT // 5-6:30pm MT // 6-7:30pm CT // 7-8:30pm ET
$65, scholarships available

You need to purchase the book separately. See below on how to find it.

A perfect book discussion group for the movement to build a culture of active nonviolence! You will find volumes to talk about in this 4-week book group on Gwen Olton’s compelling book From Conflict To Community: Transforming Conflicts Without Authorities. Facilitated by Pace e Bene staff member Rivera Sun, each week will connect a set of chapters to our personal experiences and situations. On the last week, Author Gwen Olton will join us for a Q&A session. 

In divisive and contentious times like these, building our ability to handle conflict is essential. From family disputes to incidents in the streets, we need strengths and skills for sorting out the heated moments that are cropping up everywhere. From Conflict To Community is a book that helps us see our nonviolent capacity to deal with a wide range of challenges. It also directly invites us to do so without reliance on the police or other authorities. (An approach that aligns with many aspects of social justice work and our vision of a nonviolent culture.) 

Bring a friend. Get your book. And get ready for a powerful 4-week discussion group! 

About the Book

Conflict is everywhere: our living rooms, our streets, our community organizations, and every corner of the internet. But few of us have the training to successfully intervene or resolve these conflicts. In these pages, professional peacemaker Gwendolyn Olton shows you how to use your existing skills and intuition to transform a wide variety of conflicts from insurmountable impasses to working relationships where everyone's needs are met. The result is a practical, kind, realistic guidebook for anyone who's found themselves in a conflict (their own or someone else's) and wondered, How did we get here and what can I do to make it better!? 

The book is broken up into three sections: learn the basics of conflicts, help others work out their conflicts, and finally, resolve and heal the conflicts in your own life. Filled with real life examples and thought-provoking scenarios, Olton offers a variety of conflict analysis and conversation tools that you can use to navigate the most challenging interpersonal dynamics, and to better understand yourself and others along the way—all without calling HR or the cops.

Where to get From Conflict to Community: Transforming Conflicts Without Authorities:

About the Author

Gwendolyn Olton brings her unique background in mental health nursing and conflict transformation to her work as the Interim Director of the MK Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence in Rochester, NY. She is a lifelong learner of communication models and group processes that help transform conflicts to leverage for more systemic and liberatory change. She is an Appreciative Inquiry facilitator, member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers, restorative process facilitator, transformative mediator, and an Apprentice Provider with the Nonviolent Global Liberation Community. Gwen studied philosophy (as well as geological sciences) at the University of Rochester, nursing at St. John Fisher College, and obtained a master's in peace and conflict resolution from Arcadia University.

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Campaign Nonviolence Affinity Groups—Virtual Gathering
Jun
28
3:00 PM15:00

Campaign Nonviolence Affinity Groups—Virtual Gathering

  • Pace e Bene Online Gathering with Rivera Sun and Ken Butigan (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Campaign Nonviolence Affinity Groups—Virtual Gathering

Wednesday, June 28, 2023
3-4:30pm PT / 4-5:30pm MT / 5-6:30pm CT / 6-7:30pm ET

Campaign Nonviolence Affinity Groups—June Gathering

Get connected and move into action! Campaign Nonviolence Affinity Groups are small teams of 5-15 people who build close-knit relationships and move into action together. (Find out more here.) Everyone is welcome to pop into our monthly virtual gathering of all the affinity group members, nationwide. You will hear what the current affinity groups are doing, find friends, or launch a group. Join us!

On June 28, we are holding a special training on virtual role plays. Please come prepared to enjoy 1.5 hrs of skills, examples, experiments, and, yes, role plays! These are skills that you can use in your affinity groups or in other trainings/groups you are part of. From brainstorming nonviolent solutions to conflicts with friends to learning de-escalation skills, the ability to comfortably do a role play on zoom is an essential capacity for us all. Everyone is welcome. No prior experience is needed. This training is also open to everyone, whether you're part of an affinity group, looking to join one, or just curious about virtual role plays! 

REGISTER BELOW

Facilitators

Rivera Sun

Ken Butigan

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Nurturing Nonviolence Drop-In Class: Using a Needs Lens for Sustainable Practices in our Home
Jun
26
4:30 PM16:30

Nurturing Nonviolence Drop-In Class: Using a Needs Lens for Sustainable Practices in our Home

  • Pace e Bene Online Class with Sarah Kmon (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Nurturing Nonviolence Drop-In Class: Using a Needs Lens for Sustainable Practices in our Home

Online Workshop with Sarah Kmon
Monday, June 26th, 2023
4:30-6pm Pacific / 5:30-7pm Mountain / 6:30-8pm Central / 7:30-9pm Eastern
$20, scholarships available

Back by popular demand! Sarah Kmon's Nurturing Nonviolence At Home Series will now be offered as drop-in classes.

We will begin the journey of moving from shame to mattering, from helplessness to choice, from scarcity to flow, from separation to togetherness through the lens of needs. Building trust and connection through Nonviolent Communication.

Space is limited. If you plan to watch the recording and not attend live, please let us know at info@paceebene.org after you sign up below so we can keep registration open for as many people as possible.

About the Nurturing Nonviolence Series:

Do you want to:

Deepen (or begin) a practice of nonviolence at home?

  • Move from a punitive to a restorative model in your household?

  • Speak your truth to your family with the care that they want to receive?

  • Remove punishments but don’t know what to do instead?

  • Know how to support your children’s squabbles instead of refereeing?

Then these drop-in sessions are for you. Each week, Sarah Kmon will facilitate a participatory, small group opportunity to learn and practice around a different theme. The sessions help people like you take a deep dive into nonviolence at home—a home-revolution, where we learn to place needs at the center of the family system. These workshops are intended for parents or caregivers for children.

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