Ten Days in May: “The 25th Anniversary of The Challenge of Peace”
April 25th, 2008
Twenty-five years ago this May 3, the U.S. bishops issued The Challenge of Peace: God’s Promise and Our Response. The document came to be known as “the peace pastoral” and forever enshrined “peacemaking” as an imperative of our faith. It was a strong, prophetic statement during a time when our own country was enthralled with its military power and engaged in an arms race spurred on by the Cold War with the Soviet Union. The peace pastoral both affirmed the work that Pax Christi USA had undertaken and worked for since 1972 and encouraged us to move even more boldly into the future with our aim of making peacemaking an imperative of our Church.
Beginning Friday, May 2, the eve of the anniversary, and continuing through Sunday, May 11, we will pray individually and communally, in Mass and in small prayer circles, both for peace in our world and for a stronger commitment to build and proclaim peace from our Church; we will educate within our parishes, schools, dioceses, and small groups on the rich Catholic heritage of peacemaking so that every Catholic in the United States will understand that peacemaking is a gospel imperative; and we will act for peace in our world, leafletting at our churches, marching in the streets, or standing vigil at federal buildings and military recruitment centers throughout our communities. We ask individuals, groups, and regions to consider what part they might play in this effort to witness for peace during the “Ten Days in May.”
For more information, please visit the Pax Christi USA website.
