Pax Christi Summit Monthly Meeting Notes

The following are some general notes from our last monthly Pax Christi Summit meeting which was held at 7:30 PM on June 21st at Cafe Mavi in Summit. In attendance were, Mary Kate McNeil, Pat Franks, Stephen Spiro, Don Hessemer, Kathy O’Leary and Sr. Guadalupe Nieto.

We decided to pass a resolution opposing the Death Penalty in New Jersey to be sent to Celeste Fitzgerald at New Jerseyans for Alternative to the Death Penalty.

Pat Franks suggested that we actively recruit new members who were of a new category she refered to as “spiritual members”. These are members that cannot necessarily attend meetings, but agree with the core values of Pax Christi Summit. These members would be on the email lists and would be asked to contact legislators on particular issues, sign petitions, help communicate events, etc.

Pat also suggested that we make copies of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture available by leaving them in the literature racks at the back of the church. Pat also suggested that we do the same with literature that is available from Pax Christi USA.

Don Hessemer announced that St. Bartholomew’s in Scotch Plains will be holding a lecture series on the seven themes of Catholic Social Justice Teaching. The lectures will be weekly beginning on September 7th and concluding on September 28th. He will provide us with more details.

Some time was spent discussing the upcoming Just Faith course at St. Teresa’s. We were in agreement that this is a worthwhile course as an introduction to social justice and effective at creating awareness and interest. Although the members of Pax Christi may not have the time to devote to a 30 week course it is something that we think is worth us spending some time to promote to others.

We discussed the possibility of sitting on the plaza after the weekend masses in the fall and registering people to vote and distributing non-partisan Catholic voting guides. Generally there was agreement with the value of the idea, but more discussion was needed.

We discussed the format, dates and logistics of holding a Just War workshop prior to the peace vigil that we were already planning for the fall. One date that was agreeable to everyone was October 21st.

The format that exists from the Catholic Peace Fellowship calls for a keynote address on Friday night and the workshop the following day. One option for a venue for the workshop is the Archdiocesan Youth Retreat in Kearny. Mary Kate suggested that if we are to hold something on Friday night that we not hold it in Kearny which will be difficult to get to in Friday night traffic. There was general agreement on this point.

The idea of holding the vigil on Friday night at the Rosary Shrine as a opening event was discussed. Stephen Spiro suggested that we try to get Father Dan Berrigan to speak at the vigil. According to Stephen he does not ask for fee, we would just have to provide transportation from his residence in Manhattan. The group thought this was an idea worth investigating.

Mary Kate suggested that we have another meeting that was just a planning meeting for the workshop and vigil. After consulting our calendars for dates, the meeting was adjourned.