 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
In the lead article (pp. 4-5), BVM Anne Carr relates our varied ministries with “the myriad ways that moral values are at the heart of our lives in the present.” This subject is dear to my heart, because BVM Ministry of Presence grants have enabled me to minister in Peacemaking Education. Peacemaking is a moral imperative. As we saw in Anne Carr's article, our moral values flow from our relationships with God. The Old Testament covenant was also a relationship with God. “And like any genuine relationship it is primarily a matter of the heart, of the inner personal intention. … Behavior is at most the consequence. The core reality lies … at the level of the Spirit,” writes Timothy O'Connell. Jesus affirmed the central law of loving God and neighbor and gave us some practical consequences: be reconciled with your sister or brother before making an offering to God (Matthew 5:23-25). So, peacemaking is at the heart of the Christian message. Going beyond the minimum requirement of reconciliation with each other, we see harmony flourishing in Christian community with its twofold realization, fellowship among Christians, koinonia, and its service to all who are in need, diakonia (O'Connell, 26). In our world today, peacemaking may seem to be a pie-in-the-sky ideal. “The twentieth century was the most violent century in all of history. … 160 million people were killed by war and oppression. In just the last decade of the last century, in the 1990s, more children were killed in war than any other group of people,” notes Bishop Thomas Gumbleton.
Hope in Children Is there hope? Yes! I have worked with grade-school children who are hungry for peaceful ways to resolve conflicts. They are attentive to the peacemaking and conflict resolution lessons and can recall them months later. More importantly, they apply those lessons outside the classroom. Dan, a fifth-grader, held a mediation session with his eighth-grade twin sisters during the summer following his peer mediation training. Tom, a sixth-grader, identified his older brother's middle-of-the-night tirade as a sign that some basic needs were not being satisfied. Peacemaking Education is not just about imparting knowledge; it is also nurturing individuals who are effective and passionate about bringing about peace in our world. The lessons themselves should be peaceful. We usually do some quiet breathing at the beginning of class, and the students invariably remind me if I forget. When we have Circle sharing, the students are disarmingly open with each other, creating situations that model the essence of Christian community. Several years ago Jane Keple, a social worker, and I began the practice of addressing the students as peacemakers. One day when I arrived at school, third-grader Tasha alerted me to the importance of the message that we are all peacemakers when she said, “Today you shouldn't call us peacemakers.” After finding out that she and another student had gotten on the “conflict escalator” (and didn't get off quickly enough), I started asking each class whether peacemakers ever had conflicts. At first they said, no, but they now know differently. Peacemakers do have conflicts, but they try to work them out so that no one gets hurt. We need to know that even though we sometimes fail we can keep trying. Literature, music, and role plays speak to children's hearts. Andrew's Angry Words by Dorothy Lachner teaches that words can be harmful, and a child is likely to take the message to heart without the defense or resistance he might feel toward a lecture addressed to him or her. Before many of the classes we sing “We're Peacemakers.” One kindergarten student confided that when she gets off the bus after school she sings the song on the way home. What a great way to plant seeds of peace, a child singing, “We're Peacemakers, Peacemakers. We can do our part.” Carr's article identified racism as one of the societal elements influencing our moral commitments. Children's literature, with its rich themes of both personal and cultural diversity, as well as the discussions and activities which follow, is a great resource for addressing racism or exclusion. One activity involves reading a list of words which describe shades of skin color (cinnamon, sand, peanut butter, redwood and so on) and then asking each child to name a shade that describes his or her own skin color. Their smiles indicate the joyful aspects in this celebration of diversity. Three multicultural dolls made by retired Sisters at Mount Carmel also help us celebrate our diversity; the students love them and often ask me to bring them to class so they can take turns holding them. I teach in order to promote peace in our world, but there is more; my ministry is greatly affected by the discernment discussed in Carr's article. I see Peacemaking Education as my way of responding to the love of Jesus and following Him. This is the best way for me right now, a way that is more than ethically right or wrong. It is a way that is aligned with the words of Frederick Buechner, “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.” About the author: Carol Spiegel, BVM (Ann Carla) works with seven inner-city Catholic and Charter Schools in the Twin Cities. She is currently writing an annotated bibliography of children's literature using peacemaking and conflict resolution themes. References:
Return
to Table of Contents |
