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October 2003
Peace
Camp Featured at Conference
At its
annual conference held at the Sheraton-Station Square in Pittsburgh
October 10-12, 2003, the National Communicators Network of
Women Religious (NCNWR) featured the Sisters of St. Joseph
Peace Camp as a program initiative that successfully illustrated
its conference theme, "The Point: Where Mission, Ministry
and Message Meet."
Sisters
Anna Marie Gaglia, Rosemarie Schwartz and Mary Pellegrino,
along with Barbara Hecht, public relations director for the
Congregation, offered a panel presentation to conference participants
highlighting the ways in which the Peace Camp is a lived expression
(ministry) of the Sisters’ mission of drawing people
into closer union with one another and with God.
The panelists
shared ways in which the Sisters’ mission was made visible
through various aspects of Peace Camp and how this mission
was enfleshed in relevant and needed ways in today’s
culture.
Peace
Camp made visible the Sisters’ commitment to unity and
reconciliation, reverence for Earth, to non-violent ways of
living, their spirit of hospitality and emphasis on establishing
and building relationships in order to bring about the mission
of union and reconciliation.
While
making the mission visible, the Peace Camp also responded
to urgent needs within today’s culture such as the need
to counteract pervasive violence, the need for peaceful solutions
to conflict, and the need to teach young people to be "peace
makers," role models, mentors and leaders in the ways
of peace and non-violence.
Four high
school students who participated in Peace Camp as junior counselors
were also on hand with the conference participants to teach
them first-hand some of the songs and sign language that are
used during the camp to communicate the message of peace in
a fun, entertaining and artistic way.
The panelists
also highlighted for the conference participants, many of
whom are involved in public relations and development efforts
for women’s religious communities, the ways in with a
program like Peace Camp can be a vital tool for raising awareness
of the mission, ministry and message that a religious congregation
brings to the world.
In addition
to highlighting the Peace Camp itself, the Sisters also shared
with conference participants the outgrowth that has taken
place since the first Peace Camp in 2001 and the effect their
participation in the camp has had on the children, high school
and students and particularly the young adult counselors.
Since the first camp in 2001 some young adult counselors have
gone on for further training in non-violence through Pax Christi,
another has conducted a three-day peace camp in Detroit at
a soup kitchen run by Capuchin Franciscan Friars; others report
that they are more active in peace-related efforts in their
personal and academic lives and others have chosen courses
of study and career paths that they report are directly influenced
by their involvement in the camp.
This past
summer five former young adult counselors planned and helped
to staff another two-week Peace Camp experience in an inner-city
parish in Philadelphia. Following the presentation many conference
participants were eager to learn more about utilizing this
program in their own locations and with their own congregations.
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Sisters of St Joseph - Baden
1020 State Street, Baden PA 15005
724.869.2151 | 412.761.3700 | Fax: 724.869.3336
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