Pax Christi members seek to change world

"We take an annual promise of nonviolence, and, personally, you live it out as much as you wish," explained Clifton Park resident Jeanne Fletcher, a Catholic and the organizer of Pax Christi North Country. "You can be involved in peace activities and good works."

Founded in 1945 in France, Pax Christi first focused on reconciling French and German Catholics after World War II. Today, there are chapters all over the world, with members dedicated to promoting social justice -- often through nonviolent civil disobedience.

Issues of concern

Pax Christi North Country, part of the organization's upstate New York region, came to be in the late 1990s. Ms. Fletcher said she helped create the local chapter "because I wanted to be part of doing something" to change issues she cared about, "rather than talking about them."

Local members are indeed "doing something." Pax Christi North Country's major event is an annual meeting and weekend with peace activist Rev. Daniel Berrigan at Pyramid Life Center in Paradox. The group has also sponsored a showing of "Entertaining Angels," the film biography of Dorothy Day; helped with letter-writing campaigns; and pitched in at advocacy days for migrant farmworkers.

Taking action

An Immaculate Heart of Mary sister who runs a clinic in the mountains gets some of the donations; another woman religious who runs a Haitian school has received money.

Collecting and redeeming the bottles in the well-off community of Clifton Park is "a very humbling task," Ms. Fletcher noted quietly.

Linkages

Pax Christi members also do "unadvertised" good works. Ms. Fletcher remarked that three bags of groceries are always left anonymously on one needy family's doorstep; the family is aware that the food comes from Pax Christi, but nothing is said about it.

Some members take their commitment to nonviolence further, traveling to Washington, D.C., for example, to protest the continued existence of the SOA or becoming involved in other protests.

'Way of life'

"It's a way of life. It's not a club," she stated. "It's trying to live a peace-filled life, not a peaceful life. There's a difference."

Gesturing at the bright sunlight outside, she explained: "This is a peaceful day. But when you live a peace-filled life, you're trying to bring something to the day, as well as taking something."

(To find out more about Pax Christi North Country, call 371-5235 or 654-2086, or email [email protected].)

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