Pax Christi International
Pax Christi Maine is a region of Pax Christi USA (PCUSA), which is a member of Pax Christi International (PCI), the Catholic peace movement. The name Pax Christi is Latin for Peace of Christ and goes back to our founding at the end of WW II in France. Bishop Pierre Marie Theas and Marie-Marthe Dortel Claudot founded Pax Christi for reconciliation between France and Germany; hence, its first and foremost agenda item to this day is reconciliation. The primary means by which reconciliation was to be achieved was prayer with a focus on Germany. The future Pope John XXIII encouraged that this mission be expanded to a “Prayer Crusade for the Nations.” Pope Pius XII gave Pax Christi his blessing in a letter drafted by the future Pope Paul VI. It was he who dubbed Pax Christi “the Catholic Peace Movement,” our ultimate agenda. In 1995, fifty years after its founding, Pope John Paul II graced hundreds of members of Pax Christi from around the world with a papal audience at which he described our mission most eloquently. In part he stated:
1) Faced with hatred, and lack of respect for human beings and their fundamental rights, your movement has never stopped campaigning for peace and reconciliation.
3) (Pax Christi’s) name reminds us strongly of the origin of true peace: the Lord, who inspires in our hearts the grace of conversion and reconciliation, and shows the path to being truly human.
4) During the last few years, your movement has also worked patiently and disinterestedly for unity and dialogue between Christians and other religions.
5) I should also like to bring before you the appeals sent out by my predecessors and by me…about the need to move down the path to disarmament.
7) But the reduction of arms, disarmament and absence of war do not lead to immediate peace. We have to create a culture of life and of peace.
8) Through your words and your life, the world may recognize that peace is a gift of God; that peace is possible for the world in Christ, our Passover and our lasting peace.
Read Pope John Paul II’s full statement here.
Pax Christi’s agenda remains the same these many years later—internationally, nationally, and statewide. While the specific issues may evolve with the times, we continue to promote peace and social justice for all, grounded in the Gospel, especially the Beatitudes, and in the rich body of Catholic Social Teaching. It is an authentically Catholic organization, not modeled after Constantine’s church of the 3rd to 4th century or a medieval monarchy, but on Jesus. Through prayer, study, and action, Pax Christi members everywhere strive to witness to the Peace of Christ.
Pax Christi USA
Pax Christi began in the United States in 1972, thanks to the initiative of a handful of U.S. Catholics, mostly lay people. Pax Christi USA has had the flexibility to change and adapt as the world has changed, embracing a variety of issues and shaping our identity to faithfully bring the message of the gospel to bear on what was happening in the world by reading the signs of the times. The four priority areas of PCUSA are
- Spirituality of Nonviolence and Peacemaking
- Disarmament, Demilitarization, and Reconciliation with Justice
- Economic and Interracial Justice in the United States
- Human Rights and Global Restoration.
As an incredibly vital part of Pax Christi USA’s identity as a grassroots’ movement, state chapters like Pax Christi Maine develop opportunities for prayer, study and action within their area, mobilize support for Pax Christi USA initiatives, and provie resources and connections for their members.
Pax Christi Maine
Pax Christi Maine was founded by Fr. Jim Gower in 1980. Jim had served in the navy in WWII and rejected war thereafter. He took a leave of absence from his post as curate in Waterville and made two circuits of the country, driving from parish to parish, celebrating the Eucharist, preaching peace, then meeting with interested parishioners and urging them to join Pax Christi and gather a local group. Mainers responded by gather several groups.
Members were engaged in early years of PCM history in anti-war efforts and the Nuclear Freeze Campaign and in 1995 Pax ChristiMaine hosted the national Assembly of PaxChristi USA. Annual retreats have been blessed with the spiritual and practical leadership of Daniel Berrigan, SJ, William Callahan, SJ, Richard Rohr, OFM, John Dear, SJ, Edwina Gately, Miguel D’Escoto, MM, Rev. Richard Snyder, Sr. Joan Chittister, OSB, Anne Sibley O’Brien, Sherri Mitchell, and many others.
In 1995 Pax Christi Maine hosted the national Assembly of Pax Christi USA. Annual retreats have been blessed with the spiritual and practical leadership of Daniel Berrigan, SJ, William Callahan, SJ, Richard Rohr, OFM, Rev. John Dear, Edwina Gately, Miguel D’Escoto, MM, Rev. Richard Snyder, Sr. Joan Chittister, OSB and many others.
