Michigan Peace Team

This was forwarded by community member Mary S., who knows one of the participants. This can give a profound snapshot of the kinds of things peacemakers do in the world! Most Americans probably do not even realize that people do such things.

It may seem like we are advertising for a lot of events that are not directly related to the Columbus Catholic Worker, lately. This is true. As we discern the direction for our justice ministry, we've selected a few noteworthy events that seem to resonate and relate to discussions we've had. When we sit in bewilderment in the face of injustice and wonder, "what in the world can we do about it?" something like the following can give some ideas:


Dear family and friends,

We may have told you (or you may have heard) that we are going to the West Bank in Palestine for a month with the Michigan Peace Team (MPT). We thought you might be interested in hearing more about this endeavor.

MPT is an international organization based in Lansing, MI that supports teams of 4-6 people to work to end the occupation of the West Bank and to advocate for a just peace for all Israelis and Palestinians.

We will be living in Palestine from approximately Sept. 10 to Oct. 10. Our goal will be to help prevent violence in simple ways: for example, walking kids to school to avoid harassment by illegal settlers or Israeli occupying forces, staying in Palestinian homes that are targeted for demolition, participating in nonviolent demonstrations near the wall that has been built to protect illegal settlers.

We will also use the new camera we have just purchased to document human rights abuses and other forms of harassment that take place in this area. To see the work that we are doing as members of the Fall Team, you can go to http://www.michiganpeaceteam.org/ and click on Teams. Reports will be posted there during the time we are there. We hope that, when we return, we will have an opportunity to share with you in person what we did and how we view the problems in that troubled country.

There will be six persons on our Team. Martha, Tom and Mary will arrive first and be followed by Lois, Fred, and Abby. We will live in a house rented by MPT. We know there will be a certain amount of tension, and perhaps even some element of danger--but we are not expected to be (nor intend to be) heroes, so we feel we will have a good experience and hopefully make a small contribution to the peace process.

If you would like to learn more about the Michigan Peace Team or would like to support their efforts for nonviolent peace in Israel/Palestine, please go to the above web-site. Your prayers will also be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,
Tom and Mary

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Note: Another member of the Michigan Peace Team is Fr. Peter Dougherty, who we had the privilege to meet at the Pax Christi Conference last month. We hope to invite him for our opening retreat to kick-off the Pax Christi chapter here.