In 2017, on the 50th anniversary of the Vatican's first World Day of Peace message, Pope Francis issued the groundbreaking statement, "Nonviolence: A Style of Politics for Peace." It was perhaps the Vatican's first official statement on active nonviolence and it raises a number of important questions for the world Church: Is God nonviolent, and does God want us to renounce violence as well? In a violent world, does nonviolence work?
As part of World Catholicism Week 2019, DePaul will host the 11th annual World Catholicism Week Conference on May 3 - 5, titled "Put Away Your Sword: Gospel Nonviolence in a Violent World." Organized by DePaul's Center for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology, each year the event gathers scholars from around the world to explore a particular topic.
This year, speakers from Lebanon, Kenya, Colombia, India, Brazil, Italy, Croatia, the U.S. and the Philippines will explore nonviolence through five different lenses, each a different round-table discussion:
- Theologies of nonviolence
- Martyrdom and the cross
- Practices of nonviolent peacebuilding and the "responsibility to protect"
- Gender and nonviolence
- Grassroots church formation of people in the practice of nonviolence
Put Away Your Sword: Gospel Nonviolence in a Violent World
Friday, May 3 - Sunday, May 5
Lincoln Park Student Center, room 314 A/B