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Vatican Address at U.N. on Disarmament:  "Unjust Status Quo Will Continue Fueling Conflicts" 

Content of the first edition of the Pax Christi USA Young Adult Forum’s electronic newsletter, LWH-Online!

American Friends Service Committee News Release (September 13, 2001) 

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops - Social Development and World Peace

M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence - A Special Message:  Terrorism & Nonviolence

O God, I do not know where to turn in a time of terrorism. I have no easy answers or solutions to acts of terror against the innocent. When buildings explode without warning, when the defenseless are murdered without reason, I am tempted to retaliate with vengeance. I am tempted to place the flag above the cross and put my faith in the state rather than the Sermon on the Mount. I am afraid to face my deepest fears of suffering and death, both for myself and those I love. 

O God, be merciful to me a sinner and understand my weakness, my lack of trust. I lift my heart to a God of forgiveness, of compassion, of peace. I believe that You are not present in any act of violence. I believe that every human being is a child of God and that all nations and religions are embraced by You. I believe that violence ignites greater violence and that in the long line of history our only lasting legacy is love. 

I recommit myself to nonviolence as a witness of your love. I will cast out fear and boldly live love for neighbor and enemy. I will cast out fear and renounce hatred, desire for revenge and works of war. I will cast out fear and publicly proclaim that You are a God of unlimited and unconditional love.

I recommit myself to nonviolence as a witness of your love. I will embrace the suffering of others and wipe every tear from their eyes. I will devote my days to works of mercy and justice, not to deeds of death and destruction. I will give my passion to kindness and beauty and imagination. I commit to hope and the children of tomorrow. 

Amen. 

By Mary Lou Kownacki, OSB
 

“My hope is that we’ll find a way as a nation to look at this in a much broader perspective. We need to ask the question ‘why?’ Why would anybody go to this extreme, to kill themselves and thousands of others? When I begin to think about it, it reminds me of a slave rebellion…when people are so oppressed that they have nothing to lose by killing themselves.”
     Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, Detroit
     Former Bishop President of Pax Christi

“Vengeance is not Justice. The only kind of justice that will honor the memory of all those who lost their lives is a justice based on international law, not reckless retribution.”
     Pax Christi USA

     “I think the perpetrators need to be brought to justice But we have to distinguish between justice and violence. It disturbs me profoundly that President Bush says we will make no distinction between terrorists who commit such acts and those who harbor them. And yet distinctions must be made between the guilty and the innocent, between the perpetrators and the civilians who may surround them, between those who commit atrocities and those who may simply share their religion or political points of view. Justice must be targeted toward those who are guilty and must be done according to the rule of law. If at all possible, they (the culprits) should be apprehended and brought to stand trial, to be found guilty or innocent by proper authorities. This is what it means to live according to law. Vigilantism, whether it be by a superpower or individuals, is always wrong.
     Terrorism will end when all nations great and small adhere to and are accountable to international law. As long as the strong can lord it over the weak, terrorism will be the choice of the disenfranchised.”
      Tom Cordaro
      Chair, Pax Christi USA Board
 

September 13, 2001 

Arab NGO's denounce the criminal terrorist attack on American and non- American innocent civilians on Tuesday. 

Arab human rights organizations have always based their advocacy for individual and collective  human rights on one standard; they have always denounced all barbaric attacks on Palestinian and Iraqi as well as other civilians. Likewise, Arab human rights organizations denounce the barbaric onslaught on American civilians. 

We do hope that the American authorities would comply with the principles of the international law in hunting down and punishing the perpetrators. We also hope that the American authorities would not to carry out any collective punishments, which would increase the number of innocent victims. 

Henceforth, the undersigned organizations express their concern about the growing incitement campaign, which is a form of racial discrimination, against Arabs and Muslims in America and Europe -irrespective of who would be held accountable at the end of investigations-. 

Signatures:
                  Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
                  Palestinian Center for Human Rights, Gaza
                  LAW - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights     
                        and the Environment
                  Ittijah - Union of Arab Community Based Associations (consisting 56 
                        NGO's)
                  Al-Mizan Human Rights Center, Gaza
                  Palestinian NGO Network (consisting 68 NGO's)
                  Moroccan Organisation for Human Rights
                  The Truth & Equity Forum in Morocco
                  The Sudanese Human Rights Group
                  The New Jordan Center for Studies
                  The Bahraini Association for Human Rights
                  The Palestinian Association for Human Rights in Lebanon
                  Hisham Mubarak Law Center, Egypt
                  The Arab Center for Judiciary Independence and Advocacy, Egypt
                  The Human Rights Center for Prisoners' Aid, Egypt
                  The Egyptian Center for Women Rights
                  The Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights
                  The New Center for Women Studies, Egypt
                  The Committees for Defense of Human Rights, Syria
                  Human Rights Center for Information and Rehabilitation, Yemen
                  Al-Khartoum Center for Human Rights and Environmental 
                        Development
                  The Sudanese Group for Torture Victims
                  An-Nadim Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence
                  As-Shaqa'ik Arab Forum for Human Rights, Yemen