Planning is underway for the United Nation's annual September 21 observance of the International Day of Peace.
The International Day of Peace provides an opportunity for individuals, organizations and nations to create practical acts of peace on a shared date.
The United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution in 1981 creating the day. In 2001, they adopted a new resolution designating September 21 as the actual day for the yearly observance.
The resolution stated that the International Day of Peace should "be observed as a day of global ceasefire and non-violence, an invitation to all nations and people to honor a cessation of hostilities during the day."
In 2004, Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and three Messengers of Peace—Muhammad Ali, Anna Cataldi and Jane Goodall—participated in the annual ringing of the Japanese Peace Bell at the UN.
For a list of world-wide commitments to observe the day visit http://www.peaceoneday.org/bin/venda.plex?ex=co_disp-view&bsref=peaceoneday&page=2005. For a list of commitments to observe the day through prayer visit http://www.idpvigil.com/commitments/commitment2005.php.
Visit http://www.un.org/events/peaceday/2005/ for a complete list of the UN’s slated activities.
Note: The following titles are available from the Episcopal Book/Resource Center, 815 Second Ave., New York, NY 10017; 800.334.7626; http://www.episcopalbookstore.org/.
To Read: BRIDGING THE GREAT DIVIDE: Musings of a post-liberal, post-conservative evangelical catholic by Robert Barron (Lanham, Maryland: A Sheed & Ward Book, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. http://www.rowmanlittlefield.com/ 2004; 289 pages; $23.95.)
Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I., archbishop of Chicago: "These essays afford an opportunity of moving, in the company of Father Robert Barron, away from some of the polarizations that have left much modern theological writing in a cul-de-sac. The reader will judge how successful he has been in avoiding both a stuffy traditionalism and liberalism without content, but the discussion is everywhere stimulating, the product of a fertile and cultivated theological mind."
Robert Barron is associate professor of systematic theology at the University of Saint Mary of the Lake, Mundelein Seminary in Mundelein, Illinois. His other recent books include Heaven in Stone and Glass, which addresses the spirituality of the Gothic cathedral; And Now I See: A Theology of Transformation; and Thomas Aquinas: Spiritual Master. Barron is the author of numerous books and articles and is a highly sought-after speaker throughout the United States.
To Read: WITNESSING FOR PEACE: In Jerusalem and the World by Munib Younan, edited by Fred Strickert (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Fortress Press http://www.fortresspress.com/; 2003; 169 pages; $16.00.)
Konrad Raiser, former secretary general of the World Council of Churches: "This 'Witness for Peace' from Jerusalem is a voice that needs to be heard by all who are concerned about peace in the city and the land that are holy for Jews, Christians, and Muslims. It is an honest, moving, and deeply spiritual witness for nonviolence and dialogue as the only realistic way to reach a just and lasting peace in the Middle East. It comes from someone who was born and raised in Jerusalem's Old City, who has learned and is practicing the art of living together with neighbors of different faith traditions, and who now, as the Lutheran bishop in Jerusalem, seeks to be a living witness to the power of forgiveness rooted in God's infinite grace."
The Rev. Munib A. Younan is bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jerusalem.
