WHEREAS acts of violence can cause loss of life, esteem, worth and value;
WHEREAS acts of violence invade the rights of persons, societies, nations, and
the world;
WHEREAS acts of violence are encouraged by the lack of laws, regulations, and
responsible justice;
WHEREAS there exists the absence/limitations of non-violent options for the
expression of anger, hatred, mistrust, disillusionment and other potentially volatile
emotions;
WHEREAS current methods for deterring acts of violence are ineffective or
inflict violence within themselves;
WHEREAS efforts to determine underlying causes of violence are hampered by
financial restrictions, apathy, and limitation of institutional and agency resources;
WHEREAS acts of love, justice, and compassion express our Judeo-Christian faith
and represent affirmation of life,
THEREFORE be it resolved that we, the members of the International Pastoral Care
Network for Social Responsibility, meeting at the Theory-Building Conference at Santa
Severa, Italy, September 27 to October 2, 1994, dedicate our energies and efforts to
address the escalating expression of violence, through:
*Making a commitment to publicly denounce violence;
*Urging faith communities to adopt anti-violence statements and to implement pro-active
measures for increasing awareness and opportunities for non-violent expressions;
*Creating an awareness within religious faith groups, denominations and bodies of
problems associated with violence and the potential that exists for a significant response
to those problems, with the goal of establishing a global impact against violence to all
of creation;
*Coordinating an effort among pastoral care, counseling and education associations to
develop programs of non-violence in the communities, agencies, and institutions served by
the pastoral/spiritual movement;
*Impacting federal, state, and local governments and law enforcement bodies and lobby
groups to dedicate efforts toward educational opportunities addressing non-violent
behaviors and developing constructive ways of working through community-based
traumatization of persons and communities.
From North America: Carolyn Bohler, Howard Clinebell, G. Michael Cordner, Kathleen
Greider, Ursula Pfafflin, Nancy Ramsey, Dale Schumm, Thomas Summers, Arch McCurdy, Gail
Unterburger, Marcus Smucker, Mary Arnold, Toni Black, Barbara Kosinski, and Kay Kosinski;
From South America: James Farris, and Ronaldo Sathler Rosa;
From Asia: Mesach Krisenya, Robert Solomon, and Jonathan Trisna;
From Europe and the United Kingdom: Anne Primavesi, Bela Toth; Adriana Cavina,
Sveinbjorg Palsdottir, and Helmut Weiss;
From Africa: Gideon Ireri, Julian Muller, and Johann Laubscher.
(This proclamation may be distributed to all interested persons and associations. For
more information, contact: G. Michael Cordner, Th.D., 233 South Street, South Hero, VT,
05486, USA, or DrCordner@aol.com.)
