UIW Fall Events: Peace Day Oct 30th and Nov 9th Listening Workshop

There are two major events sponsored by University of Incarnate Word hosted by Sr. Martha Ann

1. Annual Peace Day

What: Annual Peace Day @ Univesity of Incarnate Word
When:  Invitation to UIW 2024 Peace Day Oct. 30^th  9:00am - 7:30pm
Where: University of Incarnate Word Student Engagement Center Rooms 2040-2041 and online
Join the meeting (Teams Meeting ID: 265 991 206 995) 
Who: All are invited
Need help?
Those who would like to receive service credit, please register  https://uiw.givepulse.com/event/512966-Peace-Day-Oct.-30-2024-Co-Creating-a-Camino-of-Compassion-and-Peace

2. Workshop on listening, histories, stories, and arts

What: Do We Love Enough to Listen?
When: November 9^th 9 a.m. - Noon,  
Location: University of the Incarnate Word Benack Music Building
How: Registration 

Who: All are invited

Peace Day

October 30, 2024, Student Engagement Center (SEC), Rooms 2040-2041 and Online

Join the meeting (Teams Meeting ID: 265 991 206 995) Need help?

9 a.m. - 11 a.m., Building a Camino of Compassion and Peace: Young Leaders Shine

In July 2024, some young leaders from Texas encouraged by the San Antonio Rotary attended Nurturing Hope, a peace education academy in Corrymeela, Northern Ireland. Other youth leaders attended the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates World Summit of Nobel Laureates for Peace (charterforcompassion.org) in Monterrey, Mexico. Both Monterrey and San Antonio are Cities of Compassion seeking to grow in that ethic. They invite people all along the Camino to the pathway to become Cities of Compassion.

Learn about the Charter for Compassion and the growing alliance with Peace on Earth by 2030. Learn about Artistic Bridges Artistic Bridges (charterforcompassion.org), a global education project for 18 to 4-year-olds to build understanding and empathy. Hear from the students about their personal Caminos with peace work. Then move into a conversation about current efforts to create a systematic corridor.

Speakers include: Anun Mulla, Global Youth Strategist for the Charter for Compassion speaking from New Delhi, India;  San Antonians who participated in the Nobel Summit, Estrella Needham of UIW and Chase Taylor of UTSA, Migdalia Garcia, Director of the Peace Center at Northwest Vista College, and Dr. Eric Castillo, Alamo Colleges Associate Vice Chancellor of Arts, Culture, and Community Impact. Invited speakers from the countries participating in Artistic Bridges: Darlene Jasso and Edwin Mendoza, Guatemala, Dana Osaily, Palestinian Authority Intern speaking from Ramallah, Palestine. 

11 a.m. - 1 p.m. Peace on Earth by 2030

Join Peace on Earth by 2030 led by internationally acclaimed David Gershon.  Be with about 70 peacebuilders from various countries including Afghanistan in the fifth session of the “Peace Games” series. The topic is Abundance, what is needed to build peace on earth is abundant. As the weekly participants go into team discussion groups, be with local people Sister Martha Ann Kirk of UIW, Paul Dubay, a graduate of the IW MA Program in Peace and Justice, and Jacky Zavala Aguila, of the UIW Office of Research and Graduate Studies, to learn how you might be a part of this significant growing movement. In conjunction with this, consider the Positive Peace Index. 

1 p.m. - 2:45 p.m., Biodiversity, Sustainability, and the Sacredness of God’s Creation

Join us for a Palestinian lunch with recipes from NORAH: From My Grandmother’s Kitchen: Palestinian Recipes and Memories by Dr. Rolla Alaydi, holding a Ph.D. in Education from UIW. We are grateful to Dr. Ana Carla Cepeda Lopez and her Nutrition students have prepared the lunch.

Dr. Mazin Qumsiyah, scientist and author, founder and director of the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability and the Palestine Museum of Natural History at Bethlehem University shares virtually their work.  Dr. Qumsiyah is president of the Rotary Club in Bethlehem and connects with us through the Rotary Peace on Earth by 2030 organizing team.

He will be joined by two presenters from the recent International Creation Care Conference at UIW.  Visiting Scholar Vladimer Narsia from the perspective of the Eastern Christian tradition and Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew’s teachings on sustainability shares. Sister Mary Lou Rodriguez, U.S. leader of the Justice, Peace, and Care of Creation Committee of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, shares on Socio-Ecological Justice and Laudato Si. Issues raised by each presenter led to a conversation with session participants on the importance and urgency of preserving life. 

3 p.m. - 4:15 p.m., Social Justice and the Teaching of World Literature 

Highlights from the Inaugural International Symposium hosted by the UIW English Department in the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, moderated by Dr. Manzur Alam joined by Dr. Jim Baker, Taniajit Kaur, Dr. Paul Lewis,  and others. Participate in conversation with presenters and consider ways of creating a more peaceful world. “If you want peace, work for justice,” by Pope Paul VI.

4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.,  Día de los Muertos Ofrenda for Peace & Justice

Note: This session will be held where the alter is displayed in the Mabee Library’s entrance lobby until November 8. The session will not be online.

Rooted in the ancient rituals of both our Indigenous and European ancestors, we pause to honor our loved ones who have died.  We will also honor the lives of so many brothers and sisters who were victims of hate crimes. Join us for an educational presentation in the auditorium and a short prayer service of commitment to work for peace and justice in their names.  You can also request a special presentation for your class while the altar is on exhibit.

6 p.m. - 7:15 p.m., Building a Camino of Compassion and Peace, Peace and Prayers Are Not Enough, a new book

Adelina Geraghty, Dr. Patrick Muehlberger, Rev. Julie Rowe, Teofilo Reyes, and Jacky Zavala Aguila, who participated in the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates and are working on the alliance of the Charter for Compassion and Peace on Earth by 2030 will share. What is a City of Compassion and how can those be multiplied? How does one create a “Peace on Earth Zone”? How might we grow all along the way to Monterrey?

San Antonio Street Medicine helping the unhoused is an example of compassion and Dr. Patrick Muehlberger and Adelina Geraghty will share their work.  

Finally, we consider a new book, Peace and Prayers Are Not Enough by  Rev. Julie Rowe. She has lived and worked in Jerusalem for four years and repeatedly returned. She describes what she has seen and invites all to deeper questions about authentic ways to build peace through justice.

Continuing the commitment to building compassion, justice and peace, join us on these speaker series@UIW Student Engagement Center room 2040-2041.

Do We Love Enough to Listen?

Saturday, Nov. 9,  9 a.m. - Noon, University of the Incarnate Word Benack Music Building

A workshop with award-winning actor Jesse Borrego and an introduction to oral histories shared by the San Antonio African American Community Archives and Museum. An opportunity for certified teachers to get 3 CPE hours for participation.                         

The descendant of an Apache great-grandmother, Jesse Borrego, and the descendant of a settler, Sister Martha Ann Kirk, Th.D., who was given their land, are developing a drama, “Land Taken, Land Given” to invite dialogue in the classroom and society. Do we love enough to listen to different sides of a story? Do we love enough to create futures for all to flourish?

For those interested in stories, cultures, history, performing arts, creative teaching methods and reconciliation between peoples. The drama is enriched by Papa Bear (Issac Cardenas), Evan Santos and Catherine Cuasay. The American Indians in Texas at the Spanish Colonial Missions invite you to join the University of the Incarnate Word conversation to remember.

UIW Education Professor Dr. Ann David shares the relevant theoretical frameworks from education that support the integration of storytelling and diverse histories into classroom teaching.

In 1869, the Ursuline Sisters’ leader, who welcomed the first three Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word when the convent for them had burned down, was from Espada Mission, from the families of the descendants of the indigenous peoples there. What are ways that the histories of Catholic Sisters are interwoven with Native American history and Black history? 

Questions: kirk@uiwtx.edu or (210) 883-5934

Artistic Bridges by Brainpower Connection in the Incarnate Word Village

This project is a collaborative efforts of Incarnate Word Sisters JPIC, UIW, UIW Brainpower Connection, Village at Incarnate Word, and Charter for Compassion. 

Children all over the world are encouraged through their guardians, parents, teachers and mentors to bring their artistic expression to share to the whole world.  People across the world will be able to know what the children feel, think, and see through their artistic expression.  Give the children the voices and let them be heard through this medium. 

CHRISTUS Heritage Hall @ 4707 Broadway, San Antonio, TX 78209
CHRISTUS Heritage Hall Map in the Incarnate Word Campus

https://charterforcompassion.org/what-we-do/support-kids/artistic-bridges/artistic-bridges.html

Awareness on Death Penalty, Vigils, and Prayer

Join the vigils related to the upcoming executions.  If you have not supported yet this cause, this is an invitation to look into the story.  You may still be thinking whether to call Governor Abbott and the Board of Pardon and Parole, give yourself a space for the innocent man.   Read all the recent evidences.  People can have biases, and what is presented now may bring the truth to the case.  We did not know a lot of the sciences that are being used in crimes and health these days such as DNA, genetic genealogy, and even medicines which were not known to be deadly to infants and human beings are being discovered that need to be looked into.  How are we cultivating truth, peace, and justice?

Support stopping execution to Mr. Robert Roberson.  Support ending death penalty.  

 More: 

Vigils – TCADP
Catholic Mobilizing Network: Support stopping of execution of Mr. Roberson

Advocacy to stop execution of Mr. Robert Roberson and abolish death penalty was held on October 10, 2024.  The World Day Against Death Penalty has been promoted every October 10.  It is being advvocated by various Human Rights organizations, Innocence Project, Texas Coalition Against Death Penalty, Catholic Mobilizing Network, etc.   The JPIC team, in collaboration with TCADP and Catholic Mobilizing Network talked to the students and staff of the UIW Student Engagement to support the cause.  

About 200 exonerees who had to live their lives as prisoners on death row, and yet they have been wrongfully convicted for the crimes that they had not committed.   Apart from the innocent victims of death penalty, there is a moral concerns that we need to ask ourselves if it is worth keeping this law on specific crimes.  While the promoters of the stopping of execution for people in death row apart from those who work in the justice system stating that this punishment only encourages revenge.  According to Bryan Stevenson, The prisoners deserve but do we deserve to kill.  It is more fitting that the abolishment needs to happen to avoid expenses in courts and the time being used for appeals intead of having fatal harm done to someone and without anyway to reverse it.

It is an invitation to systematically end something that is not working and not able to sustain our common sense of human dignity.  The systemic end of death penalty means that we restore the dignity of all people.  Catechism 2267 has been revised so as to recognize the dignity of every people.  This creates one more reason to consider petitioning the state officials on this cause.  This saves people grief on both sides.  The healing does not start unless we create a space for restorative justice, forgiveness, reconciliation, and healing.

More on the Catechism 2267: New revision of number 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the death penalty – Rescriptum “ex Audentia SS.mi”

San Antonio Eco-Study Tours @ Talking Tree Farm

 

Death Penalty is a Homicide in Our Name

On December 10, 1948, different representatives from all regions of the world drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights through the General Assembly resolution 217 A (III).  Since then, all countries and regions aim to protect the human rights as a standard.  

Given the World Day Against Death Penalty on October 10, it is a practice that people pause and reflect about the current practices in the world  United States has capital punishment as part of its law.  China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Singapore are the top countries that executed people in the world and United States is the top 5 in 2022.  Death penalty is a very old part of the justice system.  It has been codified as part of the law as early as eighteen century BC.  

United States of America is a civilized nation consists of people with good education and advances in science and technology.  This country is also working on many aspects of Justice and Peace on all angles with gun violence, human trafficking, war, and drugs.  There are loopholes but still there is a freedom of speech that makes this journalism, social media, and other communications from the public spaces possible given the policies and regulations around it.  Let us take a look to assess the justice and peace that this country is upholding and practicing. 

One of the key aspects of justice is to be able to give the rights of the people.  United States being educated and a source of innovation has the big opportunity to transform society must look into the laws that are not serving the generation of today.  

According to Human Rights Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states:

"No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, unhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."

Mr. Robert Roberson with TDCJ Number 999442 born on November 11, 1966.  He is scheduled to be executed on October 17, 2024.  He is sentenced to death for the murder of his two-year-old daughter Nikki for a shaken baby syndrome.   The retired assistant chief detective Brian Wharton, now an ordained minister in United Methodist Church, testified for the prosecution and helped send Mr. Roberson to death row in 2003.  Mr. Wharton now doubted his case and feared that justice was not served.  A top pathologist of 46 years of experience testified that the child suffered from severe undiagnosed pneumonia and doctors treated her with high dosage of medications for which now is considered fatal especially for children.  There were other illnesses that the child was suffering such as unexplained breathing apnea, and other medical symptoms such as coughing, vomiting, diarrhea week before her death. Based on these, the justice system is putting someone's life for death penalty with doubts.

Our system of justice must look for the root causes so that we can truly restore the peace and justice to those that are lacking what they truly deserve.

For those who are religious, ponder Matthew 25:40,42-43

 And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family,[g] you did it to me.’...for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,... I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 

Jesus Christ already died for all and forgave all who put him to death.  Luke 23:32-34

Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."

Why are we still killing people even after so many advancements of life, science, and technology?  What are we missing?  Should we be working towards progress where we are cultivating life-giving opportunities and healing spaces where everyone's life is treated with dignity, and human rights are truly respected.  We are killing people by paying someone to execute the people who may or may be innocent.  God is merciful from the Old Testament (Gen 18:26-33) to New Testament (Luke 5:35-38).

We are transcendental people, we are always improving and transforming.  This is an invitation to reflect what improvement and transformation are we being called to be.  Let us ponder on making our world a true just and peaceful world where we can thrive from womb to tomb.

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From TCADP (Texas Coalition Against Death Penalty):

"On Saturday, October 12, 2024, join TCADP supporters in San Antonio for breakfast and a presentation by Donna Coltharp, an Assistant Federal Public Defender with the Capital Habeas Unit (CHU) of the Federal Public Defender for the Western District of Texas. Prior to joining the CHU, Donna was on the faculty of St. Mary’s University School of Law. She will share what is involved with defending clients accused in capital murder cases. This event will take place from 8:30-10:00 a.m. in the conference room of the Archdiocese of San Antonio, 2718 West Woodlawn Avenue, San Antonio 78228. RSVP to Mardi Baron at mardibaron@gmail.com."

Please check the TCADP for more details and updates on these events.

@University of Incarnate Word's Student Engagement Center October 10, 2024 11:00am-1:00pm

Want to talk to us about Death Penalty Abolition?  Come and visit us in University of Incarnate Word's Student Engagement Center in the first floor on October 12 from 11:00pm-1:00pm.  Your can learn more about the issues.  The representative from TCADP will also be there.

Read More Here:

Stop the Oct. 17 execution of Robert Roberson, an innocent father  (innocenceproject.org)
16 Events (and counting ) throughout the U.S. for World Day Against the Death Penalty - Catholic Mobilizing Network (catholicsmobilizing.org)
TCADP October 2024 Newsletter: An extraordinary visit to death row – TCADP
TCADP
Fratelli tutti (3 October 2020) | Francis (vatican.va)
Pope Francis closes the door on the death penalty in ‘Fratelli Tutti’ | America Magazine
Universal Declaration of Human Rights | United Nations
Executions - Catholic Mobilizing Network (catholicsmobilizing.org)
Death Penalty (eji.org)Pope Francis Pens Preface to US Death-Row Chaplain’s Book on Death Penalty| National Catholic
Register (ncregister.com)
The Issue - Restorative Justice