Sister Joan Chittister
    Paraphrase of Speech


    Sister Joan Chittister, a Benedictine Sister of Erie, PA, is a
    best-selling author and well-known lecturer.  She is founder of
    Benetvision, a research and resource center for contemporary
    spirituality, Co-Chair of Global Peace Initiative of Women, Co-Chair
    of Tikkun, and on the World Peace Council with the Dalai Lama.  
    Sister Chittister was a keynote speaker at a conference sponsored
    by the Omega Institute and VDay, in New York City, September 11,
    2004.  Sister Chittister rocked the rafters with an incredible speech.  
    The speech was approximately 50 minutes.  

    Sister Chittister says that women can make a difference!  She gives
    powerful statements!  She states in her speech, women must
    “demand the feminine alternatives of listening and seeing and
    caring and relating and reaching out and feeling for the other that
    lead the world away from war!”

    The call for women to “demand” a change for peace is bold and daring.  The whole
    speech is forceful, illustrating why women have the right to demand changes in the world
    regarding war and peace.  Sister Joan states: “War is not inevitable.  War is planned.  
    War is a choice.”  She states, “Women have everything to do with war.”  Women can “lead
    the world away from war…  Say no, no, no to war!...  We need an antidote to extremism...  
    The world is waiting for women to step over the lines of political hatred.”                  
    “Women are unasked and unarmed before war.”
     “Women are the booty of war.”
    “Women are forgotten and un-mourned.”
    “Women are abandoned in the ashes of war.”
     “Women’s homes and families are ruined.”
    “Women’s issues are never negotiated or redressed in peace treaties.”
    “Women are trafficked to satisfy the war mongers and forced into
    sexualslavery.”
    “Women are never counted as victims.”
    “War falls longest, hardest, and cruelest on the backs of women
    and children.” “Women bear the sons, bury the dead, and are left
    alone.”

    Women
    “die, too, from bombs and bullets”  
    “die in tent cities without medicines,without clothing,without sons
    and husbands”
    “die seeing their daughters do the same”

    Sister Chittister says women are displaced because of war, placed
    in rape camps, “we so genteelly call refugee camps”.  The world
    must stop fighting against the “stings of the past” and “we must
    give our hearts to constructing the future.”  Sister Chittister
    exclaims:
    “Cry out… to the ends of the world”
    “Clearly, it time for women to save the world”
    “We must preach from the Housetops”


    To paraphrase Sister Chittister:  Women must be in the forefront because being first
    brings “courage and hope to others”.  Women must take responsibility for stopping war “in
    a world gone mad with arrogance, with ascendancy to patriarchal
    power.”  Women must refuse to be victims or executioners.  
    Women must prod, press, and provoke to change the world.  
    There must be a universal call to women and an organized
    international voice for peace.  It is crucial now.

    Sister Chittister spoke of religion, spirituality and enlightenment.  
    Religion, she said, is a means to sanctity.  Religious rights and
    parochial rules cannot be absolute, or we do religion and God an
    injustice.  Spirituality is about one’s responsibility of giving life,
    preserving life and valuing life.  Enlightenment is the ability to
    see beyond the normal and the enlightened become a torch to show the way.
PEACE and LOVE

How beautiful the world is when we live and work together in peace.
Global Strategy of Nonviolence
Mother Theresa said, “Peace begins with a smile.”
Welcome! A Global Strategy of Nonviolence
FOR the CHILDREN A World-Wide Unity Campaign
A Strategy to Bring Peace For the Children and Stop  War
(GS of NV)
GUIDELINES

In 3 years, we the
people, can change the
world.

PLAN ALL 3 PHASES

PHASE ONE:

Mobilize, in every village,
town, and city,in every
country!

Select Demands
and Deadlines

One year awareness
campaign

Starting Event

September 11, 2021
+23 scheduled events


PEOPLE POWER

The People must be
HEARD, the Moderate
Voice

We want the children to
see an overt exhibit of
nonviolence.
PHASE TWO:

Conflict Resolution
and Disarmament

PHASE THREE:

Programs For the
Children
February 11, 2008