(Vatican Radio) In his Message for World Day of Peace January 1st, Pope Benedict hailed
as "blessed" the peacemakers of today. Peace-building among communities and faiths
has long been a part of Catholic social teaching. And it’s not just about building
up peace between countries or communities at war. Even when bombs aren’t falling
and guns fall silent, the Catholic Church says social relationships have to be rebuilt
and victims of violence rehabilitated with a vision for the long term.
Maryann
Cusimano Love, Associate Professor of International Relations at the Catholic University
of America, is one of the Church’s leading experts on peace building. She is on
the Core Group for the U.S. State Department’s working group on Religion and Foreign
Policy and serves on the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ International Justice and Peace Committee.
Tracey McClure asked Professor Love how Christians, Muslims and Jews can contribute
to world peace and realistically, how can they cooperate towards that goal?
Professor
Love says “we are at a time when states are challenged around the world in dealing
with many problems from terrorism, to ethnic violence, to civil war. And religion
is resurging around the world. So, you’re looking at where is there some functional
capacity that we can have to try to build peace? And religions can be a very important
source of that.”
“I know that seems counter-intuitive. Certainly, since September
11th, but often, religion is painted as the bad guy, the source of war.
Or else, religion is unimportant…but I think that overlooks the tremendous power that
religion, religious organizations have in providing education, health care and providing
emergency and humanitarian assistance. And in that work, they build relationships...with
people on the ground in areas of conflict.”
When governments are unable to
respond to conflict or to the needs of their people, Love says, it is often religious
organizations already working with the people on the ground who can offer assistance
and the knowledge and relationships needed to resolve problems…
Listen to the
extended interview with Professor Cusimano Love who also speaks on the topics of new
evangelization and the role of families in peace-building: