Sisters and Students Speak Up for Peace

Late last month, the School Sisters of St. Francis joined with students from Notre Dame School of Milwaukee, campus apartment residents, and guests from around the Milwaukee area for a community observance of the United Nations' International Day of Peace.

Participants began the morning’s activities with a brief prayer service in St. Joseph Chapel, a Franciscan center for peace and nonviolence in Milwaukee. They then processed outdoors to the motherhouse garden to pray the Rosary around the Peace Pole. The day culminated in a Peace Walk along Greenfield Avenue and Layton Boulevard, with the students displaying homemade signs with expressions of peace.

The School Sisters of St. Francis’ United States Province also endorsed the joint appeal for this year’s International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, known as Nuclear Abolition Day.

The goal of the appeal is to “reduce the risk of nuclear war, end the nuclear arms race, and commit to achieving the global elimination of nuclear weapons within a strict timeframe.” The effort was organized by a network of civil organizations working in consultation with the United Nations Office of Disarmament Affairs. The appeal was circulated to the missions of all United Nations member states, and then presented at the U.N.’s meeting of presidents, prime ministers, foreign ministers, and ambassadors.

We give thanks to everyone who planned, prepared, and participated in these opportunities to speak out for peace in our community, our country, and around the world!