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URI eUpdate for July 2009
Our Periodic Electronic Newsletter
Contents
1. Executive Director’s Reflections on International Day of Peace
2. URI Members Observe International Day of Peace
3. Jordan CCs Distribute Food to Needy Families during Ramadan
4. URI Building for Greater Impact in Asia and Africa
5. Welcome Twelve New URI Cooperation Circles
6. Supporting our Peacebuilders
Editor’s note: With this issue we begin changing our look, and will offer different presentations of the e-Update over the next few months. Your feedback is welcome. Barbara@uri.org
1.Executive Director’s Reflections on International Day of Peace
Dear Friends,
Greetings of love and peace. 
The International Day of Peace 2009 has come and gone. It was observed in creative, soulful, impactful ways by URI Cooperation Circles and countless other individuals and organizations all over the world.
As we celebrate what was, I believe it is essential to remember our call to grow stronger and stronger as peacebuilders every day, in every aspect of our lives.
 
If you look at some of the great peacebuilders throughout history, whether you turn to the Buddha or Jesus or Mahatma Gandhi or Badshah Khan or Martin Luther King or Mary Robinson or Nelson Mandela or Aung San Suu Kyi, or countless others of every race, culture and faith, women and men, young and old, you see individuals of incredible strength who choose the life-giving and sometimes life-threatening path of ahimsa.
In some, you see the strength to face physical death in pursuit of a deeper life; in others the strength to face the death of old beliefs or behaviors that no longer serve, the strength to die to what divides and embrace what unites.
You see the strength of spiritual connection to something much larger than an individual human life and indeed much larger than the entire human endeavor – a connection that cultivates inner peace and compels, inspires and nurtures us to act in the world. Strength of principles to choose the path of peacebuilding even when it is difficult and potentially deadly. Strength of ego that allows someone to claim her strength in ways that invite others to do the same. And the remarkable strength to sacrifice self in pursuit of peace for all.
My life is blessed each day by being in community with remarkable, often heroic peacebuilders who are largely invisible to the larger world. I think of Rosalia Gutierrez, a strong woman of the Kolla people in Argentina. Her ancestors were oppressed and tortured to coerce them to abandon their indigenous beliefs, practices and language in order to become “civilized”, Spanish speaking Christians. Awakening to that legacy, it would be easy to be consumed by anger and hatred. Yet Rosalia has managed to transcend the impulse toward anger and hatred and become a powerful peacebuilder seeking to build bridges of enhanced understanding and reconciliation between Indigenous people and followers of mainstream religions.
 In doing this, she is opening a pathway to a future where Indigenous children will have reclaimed their heritage and can stand proudly as themselves, accepted and respected, beside their counterparts from diverse religions. Rosalia is defusing the landmines of centuries of oppression and preparing the soil for a new crop of mutual respect and a new community where, for the first time, the voices of Indigenous wisdom are heard, especially in relation to the interconnectedness of all life and caring for the Pachamama – our Mother Earth.
There are so many other peacebuilders I could mention. Our world is filled with incognito peacebuilders. Their stories need to be told because they give hope and inspiration, and challenge us to overcome our fears and build a better future.
Depending on who we are, our call to be a peacebuilder may compel us to work for economic peace or environmental peace. It may compel us to mediate in international conflicts or to work constructively to transform domestic violence. It may call us to disciplined prayer or meditation for peace.
Whoever we are, wherever we are, may we live into our unique potential as people of peace, as peacebuilders dedicated to transforming ourselves and our world, so that every day is an international day of peace.
Love, Charles
2. URI Members Observe International Day of Peace
Many thanks to everyone who participated in the IDP around the world on September 21. Your celebration of Peace Day is a powerful global statement for a world in which peace may prevail. From the grand gathering in Addis Ababa, where the IPI CC presented this year’s Peace and Reconciliation award to Archbishop Desmond Tutu,
to the tender planting of trees by the Peace & Environment CC Pakistan at the Special Education School for the Deaf in Kamalia,
our Cooperation Circles created moments of peace in their communities.
Click here to review URI’s Photojournal of our International Day of Peace observation.
3. Jordan CCs Distribute Food to Needy Families during Ramadan
This year Ramadan approached Jordan in August, the hottest month of year, but this didn’t stop three Jordanian URI Cooperation Circles—Quested Peace CC, Mercy CC, and Jordanian Association for Orphans & Widows Care CC—from going to great lengths to distribute food to families in remote areas in Borma (a village near Jarash in the north of Jordan). On the journey from Amman to Borma, the group stopped first at a remote location along an unpaved dirt road, managing to pass through the mountains to reach five needy families dwelling in tents.
These families represent many who cannot afford to live in the Gaza refugee camps, and are forced to live in remote areas where they can farm and raise livestock. After a visit with the families, the CC members then headed to Borma village where they distributed food and gifts to 22 other families in need. CC member, Nancy Momany, said of their time there: “For many, it was a wonderful spiritual experience that filled our hearts with caring and determination to continue our mission in helping the poor and needy as much as we can.”
4. URI Building for Greater Impact in Asia and Africa
Legal registration and offices are important steps in supporting the growth of URI. The URI ASIA FOUNDATION has been registered as a Legal Trust with offices in Kerala, India. The first General Body Meeting of the URI Asia Foundation will take place in October in Seoul, Korea.
The URI Great Lakes Sub-region has been officially registered in Uganda, with Bishop Macleod Baker Ochola II as the Chairperson. Their Kampala office opened just in time to handle the media coverage of their Peace Football Match between the Members of Parliament and the Uganda Sports Press Association.
5. Welcome Twelve New URI Cooperation Circles
In August and September 2009, the CC Approval Committee of the Global Council unanimously approved 12 new Cooperation Circle applications: one from Africa, five from Asia, four from the Middle East & North Africa, and two from Southeast Asia & Pacific. URI welcomes these new CCs to our community of 419 CCs in 72 countries, each with their own special contributions and gifts for creating cultures of peace, justice, healing for the Earth and all living beings. A few words about each of these new groups will inspire you – click here.
6. Supporting our Peacebuilders
As I answer the call to be a stronger peacebuilder each day in all aspects of my life, I find inspiration and guidance in URI Community Leaders such as Rosalia Gutierrez, whom Charles mentioned in the ED Reflections above. Her dedication to the vision of URI, particularly in the face of hardships, is a constant reminder of the commitment required to bring about a better world.
The global URI network creates a space for us all to be leaders. It births new approaches to old problems. It builds connections that provide support when times get tough. It is these connections that allow local grassroots interfaith communities around the globe to transform religious tension into positive social change.
The Global Giving Circle, URI’s monthly giving program, is an opportunity to match Rosalia’s commitment by providing steadfast support to the growth of grassroots leaders. By becoming a Global Giving Member you will help us ensure that even in these tough times we are able to plan ahead as we seek a world where every community is blessed with leaders like Rosalia.
Together we pursue a common purpose: to promote enduring daily interfaith cooperation and end religiously motivated violence in order to create cultures of peace, justice and healing. Help us make that purpose a reality by becoming a Global Giving Member.
For more information on the Global Giving Circle, log on to our donations page at www.uri.org and make a monthly commitment or contact me at rmurphy@uri.org or 415-561-2300 x17.
Contact URI
United Religions Initiative
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Web: www.uri.org
Phone: +1.415.561.2300
Fax: +1.415.561.2313
Email: office@uri.org
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