by Sharon Ely Pearson
Advocacy work for peace is all about working for justice. In it’s 43rd year, the IPJ has been offering resources and training to escalate love in the face of escalating violence. Having begun as a parenting and educating organization, they continue to publish a quarterly on-line newsletter entitled, “Peace Pieces,” that offers faith reflections, prayers, classroom activities, resources, and action suggestions on a variety of peace and justice themes to over 1,700 leaders in ministry. The Fall/Winter issue (2013/2014) is Racial Justice: New Times, New Challenges regarding current voting rights issues.
New Dimensions is a newsletter with a focus on young family and grandparenting programs that have been in the planning stages for several years. This first issue focuses on helping young families deal in creative ways with challenges specific to them, especially in the areas of selection of toys and books, dealing with excessive consumerism, and nonviolent conflict resolution.
IPJ’s advocacy work centers around the issues of racial and economic justice, global poverty issues, and US foreign policy through their website and letters/online messages. Workshops continue to be offered for teachers, families, and those who work with families. Their newest resources include explaining the Catholic Social Teaching to middle and high schoolers, bringing peacemaking skills to preschoolers, and providing prayer resources on global peace issues.
Solving Our Situations (SOS) is a process created by inmate facilitators of the Violent Offenders Program. It is a unique problem solving tool for processing negative situations. IPJ is teaching classes in the use of this tool to women ex-offenders through the Center for Women in Transition (CWIT).
Countering a Culture of Violence is a multi-pronged program looking at the culture of violence in four ways:
- Gun violence
- Media, toy, and sports violence – the culture of children
- Personal nonviolent life styles – issues like conflict resolution, listening skills, and forgiveness
- The needs of people with mental illness
The Institute for Peace and Justice is an independent, not-for-profit organization that creates resources, provides learning experiences, and advocates publicly for alternatives to violence and injustice at the individual, family, community, institutional and global levels. They are located in St. Louis, Missouri and can be reached via their website or email: ppjn@aol.com or 314-918-2630.