UN International Day of Peace: September 21
Invest in Peace – For Everyone, Everywhere, Every Day.
Isn’t this a wonderful theme to live by?! I chose this day to write my first new blog post since our new website, created by my friend Marisol Dennis, went live. I’m also including with this post a page by my friend Nancy Taiani. I hope this blog can be about many adventures beyond Hope for the Flowers, since Hope is covered so fully on other pages of this website.
Welcome to this new beginning. Thank you, Marisol and Nancy, both dear friends for 40 years.
My First Demonstration — Cincinnati, 1963
This is a very special day to pray for peace. It is also particularly memorable to me because United Nations Day in October 1963 was the occasion of my first demonstration.
I was living at Grailville, a women’s community about 20 miles from Cincinnati. We heard there would be a special raising of the UN flag in support of peace. One carload of us went into the city very early. We had heard the mayor would come early to raise the UN flag before the expected John Birch Society and other anti-UN groups arrived.
But the mayor did not come early, so we wandered around the plaza until a group of older women arrived and unfurled a huge banner, at least 12 feet wide, bearing a huge American flag on it and the words, “This is the only flag to which we pay allegiance.“ They represented “Daughters of the American Revolution”. I don’t remember the rest. There was no violence but I did end up getting my picture taken in front of this banner. I had no sign to show where I stood. Oh dear!
I resolved that day that I would never go to a demonstration without a way to let spectators and participants know my position. I suspect this blog will share many adventures that began with that day in Cincinnati, back in 1963.
Pacem in Terris: Peace on Earth
My activism is rooted in a Catholic social justice perspective and a vision of Peace first articulated for me in 1963 by Pope John XXIII’s encyclical, Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth). It was addressed to everyone in the world, encouraging all, regardless of beliefs, to work together for peace. This was liberating for me!
Now, at 95, I have never known a time when active, thoughtful efforts toward peace have been more needed than they are today.
I’m so grateful to be working with a Hope Team and our beautiful mission of Hope For The Flowers. Thank you, God, for all the gifts you have showered me with. We encourage each of you to find a local peace group to join, and your own unique ways to promote peace everywhere, in every way possible.
Parishioners for Peace & Justice
I’m including this week’s Parishioners for Peace & Justice Issue. It is part of a weekly series on social justice and peace. Nancy offers it free to anyone who wishes to receive it. Simply email stpeterweekly@aol.com to request inclusion each week. It is free to all and designed also to be useful for churches and groups. Nancy welcomes all to freely share it. This has been Nancy’s weekly gift for many, many years. She started before the Iraq invasion. We also spent years on Friday afternoons demonstrating on what became our “Peace Corner “ here in Montclair. New Jersey.
From Nancy Taiani
This week’s Parishioners for Peace & Justice
International Day of Peace
Monday, September 21 is the International Day of Peace. This year’s theme is “Invest in Peace – For Everyone, Everywhere, Every Day.” The United Nations says, “This year’s International Day of Peace honors the ‘everyday architects of peace’—people driving local action, laying the groundwork for stability, and building a lasting peace from the ground up.”
The U.N. reminds us that in our volatile times, though the search for peace feels overwhelming, it has never been more urgent. And that it is “more than the absence of war; it is the foundation necessary to collectively tackle humanity’s challenges. It is the lived experience of safety, dignity, opportunities and cooperation in our daily lives.”
They ask everyone, everywhere to do their part. They suggest taking one small step for peace every day by:
- Giving your time to help someone else.
- Lending your voice to drive positive change.
- Hosting a Peace Circle – an intergeneration youth-led conversation on solutions.
- Using your platform to promote a cause or tell a story of peace and hope.
Back From the Brink (BfB) has five policy solutions to prevent nuclear war which they urge the U.S. to enact:
- Pursue global elimination of nuclear weapons through a verifiable agreement among nuclear-armed states to eliminate their nuclear arsenals.
- Renounce the option of using nuclear weapons first.
- End the sole, unchecked authority of any president to launch a nuclear attack.
- Take U.S. nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert.
- Cancel the plan to replace the entire U.S. arsenal with enhanced weapons.
BfB asks us to work to prevent nuclear war and support H. Res. 317 and S. Res. 323: “A resolution urging the United States to lead a global effort to halt and reverse the nuclear arms race.” Only two New Jersey representatives are currently cosponsors, Bonnie Watson Coleman and Frank Pallone and neither NJ senator. Back from the Brink provides a script to use to encourage your congresspersons to cosponsor the resolution. Since “Congress has a vital role in building the support and leadership needed to advance nuclear disarmament and risk reduction efforts. Every new cosponsor adds a visible voice in Congress calling for action on nuclear disarmament, helping build momentum and political pressure needed to make nuclear disarmament a congressional priority.” BfB hopes to secure 20 more cosponsors for House Resolution 317 and Senate Resolution 323 by the end of the year.
They also ask that people amplify their “Week of Action” Sept 21st to 26th on social media channels by sharing Back from the Brink’s posts on Instagram, Bluesky and Facebook.
Parishioners for Peace & Justice 9/20/26 Issue 38
