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Keeping It Real – Review of The Many Sides of Peace by Claire Schaeffer-Duffy
“I suffer from a shrinking heart,” I confessed to the priest, and I was not referring to a bizarre physiological condition. It was summer, a tough season for me, an inner-city Catholic Worker. The isolating cold of winter had passed, and the chaos of my neighbors’ lives tumbled out onto front stoops and into the…
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TEDx – Brayton Shanley: Who Are We and How Are We to Live in this World?
Agape co-founder Brayton Shanley was invited to give a TED talk at the George School in Newtown, PA on June 13th, 2015. Brayton’s talk, entitled, “Who Are We and How Are We to Live in this World?” was addressed to an audience of more than 200 attendees, who gathered to explore the question of “What…
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Witness: Veterans for Peace Against the Death Penalty – By Joe Kerbartas
I am a member of the Pax Christi, Veterans for Peace, Peace Action and South Boston Residents for Peace. On March 4, 2015, the Trial of Dzhokhkar Tsarnaev, for the Boston Marathon Bombing began, the first time a death penalty could be imposed in Massachusetts since 2001. The last use of the death penalty was in…
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Witness: Faith in Action in Palestine-Israel: Reflections from an Innocent Abroad – By Skip Schiel
Based on my current work in Palestine-Israel, March thru May 2015, my view of the situation depends on my location. If in Israel, I do not notice the occupation of the West Bank and the siege of Gaza, nor does most of the population. If noticed, the Israeli Jewish citizens and the leadership largely support the injustice—95%…
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Volunteer Reflection: “First Keep Peace With Yourself” – By Alexander C. Puttarelli
Perhaps in one of the most eloquent ways possible Thomas a Kempis spoke of peace by saying, “First keep peace with yourself, then you can also bring peace to others.” Kempis delivered this quote in the 14th century without inkling that it would be a profound theme in my experience at Agape. Entering into the…
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In Memoriam: Paul McNeil, Poet, Activist, Friend, November 25, 2014 – By Suzanne Shanley
Paul McNeil was an amazing friend whose cancer diagnosis and decline, startled and staggered all who knew him. Yet, with his typical depth and intensity, he focused on his interior world, spitting out a poem on his encroaching death and merging with God, becoming God’s own self which returns Paul, in the poem, to himself…
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In Memoriam: Rich Bachtold, Poet, and Mystic February 10, 2015
Reflection by Brayton Shanley: Rich lived three virtues better than any other person I’ve ever known. First, he was a profoundly nonviolent man. I never saw him angry, use harsh language or act with any aggression whatsoever. He was true Ahimsa, Sanskrit for the Hindu principle of non-injury. I’m sure at some point, he may…
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Coming Home – By Edgar Hayes
“Honey, I’m home!” Alas, back to the quiet, the clean air, and country living. I grew up in the city, but it wasn’t hard for me to leave. While living there, I looked for places of solace like the Botanical Gardens in Brooklyn or the Cloisters Park in Manhattan. At home on the farm, I…
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Challenge of Community on Freedom Farm, Agape’s Sister Community – By Ann Rader
I’m alone again – in a big old chilly farm house – on 59 acres of land – peeking over this screen, out the office window to sun on snow. This land is a gift, longing hills slope to meet the tiny Shawangunkill River, protected by young sugar maples and ash. Deep beneath her snowy…
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Poetry Corner – Pieta – By George Capaccio
Pietà Artists, they counsel, take all that anger building up in you and use it to make something beautiful for the world to wear or otherwise possess. They say, of course you’re angry. Look how Bush ignored our marches, our passionate words, and went to war anyway against a broken army and…
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