Pax Christi national assembly
canceled
By PATRICK ONEILL
Special to the National Catholic Reporter
For the first time since 1974, Pax Christi USA has canceled its
annual national assembly. The reason: Christian Brothers University in Memphis,
Tenn., the host of the conference, refused to permit a speaker who supports
abortion rights to appear on campus grounds.
The Rev. James Lawson, civil rights activist and retired United
Methodist minister, was slated to deliver the keynote address at the Aug. 3-5
assembly, but opposition to Lawsons stance on abortion led the
1,200-student Catholic university to withdraw its consent to host the
assembly.
The meeting usually draws about 500 Catholic peace activists from
throughout the nation.
We invited Rev. Lawson to speak about building a culture of
peace through nonviolence, which was the theme of our national assembly,
said Nancy Small, national coordinator of Pax Christi USA. We did not
invite him to speak about abortion. She added, Pax Christi USA has
a longstanding practice of refusing to make judgments about the moral fitness
of individuals based on a litmus test of any single issue.
Ironically, Lawson, who once served as pastor for a church in
Memphis, delivered the keynote address at the 1977 Pax Christi USA assembly,
which was held at a Memphis hotel. Lawson, who worked closely with the late
Martin Luther King Jr., was also with King on April 4, 1968, the day the civil
rights leader was assassinated in Memphis.
Small said Pax Christi USA is not casting any blame on Christian
Brothers University. We believe that the underlying problem is the
divisiveness that surrounds the way the Catholic church deals with the abortion
issue, Small said. We believe that this divisive climate is what
led [the university] to decide not to allow Rev. Lawson to speak on its campus.
The need for dialogue as a way to address this divisiveness is vital.
Small said the university feared a possible backlash of protests
by abortion foes during the assembly if news of Lawsons views became
public.
The universitys president, Br. Stan Sobczyk, did not respond
to telephone inquiries.
Lawson, who has served on the board of the Religious Coalition for
Reproductive Rights and is outspoken in views on abortion rights, said he was
disappointed by the decision to cancel the assembly. In the 1960s,
then-Christian Brothers College was a partner in the effort to eradicate
segregation, Lawson said, adding that he received Communion for the first
time while attending an ecumenical peace service in the Christian
Brothers chapel.
A single issue cannot become the basis for not having public
conversation or for rejecting a person as a speaker, Lawson said.
Lawson, 72, said those connected to the antiabortion movement have
been disconnected for a generation from the issues of the need of the
nation to dismantle its racism, and the spiritual disease that racism has shown
in the churches and in the hearts of far too many people for 400
years.
I know that some very strongly convicted pro-life people are
white people who for years have refused to get involved in the dismantling of
racism and the ending of segregation and its idolatry in America, Lawson
said. But they are now very zealous on pro-life -- so-called. I have
never said that publicly before, but I am profoundly aware, having worked 50
years or so, and in the King movement in the South for 17 years, Im
profoundly aware that this is the case.
In a statement released June 29, Pax Christi said: The
administration at Christian Brothers University presented options that would
have allowed Pax Christi USA to hold its assembly on its campus, but without
Rev. Lawson as the keynote speaker. One option was to hold the meeting at
the university but have Lawson speak off campus. Small said those options were
unacceptable.
The rift began when some members of the Atlanta Pax Christi
chapter as well as some members of the Memphis chapter complained about the
selection of Lawson. Pete Gathje, associate professor of religion at Christian
Brothers University and a member of Pax Christis Memphis chapter, said he
dropped off the local organizing committee for the national assembly to protest
Lawsons role.
I had hoped that Pax Christi would not cancel the assembly
but would rather find a speaker whose commitment to nonviolence is consistent
and therefore extends to the unborn, Gathje said in a statement he
provided to NCR. In other words, I believe that Pax Christi USA
had the opportunity to make clear its commitment to its own endorsement of the
consistent ethic of life.
Small, who will be leaving her post at Pax Christi Aug. 6, said
the decision to cancel the assembly was a unanimous decision made by the
entire national council. The national council includes the
organizations president, Bishop Walter Sullivan of the Richmond, Va.,
diocese. Small said the decision wont sit well with everybody but will be
applauded by most of the membership.
Our Pax Christi members expect us to stand up for
principles, Small said. We apologize to our members for the
difficulties that canceling will cause them, but we are confident that they
will understand our decision to sacrifice practicality in order to uphold our
principles.
Pax Christi USA plans to hold its next national assembly at the
University of Detroit Mercy July 26-28, 2002. A keynote speaker has not been
announced, but one has been invited. Small said she didnt know how the
Lawson incident would impact future keynote speaker selections.
National Catholic Reporter, July 13,
2001
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