Training with Faculty and Staff:

Can the University be a “House of Peace”?
Tools for Nonviolent Change in Light of Pope Leo’s Call for “Houses of Peace”

Wednesday, March 4, 9am-11pm, with breakfast at 8:30am
Oberto Commons, Sinegal 200

“I hope…that every diocese may promote pathways of education in nonviolence, mediation initiatives in local conflicts, and welcoming projects that transform fear of the other into an opportunity for encounter. May every community become a ‘house of peace’, where one learns how to defuse hostility through dialogue, where justice is practiced and forgiveness is cherished.” - Pope Leo XIV

A workshop on:

• Exploring our call to build “a house of peace”
• Tapping our power for good
• Pooling our power for change
• Unleashing our power for more nonviolent lives and a more just society

Activities will include:

• Digging into Pope Leo’s call that communities worldwide become “houses of peace”
• Reflecting on nonviolent success stories
• Exploring research on the effectiveness of nonviolent strategies
• Engaging in exercises on how nonviolence works
• Connecting through small group reflection and large group discussion
• Envisioning ways forward in this time of crisis and opportunity

Presented by:

Dr. Ken Butigan
Movement builder, campaign organizer, professor, writer, trainer

Pope Leo has called on every community across the globe to become a “house of peace.” This workshop will use nonviolent tools and exercises to explore what this metaphor could mean in practical terms to Seattle University. Is it already a “house of peace”? How might it become more of a “house of peace”?

Ken Butigan is a changemaker who has organized campaigns and movements resisting war, challenging nuclear weapons, and standing with the unhoused. He was a founder of the Pledge of Resistance, which mobilized nonviolent direct action for a decade to end US military intervention in Central America. He works with Pace e Bene’s Campaign Nonviolence that mobilizes thousands of actions in the U.S. and around the world every year challenging war, poverty, racism, and environmental destruction. He is a senior advisor to Pax Christi International’s Catholic Institute for Nonviolence based in Rome. He taught for many years in the Peace, Justice, and Conflict Studies Program at DePaul University in Chicago. He hails originally from Seattle.