From the Director's Desk...

          This issue of the Woodstock Report features the discussion at our recent Woodstock Forum, which addressed the theme of our new book, Forgiveness in International Politics: An Alternative Road to Peace. Both the forum and book provide a unique service to those of us who are searching for insights on social questions, rooted in our religious faith, which will help us walk along the way of peace each day.

         Does it ever occur to us that forgiveness is a dynamic process? And that it is a key ingredient in building a just world? Many yearn for an alternative road to peace in today’s world; but we need a fresh understanding of how forgiveness actually works in situations of conflict and violence. Our Woodstock project on forgiveness in conflict resolution suggests an alternative road to peace because it recasts how people in conflict situations relate to one another more justly.

         For Christians, the power of the Resurrection is the power of forgiveness. We all carry the potential for resurrection and forgiveness, to receive it as gift and then forge it into a creative and transforming human presence for others. I believe and hope that people of all religions and cultures, including our own, can discover the unimaginable proportions of the social and political power of forgiveness.

         Woodstock’s work in this area began with a forum in November 1995, which highlighted a groundbreaking study on forgiveness in politics by Donald Shriver, President Emeritus of Union Theological Seminary in New York. That event generated so much enthusiasm that Father Jim Connor, S.J., then Woodstock’s director, initiated a new Woodstock project to carry on the conversation. Ambassador (Ret.) Robert T. Hennemeyer has guided the project over the years, with the assistance of Woodstock fellow Drew Christiansen, S.J. After several colloquia and publications, the project has now culminated with last month’s forum and the new book, published by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and co-authored by Ambassador Hennemeyer, Father Christiansen, and Woodstock fellow William Bole. (The “In Focus” section of this Report provides us with more information about the project.)

         In this Woodstock Report, Don Shriver comes back to help us think about forgiveness in politics by “making forgiving personal events into social events.” From his perspective as associate editor of America magazine, Father Christiansen explores how the churches have played a significant role in fostering the transformation of conflict situations. The third panelist is Doris Donnelly, director of the Cardinal Suenens Program in Theology and Church Life at John Carroll University. Dr. Donnelly helps deepen our social and political understanding of forgiveness in concrete ways. She lays out the qualifications required for those who are to be “ambassadors of reconciliation.”

         Finally, thanks for your financial help so that Woodstock can continue its unique service of making insights on social questions available, so that we all can walk the path of justice and peace each day. I hope you will be able to support Woodstock in its important work.

         Many thanks.
 

Gasper F. Lo Biondo, S.J.
Director

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