Citizens for Peace in the Observer

Here's the article in the Sunday, Dec. 29th Observer!
I hope you can join us for all of these great events!

Group offers series on power of nonviolence

The Rev. Rich Peacock will be the guest speaker at the next meeting of Citizens for Peace, 7 p.m.Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2014, at Unity of Livonia, 28660 Five Mile, Livonia.

He’ll recommend ways to overcome racism, materialism, and militarism.

The organization offers a workshop in building peaceful relationships, 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 11, 2014, at a private home in Livonia.  Cost is $45 and includes a vegetarian lunch. Call Rosemary Doyle at 248-476-0791 for more information.

The Citizens for Peace also will commemorate the “Season for Nonviolence” with a three-part series on understanding the power of nonviolence as described in Michael Nagler's book, The Search for a Nonviolent Future: A Promise of Peace for Ourselves, Our Families, and Our World. Each session will include discussion, and viewing short videos or YouTube segments about Nagler's book. The first part, “Understanding the Basics” will be held Feb. 13, 2014. “The Myth and Power of Nonviolence is set for March 13, 2014 and “A Clear Picture of Peace and Compassion” rounds out the series on April 10, 2014. Sessions will run 7:30-8:30 p.m. at the Livonia Civic Center Library, 32777 Five Mile, Livonia.

The Season for Nonviolence was co-founded by the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence and The Association for Global New Thought, which focuses attention on the philosophy of attaining peace through nonviolent action as demonstrated by Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. It was launched in 1998.

To view chapter summaries of Nagler's book, visit www.youtube.com; then type in the space bar "The Search for a Nonviolent Future

SAVE LIVES

Sally Peck got her letter to the editor published in the Observer!

Thanks Sally!

Between 23 – 36% of teenagers admit they have committed a serious violent offense by age 17. Homicide remains a leading cause of death among youth age 10-24. We need to deal with at-risk teenagers differently, and we have an opportunity to do so with the passage of the Youth PROMISE Act (S1307 & HR1308).

PROMISE is an acronym for Prison Reduction through Opportunities, Mentoring, Intervention, Support and Education.  It would fund proven, locally controlled, evidence-based violence prevention programs. A Pennsylvania program investing in at-risk youth saves $5 for each $1 spent. 

This bi-partisan bill has the support of local law enforcement, the US Conference of Mayors and state and local governments.  

Years ago, my elderly mother was murdered in her home by a neighbor youth. The programs that the Youth PROMISE Act would provide may have prevented this tragedy.  Please urge your Congressmen to co-sponsor this bill. 

Spiritual Activism

Thanks for a great evening exploring spiritual activism Tada!
Let's all move toward being spiritual activists in 2014!

What Is A Spiritual Activist?

*  One who enriches the spirit

*  One who encourages people to open their hearts to God and to each other

*  One who acts out of a sense of eternal self

*  One who encourages action based on noble principles

Qualities Of A Spiritual Activist

*  Authenticity, vision, kindness, compassion, and truth-telling

*  A good listener, interactive, aware

*  Loving, forgiving, not judging, an awareness of oneness 

*  Leading by example, hopeful

*  Altruism, gratitude, patience, and persistence

*  Foresight 

When Tada asked how to transform our negative emotions, Rev. Selena gave this response:

"I find that if I pray for 3 other people/situations, that energy is

diffused and changed into compassion. I also strive to take 100%
responsibility for whatever energy is going on in the world. So if
there is a war due to desire for power or control- where in my life do
I do that? Change of my energy will help change the energy of the planet,
too."

Join us for our December 10th Meeting!

What Is Spiritual Activism?

                Attend the December 10^th Citizens for Peace Meeting to find out.               

Tada Gunter will present an interactive, experiential workshop on the topic of 

Spiritual Activism.  Included will be an overview of the wisdom from the leaders in this field, 

a guided meditation, and small group sharing.

Join us at Unity of Livonia 

28660 Five Mile Rd.

 at 7 pm

We will be drawing the winners of our Education Fund Raffle.

You can call 734-425-0079 for raffle tickets.

Winners need not be present to win.

Prizes include dinner & movie passes, Peace Books, Peace Puzzles, PEACE signs, and a basket from Trader Joe's

Thanks to our donors:

The Phoenix Theatre, The Maple Theater,and United Artists Commerce Township,

George Murphy's at the Creek, George's Senate Coney Island, Livonia Big Boy,

Archie's Restaurant, Deadwood Bar & Grill, Red Robin, Rocky's of Northville, Los Amigos

Restaurant, Rusty Bucket Restaurant, and Trader Joe's!

Video of the Peace Concert

You Can Hear the Peace Concert with Brother Al & Steve Klaper Again!!

Thanks to Kevin 'Mr. Peace' Szawala for recording our Concert for Peace
with Brother Al & Steve Klaper, we can listen to their inspiring concert again.

Here is the link to the Concert for Peace that celebrated our 10th Anniversary!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v4LLqimibk

What a Wonderful Celebration!

Thank You Brother Al & Steve Klaper!

Brother Al & Steve Klaper performed a beautiful Peace Concert for our 10th Anniversary.

Brother Al was presented with the 2013 Compassionate 
Citizen Award from the Citizens for Peace for all of his 
work with the homeless, families in need, seniors, children, 
and the disabled.
Brother Al, Steve Klaper and Mary Gihuly founded the Song & Spirit Institute of Peace in Berkley.

We wish them much success with their work for peace!

Citizens for Peace 10th Anniversary Celebration!

Brother Al and Steve Klaper Perform A Concert for Peace.

A singing monk and a Jewish troubadour team up to provide a musically uplifting evening of song and story for all ages at 7 pm, Tuesday, November 12^th at Unity of Livonia.

Brother Al Mascia is a minstrel who performs old melodies as well as his original story songs that touch people’s hearts. He is a well-known figure in the Metro Detroit area because of his Bicycle Cart that served the hungry and homeless in downtown Detroit for many years.

Steve Klaper has been a professional musician for over thirty years.  He shares teachings from a variety of traditions as he performs inspirational and melodic songs.

Together they perform concerts that entertain as well as give hope that we can all get along and create a peaceful, inclusive and loving community.

This message of peace and hope motivated Brother Al and Steve Klaper, along with artist Mary Gilhuly, to form the Song and Spirit Institute in Berkley. The Song and Spirit Institute promotes peace at a grassroots level through the arts, music, study, organic gardening and compassionate acts of community service.

Now Brother Al has expanded his work to the entire tri-county area. He traded his Bicycle Cart for a Care’avan that delivers over 800 SnackPax meals to children in need every day. The Care’avan is used as a bookmobile, distributing books to students of all ages, and ice cream to urban summer day camps, head-start programs and various community centers.  Along with many volunteers, Brother Al helps those in need, including seniors, and adults with developmental disabilities.

Brother Al will receive the 2013 Compassionate Citizen Award from the Citizens for Peace. The public is invited to enjoy A Concert for Peace, a piece of anniversary cake, and donate to the great work of the Song and Spirit Institute. Unity of Livonia is located at 28660 Five Mile Road. 

Come celebrate our 10 years of working for a more peaceful world.
Bring your friends!


For more information, call Colleen at 734-425-0079.

Award Winning Documentary Gandhi’s Children Featured

The film Gandhi’s Children will be shown at the Citizens for Peace meeting at 7 pm. on Tuesday, October 8^th at Unity of Livonia.  This film focuses on the lives of several groups of modern day untouchables in India.  “The untouchables are forced to lead a heartrending life.  They are not allowed to drink from the same wells, attend the same temples, and wear shoes in the presence of the upper caste, or fall in love with a member of another caste”, said Vishnu Vasu, the film’s director.  “After realizing the untouchables are socially and physically excluded, I decided it was high time that someone spoke about it at an international level”.  The film has played at over thirty film festivals and has won eight awards for Best Documentary Cinematography.

The public is invited to view and discuss this powerful film about the powerless in India.

ONE PEACE Celebration of the UN International Day of Peace

Join the Citizens for Peace as we observer the Day of Peace!

The annual ONE PEACE celebration of the UN International Day of Peace will be September 21st at the Livonia Civic Center Library located at 32777 Five Mile Road, from 1 – 4 P.M. The film With One Voice will be shown at 2 P.M. This film shares the wisdom and personal experiences of inspirational leaders from fourteen spiritual traditions. Their voices highlight the unity of humanity, and share the beauty of our essential oneness

Father Thomas Keating, Rabbi David A. Cooper, Dr. Mohammad Faghfoory, Gangaji, Joan Halifax, Swami Karunananda, Joseph Goldstein, Dr. Malidoma Patrice Some’, Brother David Steindl-Rast and Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev are several of the mystics interviewed in With One Voice.

The Peace Pals International Art Display will be available for viewing. The art of children from sixty four countries with the message May Peace Prevail On Earth is a colorful and hopeful reminder of their desire for peace. Come and browse the tables of peace groups working to create a more peaceful world. 

Meet the Producers and View Film "Globalized Soul"

"Globalized Soul" Film and Discussion With Producers 
Kell Kearns and Cynthia Lucas

The film “Globalized Soul” will be featured at the September 10^th Citizens for Peace meeting at Unity of Livonia 28660 Five Mile Rd.) at 7 pm. The film focuses on the need for love and nonviolence for our survival. It is beautifully filmed in Israel, India, Turkey, Morocco, Australia, Mexico, and the United States. 

There are interviews with global spiritual leaders including Rabbi Michael Learner, Sister Joan Chittister, Reverand James Trapp, and Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bukhari.

The stories of the peace-builders in India and Israel are the highlights of this inspiring film. In India, the poorest and most physically challenged are provided with medical help while the Dalai Lama holds interreligious dialogues with Jain scholars.  In Israel, courageous Muslim, Jewish and Christian peacemakers come together to affirm their oneness at a dinner celebrating the end of Ramadan.

“Globalized Soul is a sensitively made film on peace.  It leaves you with a positive feeling that peace is possible if we know how to build it” said Gandhi's grandson, Arun Gandhi after seeing the film.

Producers, Kell Kearns and Cynthia Lewis will be discussing the making of this film and will be available for questions after the viewing  of “Globalized Soul”.

All are welcome.

Vegetarian Potluck August 13th at Unity of Livonia

Our Annual Vegetarian Potluck is August 13th!
Bring your favorite vegetarian dish to share as we celebrate our work to create a culture of peace. We start at 6:30 pm.
As we enjoy a delicious dinner together, we will discuss the
connection between our food choices and climate change, world hunger, our health, compassion to animals and how "Meatless Mondays" can help us contribute to a more equitable, kind, healthy and safer world. Come and bring a friend. 

PEACE, LOVE & YOGA DAY

Register for the 2nd Annual Peace, Love & Yoga Day!

The Citizens for Peace and the Yoga Association of Greater Detroit are offering a special day for you to relax, rejuvenate and have fun at our second annual summer Peace, Love & Yoga Day!

It will be held on Saturday, August 24th at the Livonia Senior Center from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm.  The day includes lunch (prepared by our own George T. Mills.)

The schedule provides a variety of yoga sessions for beginners and advanced students, including Sun Salutations; Yoga for All; Chair Yoga; Laughing Yoga and Flowing Yoga.

There will be meditation with Kathy Henning; Mandala Coloring; words from Diana Kinascuk and the 10 Keys to Happiness practices - a film by Deepak Chopra.

Click HERE to download your registration form.

We're Not Broke!

This film documents how U.S. corporations have been able to hide over a trillion dollars from Uncle Sam, and how a growing number of Americans are demanding that corporations pay their fair share.

Join us in our ongoing discussion of our national budget.

 Tuesday, June 11, 2013

7 p.m.

Unity of Livonia

28660 Five Mile Rd. (E. of Middlebelt)

Livonia, Michigan 48154

(Free & open to the public)

Becoming a Kinder Gentler Nation

Becoming A Kinder Gentler Nation: 

Putting Our Money Where Our Morals Are

Thank you Ann Abdoo for an informative, thoughtful talk!

Click on the link to listen.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXYumh9Ivac&feature=youtube

 

 

Mothers Day Peace Wants a Piece of the Pie Visit

Colleen Mills, President of the Citizens for Peace; Cal Matle, Office Manager for Congressman Bentivolio; Melanie Collinsworth, District Scheduler/Caseworker for the Congressman; Gloria Gonek, Citizens for Peace Board Member

Mothers Day Peace Pie Delivered to Kerry Bentivolio's Office

Thanks to Gloria Gonek for arranging our annual visit to our representatives requesting support of peace legislation!  We had a great visit with the congressman's office manager, Cal Matle. He generously gave us over an hour to discuss our priorities of supporting legislation that would reduce violence such as the Youth Promise Act and the Department of Peacebuilding (H.R. 808).
We shared our Political Action Guide for Peace and a large packet of materials including information on the U.S. Peace Index.
Gloria presented an all-American cherry pie and accompanying pie chart showing our federal budget with a small sliver (1%)  for peace. 

May 14th Meeting Focuses on a Moral Budget

Becoming a Kinder Gentler Nation:

Shifting our Money to Support our Morals

The United States defense budget is greater than the combined defense budgets of the next seventeen largest spenders.  Our over-reach takes away from the basic needs of people here at home.  It is time to shift our priorities.   Ann Abdoo demonstrates how this shift could bring a dramatic change in our economy.   Her presentation will be at the Citizens for Peace meeting on May 14, at 7 pm at Unity of Livonia, (26880 Five Mile Rd. east of Middlebelt.)

Join in a ground swell effort to contribute to a national discussion on the benefits of more socially just society and ultimately a more peaceful world. 

Ann Abdoo has been a member of Citizens for Peace and a board member since 2004.  Her work in public libraries for over thirty years resulted in her developing her own philosophy of social justice, which she will share with you on Tuesday night, May 14^th.

The meeting is free and open to the public.

Robert Weir Shares the People of Calcutta

Joy in the Face of Poverty

What a beautiful presentation Robert Weir shared with us!
With the pictures and videos Robert shared, we experienced
being with colorful, beautiful people of the Calcutta slum.
Here's the link to view again!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2V--73yFJdg

Michael Wickett Presents

Thanks to Michael Wickett we are focusing on the power of gratitude in creating our powerful life vision!

Here is the YouTube link from Michael Wickett's talk on "Creating a Powerful Life Vision" for you to put on the website:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAKIblsAb8g

Michael also shared these documents to guide us in asking the questions to help us change our lives and relationships. 

 

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_xQX09SypdLa21SX1J0R2lsRmc/edit

Robert Weir Talk on India

Life Among the People in a Calcutta Slum with Robert Weir

Experience the colorful contrasts of the people of India as seen through the eyes of Michigan author Robert M. Weir at the 7 p.m. Citizens for Peace meeting Tuesday, April 9^th at Unity of Livonia.

Robert will share his experiences traveling Northern India by bus and train, then living among the people of a Calcutta slum.  An author, photographer, traveler and speaker, he spent 10 months in India recording the lives of those around him.

In story, video, and photographs, he captures joy in the face of poverty through scenes ranging from children playing simple games, participants in community celebrations to street vendors, shops and eateries.

A natural storyteller, Robert will provide enlightening commentary throughout his presentation.

Unity of Livonia is located at 28660 Five Mile Road.  The talk is free and open to the public.  All are welcome

Peace and Conflict Discussion Series

Join us for the final discussion of our Peace and Conflict Discussion Series!

 

If you haven't had time to read The Third Side: Why We Fight and How We Can Stop, by William Ury, don't let that stop you from coming to the discussion on Thursday, April 4th   at the Livonia 

Civic Center Library.  We will be giving an overview of the book and showing a short DVD of the authordiscussing, "The Third Side" to enhance our discussion.  Come and learn some new tools, so that you can take concrete steps to immediately put to use these principles in your own life.

For further questions call 248-476-0791 or email rdoyle@cheerful.com