Aline Marie Steuer, president of the Sisters of the Holy Cross, and Joan Marie Steadman, Saint Mary's chair of the Board of Trustees, discussed the importance violence has in society, whether at a personal level or globally, during their presentation "A Call to Peace: Faith and Hope in the Face of Terrorism."

The Holy Cross Sisters were signatories of a recent document that explores ways of connecting faith to the current situation involving the United States and Afghanistan. Steadman and Steur have also written articles for various publications on how military budgeting takes away from funds for people's basic social needs.

"They are women of peace, women who have strong voices and lead by example," said Jan Pilarski, director of the Justice Education Program.

Sisters of the Holy Cross, administrators, students and faculty were gathered for the discussion bringing a sense of community to the discussion. Steadman involved the audience by allowing everyone to reflect on their own definitions of violence and non-violence and then sharing their definitions with each other. Steur then began her lecture on the different levels of violence that exist, using Gandhi's definition as a basis.

"Violence is the killing of human beings, like a plague, that humanity has inflicted on itself," Steuer said. "We learned to trust the bomb in order to gain peace."

Steuer recognizes that non-violence means are more difficult when violence surrounds us in our cities and has become so popular.

"We all have violence in our heart, it is the spirituality of the modern world," Steuer said. "Non-violence is a principle underlying all human life and it must become a way of life to promote God's reign so that we may learn what it means to be human in this reign of violence."

The Justice Education Office of the Sisters of the Holy Cross has been trying to spread this message world wide through its congregation and by using publications. More information about the mission of non-violence can be found on the website www.cscsisters.org.

"It is our hope that our study, prayer and efforts on the behalf of justice recognizes active non-violence responses," Steadman said.

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