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Augustinian Justice and Peace

The Church and the United Nations:
Partners in Peace and Development

A two-week course on Church - United Nations collaboration, entitled The Church and the United Nations: Partners in Peace and Development, is offered periodically.

Taught by Midwest Augustinian Rev. John Paul Szura, O.S.A., Ph.D., The Church and the United Nations: Partners in Peace and Development examines how the Church can work effectively in the U.N. to promote the values in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The course includes briefings at U. N. Headquarters. Each course is offered in English. One or more times each year, the course is also offered in Spanish, with the assistance of Anthony B. Pizzo, O.S.A.

Father Szura has long been associated with the Augustinian Non-Governmental Organization (N.G.O.) at the United Nations. He is well-known for his work of promoting the social teaching of the Catholic Church.

The course will be offered again September 1 - 14, 2008. Because the annual Department of Public Information/Non-Governmental Organization Conference will be held during that time period in Paris, France, the 2008 course will be offered in Paris. The D.P.I - N.G.O. Conference is an integral part of the course.

To Register or Obtain More Information

For additional information or to register, contact
   John Deegan, O.S.A.
   259 N. Lawrence St.
   Philadelphia, PA 19106-1103
   610-504-3490
   E-mail John Deegan, O.S.A.

At the Partners Course September 11, 2001

Midwest Augustinian John Paul Szura has been working with the United Nations for several years to promote human rights and justice. He was giving the Partners in Peace and Development Course at the U.N. during the attacks on the World Trade Center September 11, 2001. He gives this account:

As part of our Order's N.G.O. work, I periodically conduct a two-week course in New York at Washington Theological Union on the topic of Church-U.N. collaboration.

Sometimes classes are held at the U.N. itself. The morning of September 11 was one of those times.

We were a small class that fateful day - only a Franciscan sister and a few Augustinians from England, Mexico and the United States.

Shortly after the class began, our attention was shifted to the TV monitor giving us the breaking news about the World Trade Center attacks. We were soon evacuated from the U.N. as a precaution.

As we made our way north through the crowds to our Augustinian parish in the Bronx, St. Nicholas of Tolentine, we discussed how to get there without subway service or open bridges.

We talked about the power of violence and non-violence.

And we also discussed the topic which later became the advice of Cardinal Egan, Archbishop of New York, and several other Church leaders. They asked us to do some honest soul-searching as to why, as a nation, we were hated so much by others.

Our conclusions during that long, soul-searching walk may differ from yours, but the point is that such questioning is healthy and should be done with honesty and courage.

The whole exercise gave us insight into that second reason Augustinians are in the U.N. - to enrich ourselves with wider and more real views in life.