NOVEMBER 2017
VOL. XXIII, NO. 2
Associate Mary Danhauer starts Nonviolent Owensboro By Associate Dan Heckel, MSJ Staff
Saint Francis and Saint Clare of Assisi greeted visitors with “pace e bene,” which in Italian means “peace and all good.” In 1989, the Franciscan Friars of California founded Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service, to work for active nonviolence. Its website says that since 1989, more than 30,000 people have attended one of Pace e Bene’s 700 workshops to gain tools for more healthy relationships. One of those attendees was Ursuline Associate Mary Danhauer. “Something moved in me,” Mary said. Inspired by the involvement of noted peace activist Father John Dear, Pace e Bene began the Nonviolent Cities Project, patterned after a 2011 effort by Carbondale, Ill., to become a nonviolent city. Mary, who lives in Owensboro, Ky., thought she would pursue making her hometown a nonviolent city as well. On Nov. 14, 2016, Mary shared a presentation during Owensboro’s 6th annual Faith Fest, which featured a dozen different faith communities. “I thought maybe 10 people would show up, and 25 people came,” Mary said. “People continue to be interested. We meet the first Monday of the month at the Unitarian Universalist church. The energy is just there.” In a city like Owensboro, with a low crime rate and few instances of public discord, it can be easy to believe it is already nonviolent. “We want to connect the dots that poverty, income inequality, all those boil down to Nonviolent Owensboro wrote its mission statement in May. Left to right: Sister Betsy violence,” Moyer, Sister Sheila Anne Smith, Sister Mary said. Rebecca White, Claudia Ramisch, Peggy “One thing Wilson (standing), Sister Mary Jude Cecil and Gandhi said Associate Mary Danhauer.
Associate Mary Danhauer is interviewed by a TV reporter on Sept. 7 as she stands in front of the Confederate statue on the Daviess County, Ky., Courthouse lawn. Top: Ursuline Sisters Rebecca White, left, and Mary Jude Cecil hold their signs during the silent protest outside the Courthouse on Sept. 7.
was, ‘Poverty is one of the leading causes of violence.’” Violence begins in each of us, and that’s where nonviolence must begin, Mary said. A training she went to in June discussed practicing what nonviolence is, and how to see others as Jesus. “John Dear talks about three things to do, all at 110 percent,” Mary said. Work on the violence in yourself Work on the violence in your relationships Be part of a grassroots movement “And he says you should do all three at the same time. That’s really hard,” Mary said. “Just recognizing the violence in yourself is tremendous.” Mary is a nurse who works with the poor. She used a personal example about when she was getting frustrated with an insurance company while trying to get help for a patient. “I could feel the anger building up,” she said. “It shows up frequently.” Continued on page 3