Gandhi's grandson speaks at Sister Karen Klimczak remembrance

PEACE-JUSTICE-NONVIOLENCE FESTIVAL AND WALK Sept. 11, 2016 at Canalside

Joining Together for All Our Brothers, Sisters, Children & Mother Earth

A warm and sunny day at Canalside on September 11th was the setting for the third annual Peace-Justice-Nonviolence Festival and Walk. The Sister Karen Center was one of over 125 sponsoring organizations which comprise the WNY Coalition ofPeace, Justice and Nonviolence Advocates. The lively festival was just one of the multitude of ways these groups are hard at work to reduce violence in our community and world.

The festival was intentionally planned on September 11th to reframe and rededicate the day in accordance with the vision of the September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. The nonviolent examples of Martin Luther King Jr. and Sister Karen Klimczak, Buffalo’s Apostle of Peace, were an inspiration for the festival.

Members of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy opened the proceedings with a traditional Indigenous Nation’s Welcome and Thanksgiving to All Creation. The greeting was followed by an interfaith prayer and moment of silence for all victims of violence locally and throughout the world. Various speakers emphasized the interconnectedness of the violenceof racism, Islamophobia, misogyny, poverty, war, gun violence and the destruction ofMother Earth.

Participants were given a ribbon of fabric and asked to write on it a word or phrase that expresses peace, justice, and nonviolence. The ribbons were tied together and carried on a Walk of Peace with drumming and singing along the river to the marina gardens.

Throughout the festival over 400 attendees mingled at informational tables staffed by community organizations. (Sister Jean Klimczak gave out “I Leave Peaceprints” dove signs at the Sister Karen table!) Vendors offered tasty ethnic food. Facepainting by Charlotte Waltz-Rieber and craft-making were enjoyed by children of all ages.

In reflecting on the day, Sister Karen Center Director Vivian Waltz was quoted in the Buffalo News. “There are so many groups working for peace and justice in Buffalo, it’s important to get together and celebrate the work we do, especially now when people are so divided and there’s so much violence. Each year it’s a day of healing and peace.” (See home page for photos.)

by Cierra Johnson

HAMBURG, N.Y. (WKBW) - Although they lived at different times and in different lands, it was a dedication to peace and non-violence that Mahatma Gandhi and Sister Karen Klimczak shared.

Sunday night, just days after the 10th anniversary of Sister Karen's murder, their similarities were highlighted.

In front of more than 200, Mahatma Gandhi's grandson Arun Gandhi served as guest speaker drawing parallels between his grandfather - the international peacemaker and Sister Karen - a local Roman Catholic Nun who ran a halfway house for ex-convicts but was murdered in 2006.

The program served as fundraiser for the Center of Nonviolence, an organization to continue her work and legacy.

Arun Ghandi also shared how he continues to share his grandfather's mission of peace by starting the "Season of Nonviolence." The annual 64-day event celebrates the ideas of his grandfather and another peace icon: Dr. Martin Luther King.

Started in 1998, Arun says since its creation this movement has been adopted by several hundred communities.

*See April Annual Event Photos page*

For video, go to

http://www.wkbw.com/news/gandhis-grandson-speaks-at-sister-karen-klimczak-remembrance

SSJ Sister Karen Klimczak Center For Nonviolence

SSJ Sister Karen Klimczak Center For Nonviolence

News and Events

SSJ Sister Karen Klimczak Center For Nonviolence

PEACE-JUSTICE-NONVIOLENCE FESTIVAL AND WALK Sept. 11, 2016 at Canalside

CAMP PEACEPRINTS 2016 - See Camp Peaceprints page

"Alternatives" Summer 2016

Gandhi's grandson speaks at Sister Karen Klimczak remembrance

SSJ Sister Karen Klimczak Center For Nonviolence

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