An Assumptionist Peacemaker in the Making at Boston University |
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This program brings together faculty and speakers from all the BTI schools, namely Boston University, Boston College, Andover Newton Theological School, Harvard Divinity School, Episcopal Divinity School, etc. to analyze critical conflicts happening across the globe with their differences and complexities. For each one of them, the role of religious peacebuilding (peacebuilding as done by religious leaders, churches, religious institutions) is evaluated in comparison to political peacebuilding. Since World War II, religious peacebuilding has been called the missing dimension of statecraft. World Religions, including Islam, possess moral and social characteristics that equip them in unique ways to engage in efforts to promote peace.
Fr Vincent intends to apply in the D.R.Congo this restorative approach. Hopefully, fierce fighting and violence will be stopped and give way to reconciliation between the nations of the great lakes region of Africa, namely D.R.Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Angola, etc. The great challenge remaining for the D.R.Congo is to put an end to the current violence so that peacemakers may work for the healing of the Congolese population traumatized by a 15 year-old conflict, mostly triggered by the scramble for mineral resources and that has left over 6 million Congolese dead since September 1996.The United Nations has called it the deadliest conflict in the world since World War II. In January 2010, Fr Vincent together with the Boston University School of Theology Peacemakers initiated a letter to President Barack Obama and to the US Ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, entitled, "How many more civilians will be killed in the D.R.Congo before the United Nations and the United States act?” (Available on internet at: http://www.benilubero.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1811:letter-to-obama-qstop-congo-invasion-and-the-massacres-of-civiliansq&catid=31:english-version&Itemid=67 Currently, Fr Vincent is working on his doctoral dissertation on the role of the Catholic Church in transforming the conflict in the D.R.Congo. ![]()
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 21 June 2011 07:39 |