Pastor preaches nonviolence

The Free Press

ST PETER May 13, 2008 05:56 pm

— The question was simple: How, the retired pastor asked the Nobel Prize nominee, are you teaching non-violence?

"Are you kidding me?" said Archbishop Elias Chacour, the Nobel nominated holy man, author and Rotary man of the year in Israel in 2000. "We don't teach non-violence ... We live it."

The archbishop gave the students, faculty and community members who visited with him at Gustavus Adolphus College Monday a lot to think about. And much of his message was about getting along with others, existing as pacifists and trusting in God.

His stop at Gustavus was just one of many on his trip to the U.S. He stopped at St. John's University before coming to Gustavus, and at 7 p.m. he'll speak to a gathering at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Mankato, 937 Charles Avenue, Mankato.

Chacour said the homily at daily chapel services in Christ Chapel. That service was heavy on students. At a question and answer period afterward, it was mostly community members, including that retired pastor, Duane Kamrath, who was mostly satisfied with Chacour's answer.

"My problem with (not teaching non-violence), is that I think we need to emphasize non-violence in our curriculums," Kamrath said. "And we need to reexamine what a 'just war' is."

For a full report, see the print edition of Tuesday's Free Press.