An interview with Maryann Cusimano Love, 2014 Romero Lecture keynote

Published originally on Catholic Star Herald.

On Friday, March 21, the Romero Center will welcome Dr. Maryann Cusimano Love to present the annual Romero Lecture. This year’s theme is “Make Us Instruments of Peace: Peace-building in the 21st Century.” Dr. Cusimano Love is associate professor of international relations at The Catholic University of America, Washington. She is an author and editor of scholarly and popular works and has penned five best-selling children’s books. Dr. Cusimano Love serves as an advisor to the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Catholic bishops, the Catholic Peacebuilding Network, and the Jesuit Refugee Services. In anticipation of her forthcoming talk, the Catholic Star Herald interviewed Dr. Cusimano Love.

What do Catholics need to know about the church’s teachings on peace? 

The good news is that it is working. Peace is breaking out in the world today, in part because of the tireless efforts of the church around the world, and the impact of Catholic teaching on nonviolence, the Just War tradition (which is the foundation of all arms control agreements and efforts to limit war and protect civilians), and the emerging just peace tradition.

The challenge is that we are not bystanders to this success story; the church calls all of us to build peace. It is not somebody else’s job, or the job of soldiers and statesmen. It is our calling and commitment, as followers of the Prince of Peace. “Peace be with you” is not just a nice greeting we say to one another at Mass on Sunday. Peace is the way we are to live in the world and the gift we are to share with the world every day of the week.

Church teaching on peace continues to grow. Pope Francis calls on all baptized persons to be peacemakers, and offers his own peace plan, for how to practice deep listening and dialogue with people of different backgrounds and with whom we disagree.

Does the church bring any unique perspectives or resources to peace-building? 

The church brings three “I’s” to peacebuilding: institutions, ideas, and imagination. Our global institutions such as Catholic Relief Services bring practical assistance to people in war zones, ministering to the most vulnerable while working to end the violence. Our institutions are both local and international, providing needed leverage and resources for peacebuilding. We worship a relational God in three persons, who calls us to greater communion; these ideas inspire the ways we build peace, starting with building peaceful persons and peaceful relationships as foundations of peaceful communities. That is different from others who start with governments of states to build peace; we put people first, before the interests of governments or countries. But more powerful even than our bricks and mortar institutions, and our ideas of peace, is our religious imagination. How do people build peace who have never known peace, in places like Colombia, the Philippines, or Sudan, where violent conflicts have gone on for decades? You can only build what you can imagine, and our religious imagination allows us to imagine peace even in countries where they have never experienced it. Our sacraments of reconciliation and Communion provide powerful healing in war-torn communities, and ways to reimagine how to live as the body of Christ, even with former enemies.

You have said that working for peace can heal not only political conflicts, but also divisions within the church. Can you say more about that? 

Pope Francis is calling us away from internal church conflicts and back to our basic mission RLS_final std_webof serving God by serving others. We know how to do this, how to bridge the gap of sharp words and frayed bonds. We need to apply the practices of Catholic peace-building here at home, practices of reconciliation and participation. Principles and practices of Catholic peacebuilding have been learned at great cost in conflicts around the world, from the Philippines to Colombia. Ideas prominent in Catholic peacebuilding-participation, reconciliation, right relationship, and a long-term time horizon-stem from the principle of the sanctity of human life and dignity. To build peace, we have to be able, as John Paul Lederach, a scholar of peace-building at the Kroc Institute at the University of Notre Dame, notes, “to imagine ourselves in a web of relationships that includes our enemies.” Pope Francis calls us to deep listening and respectful dialogue with people different from ourselves. That applies close to home in the church hall as well as to conflicts far away.

In addition to being an accomplished scholar, you have written a number of best-selling children’s books. Does this relate to your work on peace-building? 

Yes. Peace education begins at home, in the stories we share. Children are our future, and families are where children learn to be peacebuilders. Parents and children are different; we move at different paces and sometimes want different things. My children want to stay up late, and I want them to go to bed. They want to jump in mud puddles and I want them to take baths. How do we solve conflicts and differences in our families? How do we respond to our differences in love? Too often our lives are so busy, with families torn in different directions or tethered to electronics, that we can forget that the greatest gift we can give our children is our time. My children’s books celebrate family time spent together, the various ways we can respect our differences and respond with love to each other. We don’t have to go to the Congo to build peace. It starts in our own kitchens and living rooms.

Dr. Maryann Cusimano Love, associate professor of international relations at The Catholic University of America, Washington, will deliver the 14th Annual Romero Lecture Friday, March 21, 7 p.m., at Rutgers-Camden Campus Center. For more information check out the Lecture website.