Living Non-Violently in a Violent Culture

This pastoral circle process uses reflection and discussion to help young adults get in touch with the influence of violence in their lives, explore Jesus’ way of dealing with violence, and create their own Christian responses to violence.

By participating in this session young adults will:

• be more aware of how much violence affects them, both directly and indirectly
• have a deeper appreciation of Jesus as a model of non-violence
• understand the causes and consequences of violence
• know Catholic Social Teaching about violence
• reflect on possible actions they can take individually and communally to counter the violence in their own lives, in their society, and in the world.

Time: Approximately two hours

Session Overview:

Opening Prayer (5 minutes)
Involvement (15 minutes)
Violence and Non-Violence in the News
Exploration (30 minutes)
Violence in My Life
Causes and Results of Violence
Break (10 minutes)
Reflection (30 minutes)
Jesus’ Case for Non-Violence
Action (30 minutes)
Confronting a Culture of Violence: Taking Action
Closing Prayer (5 minutes)

Learning format:

The pastoral circle process of Involvement, Exploration, Reflection and Action are used.

Leaders needed:

A young adult or older adult with facilitation skills conducts this session.

Materials needed:

Handouts –

• Violence in the News (one copy)
• Non-Violence in the News (one copy)
• Violence in My Life (one copy per participant; two-sided handout)
• Confronting a Culture of Violence: Taking Action Against Violence
• Newsprint and markers
• Daily newspapers from the past week (two copies, one for each team)
• Magazines, e.g., Time, Newsweek, U.S. News (two copies, one for each team)
• A bag of candy, lollipops or some other “prize” for the team which wins
• Several copies of the New Testament (one for every five participants)

Advance preparation:

1. Gather magazines and newspapers from the week leading up to the session. Make sure you have two copies of each one chosen, since there will be two teams requiring the same materials.

2. Pay attention to violence in the news in the days before the session. Be prepared to share examples with the young adults during the session.

Leader background:

Read all or parts of the U.S. Bishops’ Confronting a Culture of Violence pastoral letter.

Session plan:

Opening Prayer (5 minutes)
Begin with a prayer service which uses the Prayer of St. Francis as a focal reading.
Involvement (15 minutes)

Activity:

The Involvement can also serve as the icebreaker, since it engages participants in a shared activity. Divide the group into two teams. Give one team the Handout: Violence in the News, and the other team the Handout: Non-Violence in the News. Have the newspapers and magazines available for each group. Tell them:

Today (or tonight) we are going to reflect on violence—in our own lives and in the world in which we live. We will analyze the causes and effects of violence, reflect on what Scripture and our Catholic Church say about violence, and look at some possible actions we can take to lessen the violence around us.

To begin, we are going to have a contest to see which team can write the most examples on its sheet in eight minutes. You can divide up the tasks among your members or work on the sheet all together. Are there any questions before we begin?

Large group debriefing:

After the eight minutes are up, count the items on each sheet and award the prize. Ask the team members for reactions. Since it will be very likely that the team gathering violent examples won, process this with the participants. Ask questions like:

• How much is violence portrayed in the media, both in fact and in fiction?
• Do you think the various media promote violence through their extensive coverage of it?
• What examples of hope did the team seeking non-violence find?
• What other conclusions do you make as a result of this exercise?

Exploration (30 minutes)

Leader comments:

Introduce Exploration by passing out the Handout: Violence in My Life. Share the following in your own words:

Violence in many ways is a deeply personal issue. We’re now going to take the time to reflect individually on how violence has touched our lives. We will look at five different ways people are violent. As you will notice on your journal sheet, these include physical violence as well as emotional, relational, domestic, societal and global violence. The sheet should help you differentiate among the five types. I’ll give you some quiet time now to identify the times in your life when you have been a victim of the different types of violence. You will also be reflecting on times when you yourself have been violent. The results will not be shared with anyone during this session, so please be as honest with yourself as you can be. After you have finished your self-assessment, turn to the other side of the sheet and answer those questions. Be prepared to share your answers to these two questions with the group.

Play soft music while the participants complete the journal sheet.

Large group discussion:

After about ten minutes, call the participants back together. Post on newsprint the word CAUSES. Invite participants to share causes of violence which they listed in their reflection. Once they have shared, tell them that the U.S. Catholic Bishops, writing in their document Confronting a Culture of Violence: A Catholic Framework for Action, agree with or add the following root causes:

• lack of respect for life
• poverty
• substance abuse
• lack of opportunity
• racism
• family disintegration.

Invite response to these from the group. Point out that the following are also considered by the Church as contributing to our violent society:

• the violence of abortion
• the availability of deadly weapons
• the arms race, landmines, etc.
• lack of neighborhood attention to crime
• the ineffective justice system in our society.

Post the newsprint where the participants can easily read it.

Now take a sheet of newsprint and label it RESULTS. Ask participants to name what they feel are the most prominent results of violence. Once they have shared, tell them that the Church agrees with or adds the following results:

• family breakdown
• paralysis regarding changing the systems through fear of violent retaliation
• polarization of communities
• children becoming indifferent to violence or violent themselves.

Invite response from the participants to the Church’s conclusions.

Based on their own input and that of the U.S. Bishops, ask the participants to reach consensus on the top five causes and the top five results of violence within the local community.

Break (10 minutes)

Take a short break. Invite participants to mingle and offer refreshments if possible.

Reflection (30 minutes)

Leader comments:

Set the stage for theological reflection by stating the following in your own words:
As followers of Jesus, we always look to him as a model for how to live in the world. Jesus turned the Jewish world upside down by responding to violence, both physical and verbal, in a non-violent way. We’re going to spend the next part of our session looking for evidence of Jesus’ nonviolence.

Small group activity:

Divide participants into small groups of five or six. Tell the groups that their task is to develop a case for Jesus’ nonviolence. Encourage them to start with their own knowledge of Jesus’ life and teachings. But also state that each group will have a copy of the New Testament to help them come up with evidence to support their case. They should look for Jesus’ teachings as well as his actions to strengthen their position. Give them fifteen minutes to come up with their arguments.

Presentations:

After the time is up, call the groups back together and have them present their cases. Invite comments from the other participants after each presentation. After all groups have shared their cases, ask the following questions:

• In one sentence, what would you say is Jesus’ attitude towards violence?
• Are Jesus’ teachings practical for the violent culture in which we live today?
• Why or why not?

Leader presentation:

Write on a sheet of newsprint, “If you want peace, work for justice.” Tell participants the following:
This statement was originally made by Pope Paul VI in his Message for the Celebration of the World Day of Peace in 1972. In 1994 our U.S. Bishops wrote:“We must come to understand that violence is unacceptable. We must learn again the lesson of Pope Paul VI, “If you want peace, work for justice.”

The bishops also wrote:
“Catholic community cannot ignore the moral and human cost of so much violence in our midst. Person by person, family by family, neighborhood by neighborhood, we must take back our communities from the evil and fear that come with so much violence. We believe our faith in Jesus Christ gives us the values, vision and hope that can bring an important measure of peace to our hearts, our homes and our streets.” (p. 3)

Large group discussion:

What do you think the link between justice and violence is? What are the values which the bishops refer to in their document?

Give them time to really discuss the questions. If they struggle with the values question, remind them of some key Catholic social principles which apply: respect for human dignity, commitment to justice for every human person, personal responsibility, the common good. etc.

Action (30 minutes)

Pass out the excerpt from Confronting a Culture of Violence: Taking Action. Give participants time to read through the handout and journal on possible action they could take individually to eradicate violence.

Small group activity:

Move them into their small groups. Ask each group to do the following:

1. List the types of violence which are present in the local community as well as nationally and globally.
2. Circle all those which you think you can do something about to alleviate the violence of the situation.
3. Asterisk all those which you have energy/excitement about addressing.
4. Underline those which are most desperately in need of immediate resolution.
5. Be prepared to share in the large group the one or two issues which were circled, asterisked and underlined.

Group reports:

Once groups have completed this process, bring the participants back together. Ask each group to report on its top issues. Record these on newsprint. (There should not be more than five or six.)

Small group brainstorming:

Invite participants to choose the one topic from those listed which they’d like to pursue. Divide them into groups according to their choices. Some topics may end up being dropped, and a few of the participants may have to join a group whose topic is their second choice. Once in the groups, ask them to brainstorm actions they could take to help eradicate the violence. After about five minutes of listing ideas, move them to consensus on one idea they would like to develop. Have them come up with the first three steps they need to take to really make the action happen.

Large group sharing:

Bring them back into the large group, and invite each team to share its strategy. At this point, it is important for you to get a “feel” for the group’s commitment to doing something communally. If energy for one of the strategies is high, encourage continued planning. Ask if one or two of the young adults want to take the lead in developing the strategy further. But let the young adults decide this for themselves.

Close with a prayer which celebrates peace-making.

Handouts:

Violence in the News

1. List all the songs you can think of which justify, glorify or promote violent behavior in any way.
2. List all the T.V. programs you can which have violence depicted routinely.
3. List all the movies you can which depict significant amounts of violence.
4. Take the newspaper and write the headline for each article which deals with violence.
5. Take the magazine and write the headline for each article which deals with violence.

Non-Violence in the News

1. List all the songs you can which condemn violent behavior and promote peace.
2. List all the T.V. programs you can which condemn violence and promote peace.
3. List all the movies you can which uphold peace-making and condemn violence.
4. Take the newspaper and write the headline for each article which deals with solutions to violence.
5. Take the magazine and write the headline for each article which deals with solutions to violence.

Violence in My Life

1. When have I been a victim of physical violence, something which caused physical injury to me (e.g., mugging, rape, date rape)?
When have I inflicted physical violence on another person?
2. When have I been a victim of emotional violence, violence which destroys self-esteem and emotional well-being (e.g., sexual pressure, vulgar language, deliberate put-downs, neglect, withholding love)?
When have I inflicted emotional violence on someone else?
3. When have I been a victim of domestic violence, violence within my own family or household (including spouse abuse, child abuse, sexual abuse)?
When have I inflicted domestic violence on a member of my family or household?
4. When have I been a victim of societal violence, systemic violence such as racism, sexism, pornography, political oppression or situations which create a poverty of lifestyle and opportunity?
When have I contributed to societal violence towards a person or group?
5. When have I been a victim of global violence (e.g., war, terrorism, environmental destruction)?
How have I contributed to global violence?
(Descriptions of violence were adapted from Voices for Justice: Political Responsibility and Violence, Fall 1996, p. 2; Archdiocese of Milwaukee Social Concerns Office.)
6. How has my personal experience of violence affected my attitude toward strangers?
sense of security and safety?
compassion for violent persons who were themselves victims of violence?
convictions about owning hand guns?
attitude about corporal punishment by a parent or teacher?
reaction to someone who is violent to me?
7. What does my personal experience of violence teach me about the causes of violent behavior?

Confronting a Culture of Violence - Taking Action Against Violence
In their document Confronting a Culture of Violence: A Catholic Framework for Action, the U.S. Catholic Bishops propose the following actions:

• opposing abortion, which by its very nature is a violent act;
• curbing the availability of weapons which kill people every day;
• supporting community-based efforts to prevent crime and enforce the law;
• pursuing effective justice without vengeance and reforming our criminal justice system;
• attacking the causes of violence: poverty, substance abuse, lack of opportunity, racism, family disintegration;
• promoting personal responsibility and communal responsibility in policies and programs;
• overcoming family violence and confronting all forms of violence against women;
• working for global disarmament.

Which of the above suggestions do you feel called to address? Which one could your local young adult community take on? The bishops also call for each one of us to examine our own lives to identify how we can:

• choose generosity over selfishness;
• choose commitment to family and community over individual acquisition and ambition;
• overcome violence by dealing with it in our own neighborhood;
• provide for the emotional, physical and spiritual needs of children;
• deal with our own abusive behaviors.

Based on this list, what do you feel called to do personally to stop violence in your world?

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