The Islamic Center of San Diego has long been more than a mosque to me, many of us at Peace Catalyst and the whole community. It has been a place of friendship, learning, hospitality, and our shared work for peace. Imam Taha and the community there have welcomed us for years as partners in interfaith dialogue, justice, and care for our city. For me personally, it is a place tied to close relationships and memories that have shaped my understanding of love, faith, and neighborliness.

Peace Catalyst Team Members Nick and Laura Armstrong live and work in Boise, Idaho, welcoming and developing friendships of mutuality with people who have come to the Boise area as refugees. Continue reading to find out more about their impact and the importance of the Armstrongs and their work in PCI.

One way to reframe our thinking about hope (and everything else we’re not sure we believe in anymore) is to focus more on asking better questions and less on finding the “right” answers. While questions themselves offer less security and control than answers, questions are also more powerful than answers, and more compelling.

In the gospels, Jesus is asked 183 questions. In all but four cases, he replies either with another question, a story, or an “answer” that’s a paradox. Not only that, but Jesus himself asks 307 questions throughout the gospels. So he is far more often found with the questions than found answering them. Why might this be? I can think of a few possible reasons…

For peacebuilders, for activists, for social changemakers, burnout is often accompanied by guilt and shame—I don’t have time to feel this way when others’ lives are at stake—and so we attempt to push through, putting all our energies into the fight until we hit the proverbial wall. But this cycle can actually do real harm. So how do we be changemakers while avoiding burnout?

My name is Dougle. I’ve lived and served in Russia, Ukraine, China, and now Lithuania, where I serve as a lecturer in Peace and Conflict Studies at LCC International University, helping students from over 60 countries wrestle with the realities of violence, injustice, reconciliation, and peacebuilding.

Peace Catalyst team member Phil Gazley started his peacebuilding journey in India, asking forgiveness on behalf of his nation for English colonisation and the harms it did, and he now works in Norwich to develop church unity, interfaith relationships, and safety in vulnerable communities. Read more about his work and about Peace Catalyst in Norwich, UK.

One of the hardest things about living with lifelong illness is desperately wanting to make a difference in the world, but knowing the many ways your body might rebel if you even try. That’s why I’ve been looking into examples of creative resistance, and I invite you to join the Graceful Punks Book Club for a virtual discussion about ways to take action, making the best use of our time and talents while honoring our own needs and limits.

We must cultivate political will among American leaders to end the “forgotten” Korean war. It is long past time for the Korean people to have the peace and sovereignty they need to determine their own future. Here are some ways you can learn about the ongoing war and advocate for peace.

As we approach Good Friday in Palestine, I wanted to share what is on my mind, because today, as Palestinians, we walk a similar path that the disciples walked two thousand years ago.