Bosco Receives Two Awards
in Summer 2002
Author Antoinette Bosco was presented with the 2002 Pax Christi Book
Award for her acclaimed "Choosing Mercy, A Mother of Murder Victims Pleads to End the Death Penalty" at the Pax Christi USA National Assembly held in
Detroit in late July. The book was selected as one "which enriches the
field
of resources on the death penalty," said David Robinson, national
coordinator
of Pax Christi.
"The award is given not only to honor the written work itself but to
promote the ideals and purpose of Pax Christi: proclaiming the gospel
message
of peace and the meaning of that message for all people today,"
said Mr.
Robinson, adding,
" Pax Christi seeks to articulate the ideal of Christian
nonviolence, to build a more just world and to establish peacemaking as a
priority within the Catholic Church."
The roots of Pax Christi go back to 1945 when a small group of
Catholics
in France, troubled by the killing in World War II, began to meet
regularly
to pray for peace. Under the leadership of a French woman, Marie-Marthe
Dortel Claudot and a French Bishop, Pierre Marie Theas, the movement
spread
throughout France and Germany and, soon, other European countries.
Pax Christi took root in America in 1972, to be "an association of
Catholics and others committed to the exploration of gospel nonviolence
for
our time. We seek to permeate the Catholic consciousness and the Catholic
structure with this rich tradition and witness," according to Bishop
Thomas
Gumbleton of Detroit, the founding president of Pax Christi USA. Today, Pax Christi is active in over 30 countries.
Antoinette Bosco, a syndicated columnist for Catholic News Service in Washington, D.C. and author of nine books, was also honored this summer by the College of St. Rose in Albany, N.Y. when she was given the college's "Lifetime Achievement Award" for an alumnus.
