Category: Center for Nonviolent Solutions

Great turnout for today’s kickoff event for Worcester’s Center for Nonviolent Solutions. Standing room only!

Catholic Worker Claire Schaeffer-Duffy was emcee; Nate Pickens of Mosaic talked about his own experiences with violence in Worcester; Michael True explained the purpose of the Center; Congressman Jim McGovern shared some stories from his life and introduced keynote speaker Colman McCarthy, journalist and educator, who gave a wide-ranging talk on nonviolence and the people who practice it.

Nice to see a lot of people I haven’t seen in months; especially nice to see Bishop McManus in attendance.
Continue reading “Worcester Center for Nonviolent Solutions kickoff”

After more than a year of planning and organizing, the Center for Nonviolent Solutions is fixing to open in Worcester.

The group “seeks to promote alternatives to violence in resolving conflict at the local, national, and international levels.” They’re having a kickoff event at the Worcester Public Library October 17, and will be housed in an office at the Friends Meetiing.

In my time in Worcester, most of the new projects for explicitly “nonviolent” solutions have been started and maintained by very small, often ad hoc groups. These projects have tended to be reactive and short-term. A larger, institutional group that can manage long-term, proactive projects could be just what we need.