About six weeks ago, at the Spring Luncheon for St. Bride (one of my former parishes), I ran into a parishioner, Elfriede Wedam, an author and sociology professor at Indiana University/Purdue University. She had partnered with like-minded academics to study the origins of violence and imagine ways to help people learn to live non-violent, peaceful lives in a world where there is so much violence, both physical and verbal. Their primary focus is in the city of Chicago, but in their conversation with me, they proposed coming out to our neck of the woods here in the Southland to offer the workshop they hope to roll out in the coming months and years in Chicago.
These workshops aren’t just for us, but for all our neighbors here in the south suburbs. So feel free to invite anyone you know who might wish to attend.
Dr. Wedam and her partners, Phillip Bradley and Larry Campbell, are passionate about their goal of helping people in our day and age to go about their lives in peaceful and supportive ways. I spent three hours with them a few weeks ago and I was impressed by the extensive research they’ve done and the powerful presentation they have created. So we’re hosting them this coming Tuesday and again on July 19 at 7:00p.m. in the Burke Center; you can see more information in the item elsewhere in this bulletin. There is no charge, but they would appreciate a donation in any amount to help them continue to promote this program.