The Third Annual Berrigan-McAlister Award Celebration

2250 North Sheffield Avenue,Chicago IL 60614

15 May, 2023

Description

Today DePaul University announces the 2023 recipient of the Berrigan-McAlister Award, a recognition created in 2021 to honor those whose active Christian nonviolence-—like that practiced by Fr. Daniel Berrigan, SJ, Phillip Berrigan, and Elizabeth McAlister—resists injustice, transforms conflict, fosters reconciliation, and seeks justice and peace for all. Elizabeth Kanini Kamau, an activist engaged in building a culture of peace in Northern Kenya and Southern Sudan, will receive the 2023 Berrigan-McAlister Award. A founder of Horn of Africa Grassroots Peace Forum, Kimau focuses on capacity building of those directly impacted by inter-ethnic violence to support their becoming agents of peace. A lay Christian woman working without funding or an official position, Kimau has spent many years building trust among peoples divided by ongoing violent conflict, including the Rendille and Borana communities. She has often put her life at risk to foster nonviolent options. “Nonviolence,” Kimau writes, “is the solution to the protracted conflicts which have resulted in the loss of meaning to the preciousness of life and subjected many people to live in dehumanizing conditions.” She has recently become an adjunct professor at St. Paul’s University in Kenya and is pursuing a doctorate at the Centre for Nonviolence in Durban University of Technology, South Africa. “Working on her own, without the backing of a large institution or NGO, Ms. Kimau is proof that an individual committed to Christian peacemaking can sometimes bring life and light to the world in unexpected ways and places,” said Michael L. Budde, Professor of Catholic Studies and Political Science, and coordinator of the Berrigan-McAlister Award Committee. “She has risked her life and placed herself in difficult situations in the service of peace and the hope of reconciling onetime enemies. Like Philip and Daniel Berrigan and Elizabeth McAlister, Ms. Kimau’s light shines from local circumstances in ways that enlighten the entire world.” Elizabeth Kanini Kimau will be honored at an in-person (and live-streamed) event at 6:30 p.m. May 15 in Room 314AB of DePaul’s Student Center, located at 2250 N. Sheffield Ave. Admission is free. Advance registration is required for persons interested in livestreaming the event and recommended for persons attending in person. Members of the DePaul community will welcome Kimau and speak about the importance of her work. The Berrigan-McAlister Award will be presented during the celebration. About the Berrigan-McAlister Award: The Berrigan-McAlister Award is given to a person or organization that exemplifies the practice of active Christian nonviolence. Such nonviolence is rooted in the life of Jesus, who combined the refusal of violence in violent situations with the power of universal love. From the Civil Rights Movement to the Vietnam War, through the movement against nuclear weapons and beyond, few Catholics in the United States have been more influential than the Berrigan brothers (Daniel and Philip) and Elizabeth McAlister (McAlister married Philip Berrigan and was his lifelong collaborator). Their work against war and in support of peace — a life of provocative nonviolent protest, extensive writing and teaching, and everyday experiments in intentional community — has earned them international stature in the Church and secular society. Hosted by the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences | Center for World Catholicism & Intercultural Theology (CWCIT) | Department of Catholic Studies | Peace, Justice, and Conflict Studies | Division of Mission & Ministry Media contact: Michael L. Budde, Catholic Studies and Political Science, DePaul University Phone: 773-325-1974 Email: [email protected]