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Parishioners may well recall the horrors that took place in Rwanda in 1994, when communal strife led to slaughter and genocide in which more than one million people were murdered in roughly 100 days. That slaughter has been described in a number of books and was shown in the film Hotel Rwanda.
That display of human’s inhumanity to each other could well have engendered permanent hatred and civil war in that nation. Many within Rwanda and the Sisters of Saint Mary of Namur Africa-Brazil have drawn upon their faith to restore a sense of forgiveness and solidarity that will allow the people of Rwanda to move beyond hurt and anger to address pressing current day needs and challenges.
Sister Marian, who very recently spent a month in Rwanda, will help parishioners to explore reconciliation, which is a challenge across the world today in response to civil war, sectarian strife, terrorism and insurgency. Closer to home, forgiveness and reconciliation is a challenge in our personal lives, when we deal with hurt and anger within families, neighborhoods and communities.
What better way to mark the 10th anniversary of 9/11 than to look to our faith in God and our love of our fellow human beings as the source of forgiveness, reconciliation and solidarity. This is an important opportunity for learning and personal growth you won’t want to miss.
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