December 8, 2010

A final declaration from the Historic Peace Church conference in Latin America has been released, in the form of a "Letter from Santo Domingo to all churches." The meeting of representatives of Mennnonite churches, the Society of Friends (Quakers), and the Church of the Brethren from 17 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean was held in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic, from Nov. 27-Dec. 2, 2010.

Following is the letter, or final declaration.

Historic Peace Churches
SANTO DOMINGO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
NOVEMBER 27 -DECEMBER 2, 2010

LETTER FROM SANTO DOMINGO TO ALL CHURCHES

TO EVERYONE WHO UNITES WITH US in the commitment to work to overcome violence:

1. WE, seventy-four sisters and brothers, representatives of the Historic Peace Churches (Mennonites, Religious Society of Friends and Brethren) from 18 countries of Southern, Central and North America and the Caribbean, and from our different cultures, have met in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from November 27 to December 2, under the theme "Hunger for Peace: Faces, Paths, Cultures," to share experiences and testimonies of our peace efforts from our different contexts, with their pains and joys, honoring the memory of men and women who have given their lives seeking and building peace with justice. We worked within the ecumenical context of the "Decade to Overcome Violence 2001-2010" as churches seeking reconciliation and peace. Our efforts will flow into a conference in to and as an active part of a process culminating at the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation in, Kingston, Jamaica, 2011. We regret the absence of our brothers and sisters in Cuba due to difficulties with travel permits. We are grateful for the hospitality of our sisters and brothers in the Dominican Republic, who with their love, simplicity and joy gave us the best working conditions for our gathering.

2. We analyzed the harsh realities of our respective contexts, recognizing the past and present violence that our peoples have experienced at the hands of more powerful nations, who have implanted ideologies, and economic, political, social and religious systems which have brought sadness, pain and anguish in our lives. We have also recognized the violence in our families, churches and societies, as a consequence of our struggles for power.

3. Our biblical, theological and ecclesiological reflections have been offered from our present condition and from the perspectives of the three faith traditions of the Historic Peace Churches. We affirm our commitment and desire that the kingdom of peace come, that we may give our lives for others, and that God's will for us as instruments of peace be done in our world of conflict. We recognized the importance of the theology of peace, the inner light in each individual, the role of women and the role of hermeneutic community in all processes of peace building.

4. We have heard of a variety of experiences, initiatives and peace-building projects by local congregations, church associations from each country, and from partnerships with other churches and governmental institutions and NGOs. We also heard personal testimonies that inspire and generate our confidence in the possibility of a better world where everyone is visible.

5. We recognized that although violence affects us all, there are more victims of violence in the most vulnerable populations. We have seen that our efforts, initiatives and peace plans have been devoted to walk together with children, young adolescents, women, families, migrants, persons deprived of freedom, schools, and victims of war. Therefore, our focus points to efforts to overcome racism, intolerance, discrimination, urban violence, gang behavior, forced migration, domestic violence, child abuse, violence against women, gender violence, environmental degradation.

6. Our shared experiences are suffused, implicitly, by issues such as gender equity, ecumenism, interreligious dialogue and cooperation, church-state relations, ethnic, cultural and racial discrimination. We also recognize that there are still issues on which we must intensify our efforts, such as care for the environment, equity and gender identity and sexual orientation, and that several of our churches do not yet feel ready to take up some of these issues.

7. We are concerned about more than forty years of war in Colombia, about relations between Haitians and Dominicans and about the tension between Nicaragua and Costa Rica. We remain committed to pray without ceasing for reconciliation in each country, to further promoting relations between our churches in Latin America, and to seek support from all churches around the world to pressure governments to cease their armament build-up and human rights violation, among others.

8. We stand with brothers and sisters in Chile who suffer the consequences of the earthquake and with brothers and sisters in Haiti in their plight in the wake of natural disasters and the cholera epidemic. We will seek ways to support them in their restoration and healing through our churches or organizations based there, following the example of the Dominican brothers and sisters.

9. We know that we cannot do everything from our churches and projects, but we think it is important to "seek the welfare of the city" (Jeremiah 29:7). So we are left with the challenge for members of the Historic Peace Churches to participate in the process of building public policy in their respective contexts, effective strategies, and actions that would bring about well being in the whole society.

10. We pledge to continue encouraging one another in peace building, to work in our families and our churches, to strengthen ourselves as instruments of peace by sharing our table, and serving each other, and knowing each other, creating exchange groups in each country, identifying peace training programs in Latin America, helping to heal those in pain, and finding means to keep the peace.

11. We dream that the seeds of peace be sown in our homes as in fertile ground, and that we may be the fruits of a rich harvest of instruments of peace. We want to walk together as Historic Peace Churches, to learn more about each of us, to understand and to form a large network of doers and makers of peace. We know that the work is hard and there is still much to do, but we also feel joy in doing it because we are convinced that this is our calling as Christians, inspired by Christ who makes our hearts glow and our actions concrete. We dream of letting the Spirit of God work in us. We dream of having open minds to break denominational paradigms that restrict our peace making. We dream that at the end of the decade, even though we have not overcome violence, we have indeed planted seeds of peace. We long to be awakened by the winds of peace felt in this meeting, and that a strong birthing may bring forth peace.

12. We have witnessed in this part of the world that we are a people called to peace committed to sharing what we have learned in this gathering and with the people and churches of the Dominican Republic.

13. We invite all churches in Latin America and around the world to come together in this movement to overcome violence and reject any possibility of just war.

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