Dominique Pire

1
Dominique Pire

• Dialogue Action
• for Peace

2
Formation of a Peacemaker

• Born 1910
• Seminary at Leffe
• Doctorate at Angelicum Louvain
• Scout movement
• Nobel Peace Prize 1958

3
Fraternal Dialogue

• Entering into relationship
• If I differ from you, I do you no wrong I
  expand you (Saint-Exupéry)
• Msgr Cardijn see, judge, act to which Pire
  adds, unite
• profoundly peaceful coexistence, the coexistence
  
• of hearts, consists in mutual respect of the
  values
• of that other as other which finally comes
• together in a finished job, completed in a
• disinterested way, by people living on the two
• opposite sides.

4
(No Transcript)
5
European Villages

• Encounter with Edward Squadrille 1949
• IOR the useful the hard core
• To gather and strengthen families of DPs
• 7 villages Germany, Austria and Belgium
• Aix-la-Chapelle 1956
• Wuppertal 1959 in honour of Anne Frank
• Berchem-Saint Agathe 1962
• Awarded Nobel 1958, his vision expanded to
  world-wide dimensions

6
(No Transcript)
7

• What is really shocking, from Linz to Salzburg,
  from Villach to Innsbruck, is the nearly complete
  absence of unconditional kindness in a Christian
  sense. Some only help Protestants, others only
  Catholics, and still others will only help
  Hungarian Catholics. All this, despite the fact
  that misery has overtaken all of these
  unfortunate people and has rendered them all
  equally worthy of our interest. One suffers in a
  real sense, physically so to speak, on account of
  this conditional goodness and from the absence of
  the real face of Christ. Would He have asked upon
  entering the camp, Are you a Catholic? The
  entire Gospel contradicts this.

8
(No Transcript)
9
University of Peace

• In Tihange, near Huy
• focus on going beyond outbreaks of injustice and
  violence by engaging in deeper reflection
• For young people to receive formation in dialogue
  over several weeks

10
(No Transcript)
11
Islands of Peace

• Building the World of the Heart through these
  Islands of development projects
• Help to self-help
• saw real hunger in East Pakistan 1962 founded
  Gohira Island first
• Madras, Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau, Mali,
  Ecuador

12
(No Transcript)
13
Refugee Services

• Service dEntraide Familiale for Huy region
• LAide aux Personnes Déplaceés
• LAcceuil de Refugés Politiques
• Global Sponsorships in refugee camps Eastern
  Europe to Latin America, Africa

14
(No Transcript)
15
Respect for all Gods People

• I have rarely known anyone so profoundly and,
• I would even dare say, so religiously respectful
  of
• people and the convictions of others.
• (Professor Van der Elst, a non-believer)
• shy and emotional, dialogue not easy for him
• acted from an acute sense of the heart and the
  loving gaze of God
• I feel at certain moments the urgent need for
• solitude, prayer and meditation on the Gospels

16

• It is up to us to plant a little apple tree and
  not an orchard of dreams. Love is concrete and is
  on a human scale. It is not possible to love in
  the abstract. Love is for beings of flesh and
  blood. No matter how small these villages, they
  are inhabited by the real men, real women and
  real children that we have rescued.