Sister Mary Evelyn Jegen, one of the co-founders of Pax Christi USA and the group's first national coordinator, died July 4 after a long illness. She was 86. A funeral Mass for Sister Jegen, a member of the Sisters of Notre Dame de
Namur for 66 years, was scheduled for July 11 in the chapel at her
community's motherhouse in Cincinnati. In 1982, she became the third
recipient of Pax Christi USA's Pope John XXIII Teacher of Peace Award.
During her tenure as national coordinator, from 1979 to 1982, Pax
Christi USA's membership grew from less than 1,000 to more than 5,500
members, including 46 U.S. bishops. "Mary Evelyn Jegen was teacher and
mentor for an entire generation of Catholic peace activists like me,"
said a July 7 statement form Tom Cordaro, Pax Christi USA's "ambassador
of peace" and an author and lay minister. "She had that rare combination
of gifts that set her apart from many others in the movement. She was
an excellent theologian, a gifted writer and, most importantly, she was a
strategic thinker and visionary. Everything Mary Evelyn did as a leader
in the Catholic peace movement was strategically focused on her vision
of making nonviolence and peacemaking an integral part of Catholic
social teaching and practice at all levels of the church."
Kurt Hilgefort, is a Catholic father of six who publishes his thoughts on his blog Shadows of Augustine . He responded to my seven question survey with the following answers. Kurt is the first layperson to respond to the seven question survey and I think that his experience is extremely relevant to me personally and I hope that you are inspired by his thoughts as well. If you would like to respond, please send an email to fellmananthony@gmail.com with your thoughts and I will be happy to publish them as well. 1. What is the biggest challenge to your faith that you have faced so far? The biggest challenge for me has been the whole dying to self thing. On an intellectual level, there are no barriers. It comes down to a matter of accepting the authority of the Church that Christ founded upon Peter. My challenge is not in the intellect, but rather in the will. The challenge for me has always been to continually seek conversion. I want to be transformed, but I want it to be over all ...
