Petition To: Melissa Rogers, Executive Director
White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships
Dear Ms. Rogers:
We ask you, White House liaison to the faith-based community, to deliver to President Biden and his national security staff this call from religious leaders for a ceasefire and halt to arms in the Russia-Ukraine war. Additionally, we request that you arrange for a meeting between the President and US religious leaders (mentioned below) in support of an immediate ceasefire.
As Archbishop Zuppi, the envoy of Pope Francis, met with President Biden in Washington DC to discuss humanitarian relief and peace efforts, hundreds of religious leaders and people of faith became signatories to this full-page Sojourners Magazine ad elevating Pope Francis’ message for a ceasefire.
How much blood must still flow for us to realize that war is never a solution, only destruction. In the name of god and in the name of the sense of humanity that dwells in every heart, I renew my call for an immediate ceasefire. Let there be a halt to arms, and let us seek the conditions for negotiations. Pope Francis
A partial list of signatories includes: SimonMary Asese Aihiokhai, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Systematic Theology, University of Portland; Zainab Al-Suwaij, American Islamic Congress, Co-founder and Executive Director; Dr. Ansel Augustine, Director, Office of Black Catholic Ministries of the Archdiocese of New Orleans; Joyce Ajiouny, General Secretary, AFSC; John Bach, Quaker Chaplain; Michael Baxter, Director of Catholic Studies, Regis University; Bridget Bearss, RSCJ, Leadership Conference of Women Religious; Father Robert Bossie; Dr. Tarunjit Singh Butalia, Executive Director, Religions for Peace USA; Kenneth Butigan, Professor of Peace, Justice, and Conflict Studies, DePaul University; Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon, Exec. Director, Churches for a Middle East Peace; Tom Cordaro, Pax Christi; Sarah Clarke, Director & UN Representative, Quaker United Nations Office, New York; Edward Paul Cohen, Rabbi Emeritus; Father John Dear, Nobel Peace Prize nominee by Archbishop Desmond Tutu; Marie Dennis, Senior Advisor, Pax Christi International; Michele Dunne OFS, Executive Director, Franciscan Action Network; Clare Schaeffer-Duffy, Catholic Worker House, Worcester, MA; Father John Lewis Eagle; Jodie Evans, Minister, Host of Spiritual Circles; Ariel Gold, Executive Director, Fellowship of Reconciliation; Sister Frances Katherine Homes; Teresa R. Hougnon, President, Maryknoll Sisters; Pastor Bill Wylie-Kellermann, United Methodist Church; Eli McCarthy, Ph.D., Professor of Theology, Georgetown University; Dan Moriarty, Program Coordinator, Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns; Rev. Joseph E. Mulligan, S.J; Michael Neuroth, Director of the Washington Office,United Church of Christ; David J O'Brien, Professor Emeritus, College of the Holy Cross; Sister Cynthia Sabathier, CSJ, St. Joseph; Friar Patrick Sieber, Holy Name Province; Bishop John Stowe, OFM, Diocese of Lexington; Minister Jalani Akeem Traxler; Rev. James Allen VanderWeele, Minister Emeritus, Community Church Unitarian Universalist, New Orleans; Rev. Dr. Joseph Varghese (Orthodox), Institute for Religious Freedom and Tolerance, Executive Director;Rabbi Elyse Wechterman, Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, CEO; Mary T. Yelenick, Main UN-NGO Representative for Pax Christi International; Johnny Zokovitch, Executive Director, Pax Christi, USA.
Others also signed on to a recent letter sent to Congress from the Franciscan Action Network. “As people of conscience, committed to peace and reconciliation, we join in Pope Francis’ message to "appeal to those in authority over nations to make concrete efforts to end the conflict, to reach a ceasefire and to start peace negotiations.”