A Prayer for Peace without Borders

Seven Peace Awards

The Prayer for Peace Day Steering Committee will honor seven people who best exemplify the Spirit of the Prayer for Peace as we see it: We Pray for Peace, We Act in Peace and We Live with Peace – Together. In this way we encourage all of us to follow the Faith Tenets of every major religion, asking Our Creator to help us while declaring peace in our own lives.

And the Winners Are . . . Pictuture Album

God’s Gallant Warriors of Peace

Celebration at the FDR Memorial on The National Mall, Washington, D.C.

March 18, 2007, 3:00 p.m.

WASHINGTON Feb. 26,2007 The International Prayer for Peace Day Steering Committee today announced eight International Peace Award Winners: Awards for National Prayer, Praying for Peace, Acting in Peace and Living with Peace – Together, and one for Media. In addition two Fallen Military Service People and Honorable Mention will be presented by Rev. James Wiseman, OSB, of St. Anselm’s Abbey and Catholic University in Washington, D.C. on Sunday, March 18, 2007, at 3:00 p.m.

The winners are: for National Prayer, Fr. Damir Stojic, SDB, Bosnia-Herzegovina/Croatia and Dr. Emenike Ukazim of Nigeria Prays. Praying for Peace: Adrian Wright, Downham Market, Norfolk, UK; Acting in Peace: Mama Maggie Gobran, the Mother Teresa of Cairo, and Br. John Mary Lugemwa, OSB, Uganda, and for Living in Peace, Rev. LaKotahasie Frazier, Blue Ridge Mountains, Virginia, and Sister Antoinette Traeger, OSB, Mt. Angel, Oregon. For Media, Pat Gaffney, Pax Christi, London.

“Blessed are the peacemakers,” the Scripture says and these Peace Awards-07 Winners are among the best examples for us to emulate and celebrate. The International Prayer for Peace Day is in its third year.

Awards for National Prayer:

• Fr. Damir Stojic, SDB. Bosnia-Herzegovina/Croatia. As a seminarian and priest, he witnessed the healing power of prayer in his work with the suffering people and youth of Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. (1)

As soon as Father Stojic finishes his Masters Degree at Catholic University this year, he will be assigned to the Holy Mother of Liberty Church, in Zagreb, Croatia; here the Croatians prayed daily during the war, for peace, for their loved ones – and for their enemies. Now a Shrine, Holy Mother of Liberty keeps alive the memory of those who sacrificed their lives for liberty and tried to pray their enemies as Jesus taught us in the Gospels.

• Dr. Emenike Ukazim of Nigeria Prays is a shining example of the power of National Prayer. He began his national prayer initiative, “Nigeria Prays” while on retreat with a group of church people in Pennsylvania. In 1996 the whole nation of Nigeria, including the political leaders, Christians and Muslims, and some friends in the United States, prayed for 90 days. God answered their prayers: Nigeria was relieved from persecution and rampant corruption. Now Nigeria enjoys their democracy and lives in a measure of peace. Dr. Ukazim lives with his wife, Chidi, in Quakertown, PA

(1) Elizabeth Jones, chair of the International Prayer for Peace Day Steering Committee, saw the aftermath of the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina; she was accompanied by then Br. Stojic, a seminarian. “I saw a bubble of peace in a war zone,” she said. “The people of Medjugorje prayed for protection, and no one was killed during that war. A bomb fell, but it didn’t detonate. This is a prime example National Prayer.”

Praying for Peace

•English Benedictine Oblate Adrian Wright (who has taken Privet Vows) for his faithfulness to prayer and faith in God’s Peace despite crippling pain. His smile never dims despite 18 operations. “No matter what is thrown at you, work, anger, cancer, osteoarthritis,” you just keep smiling, he says, and for 20 years he has brought those smiles and kindness to others. He lives in Downham Market, in Norfolk, UK. Nominator: Elizabeth Jones

Acting in Peace

• Mama Maggie Gobran, Cairo, Egypt. Mama Maggie as she is known in much of the world, is a professor of computer science, and has spent the last 18 years of her life rescuing the children and families who are the “poorest of the poor” in a primarily Muslim country. Her organization, Stephen’s Children, gives them food and shelter, educational opportunities and medical services. They currently minister to over 21,000 children. Mama Maggie who has been called the Mother Teresa of Cairo estimates that more than 250,000 children have crossed her doorstep.

Nominator: Steve Hackman

• Br. John Mary Lugemwa, OSB, from Uganda for his work with Uganda Rural Fund, Hope Integrated Academyand Global AIDS Awareness. He is a Benedictine brother at Mary Mother of the Church Abbey, Richmond, VA. He is only 27 years old, but his fire burns brightly. His mission is the thousands of orphans of HIV/AIDS; they confront seemingly insurmountable odds in his native Uganda, and in neighboring Kenya and Rwanda. The young survivors of Rwanda’s genocide have also been taken under his wing. He and his staff are responsible for setting up orphanages and building schools and training centers in East and Central Africa.

Nominator: Adam Kline

Living with Peace – Together, without regard to race, color or creed

• Sr. Antoinette Traeger, OSB, Queen of Angels Monastery, Mt. Angel, OR. Sr. Antoinette has been a Benedictine Sister for over 60 years. She has dedicated her life to God as a Benedictine woman, serving as the administrator of the Benedictine Nursing Center, the administrator of the Shalom Prayer Center, and then Prioress of the Monastic Community. When she retired from that post, she became the Oblate Director at Queen of Angels and retreat master at Shalom retreat center on the campus. She leads the Spiritual Direction Ministry Program. In these capacities, she has brought the heart of peace to countless numbers.

Nominator: Sr. Dorothy Jean Beyer, OSB

• Reverend LaKotahasie Frazier, a Peaceful Warrior in a time of war. She is also known as “Buffalo Woman Comes Running” and is of Abanaki, Mic-Mac, French and Lakota descent. She is a Medicine Wheel Healer, Spiritual Advisor and Spiritual Artist. She calls “Blue Buffalo Springs Retreat” in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, home. People come from all over the world to participate in her teachings and ceremonies which come from her own life experiences and visions. Each fall she offers her teachings to the Prayer Vigil on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Her message is one of Peace through connection with our Creator, by first healing ourselves, then our families and communities.

Nominator: Marion Bloomfield

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