CPN : THE CHURCH IN BURUNDI RESPONDING TO THE

Enhancing the study and practice of Catholic peacebuilding.

100 Hesburgh Center
Notre Dame, IN 46556
USA

574.631.9370 phone
574.631.6973 fax

cpn@nd.edu

"The CPN is a much-needed way to support the courageous and mostly unheralded efforts of the Church to build peace in war-torn countries from Central Africa to Southern Asia."

Bishop John Ricard
Chairman, U.S. Bishops' International Policy Committee

"The CPN is a space of exchange, encounter and discovery where we help each other understand our peace-work, generated in faith and actualized in history."

Andrea Bartoli
Community of Sant' Egidio,
USA

"CPN is another concrete way of building solidarity among peacebuilders around the world. The energy that it will bring will help us in facing the many difficult challenges of peacebuilding work in our different contexts. My hope is that we are able to bring the same energy eventually to the communities directly affected by war, violence and conflict - creating not only a network of peacebuilders but more imoprtantly a network of communities all over the world."

Myla Leguro
Peace & Reconciliation
Program Manager
CRS-Phillippines

THE CHURCH IN BURUNDI RESPONDING TO THE

CHALLENGE OF WAR TRAUMA

INTRODUCTION

Since 2004, the Catholic Bishops’ Conferences in Burundi and in the United States of America initiated a partnership aiming at promoting a culture of Peace and Reconciliation in Burundi. The Catholic Relief Services from the USA has been giving local support to the Burundi networking with other partners within the Catholic Peace Building Network (CPN) coordinated at Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at Notre Dame University. In response to the situation brought about by four decades of cyclic and massive violence, the Catholic Church in Burundi is giving its contribution to the healing of memories and recovery from war trauma. This important work is crucial for the reinforcement of the social capital, the renaissance of the social fabric. It recreates some prerequisites for development activities to resume. Helpful listening centres have been created in three dioceses and in some parishes as pilot projects. It is necessary today to extend the project so that it can benefit the whole country.

Click here for the Jan. 2006—Sept. 2007 report of the project of listening and healing memories for reconciliation of the Conference of the Catholic Bishops in Burundi (French version only available)

BURUNDI : PROJET ECOUTE ET GUERISON DES MEMOIRES

Depuis l’année 2004, l’Eglise Catholique du Burundi et l’Eglise Catholique des Etats-Unis d’Amérique développent un partenariat qui aide à promouvoir une culture de paix et de réconciliation au Burundi. Le « Catholic Relief Services » de l’Eglise américaine appuie localement les initiatives en cours, en collaboration avec les organismes membres du « Catholic Peace Building Network » (CPN) coordonné au « B. Joan Krok Institute for International Peace Studies » de l’Université Notre Dame. Après plus de 4 décennies de guerres cycliques et de violences massives, l’Eglise Catholique du Burundi participe au grand travail de guérison des mémoires et de prise en charge des traumatismes de guerre. Ce travail est important pour le renforcement du capital social, la renaissance du tissu social et la reprise des activités de développement. Des centres d’écoute ont ainsi été créés dans 3 diocèses pilotes et dans quelques paroisses. Il s’agit aujourd’hui de renforcer et d’étendre ce projet pour le bénéfice de l’ensemble du pays.