"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

Overview of Colombian Conflict -- The Catholic Church's Role in Peacebuilding --              Internal Displacement -- Human Rights -- Social and Economic Development --   

Peace Processes -- Education for Peace -- Reconciliation -- International Solidarity

Reconciliation

The Life, Justice and Peace Office (Vida, Justicia y Paz, VJP) of the National Social Ministry Secretariat (Secretariado Nacional de Pastoral Social, SNPS) organizes local, regional and national forums and conferences to create space for reflection on the situation in Colombia, peace, human rights and reconciliation.  The VJP office also coordinates a nationwide Campaign for Reconciliation and Peace (La Campaña por la Reconciliación y la Paz).  This campaign concentrates on the communities of one region for a year in order to raise awareness of reconciliation as an integral and sustainable process which supports the construction of peace. 

The Colombian National Reconciliation Conferences (los Congresos Nacionales de Reconciliación)  gather actors from local, regional, national and international levels to create a space in which experiences, perspectives and visions create support and innovation for reconciliation and peacebuilding in Colombian society.  These meetings also allow for a reciprocal learning among all participants and communities.  Final declarations include: 

III Congreso Nacional de Reconciliación in 2005  

II Congreso Nacional de Reconciliación in 2003

The Colombian Conference of Bishops (Conferencia Episcopal de Colombia, CEC) also stresses the importance of reconciliation.  In February of 2007, the Colombian Bishops will participate in a SNPS workshop concerning peacebuilding and integral and sustainable reconciliation.  The purpose of the meeting is to fully explore the developments in truth, justice and reparation processes taking place in Colombia in order to identify the services the Church can provide for national reconciliation.

The forgiveness and reconciliation schools (Escuela de Perdón y Reconciliación, ESPERE) provide training and support for the participants so they can overcome violence they have lived and focus on processes of forgiveness and reconciliation. ESPERE also works with organizations within the local community and in this way seeks to prevent the escalation of conflicts. ESPERE is part of the programs of the Foundation for Reconciliation (La Fundacion de la Reconciliación) an NGO began from the carisma of the Missionary Fathers of Consolation.