Marquette University's Peacemaker in Residence to visit campus

Event Information:
Date: Oct. 23-29, 2008
Time: See below.
Place: Marquette University
          Alumni Memorial Union
          1442 W. Wisconsin Ave.

Marquette’s Peacemaker in Residence, Christopher Ahrends, former chaplain to Desmond Tutu, will be on campus Thursday, Oct. 23, through Wednesday, Oct. 29, to address the concept of nonviolent peacemaking.

Ahrends will conduct a retreat Saturday, Oct. 25, from 9 a.m. to noon at Marquette’s Chapel of the Holy Family, located on the second floor of the Alumni Memorial Union, 1442 W. Wisconsin Ave. Retreatants will reflect together on the “inner personal peace one needs to make outer peace in the world.” The retreat is free and open to the public. Registration is recommended, but not required. Call or e-mail the Center for Peacemaking at 414-288-8444; peacemaking@marquette.edu. 

Ahrends will also provide a series of evening presentations to discuss “Theory W,” an integrated approach to personal and group dynamics that empowers peacemaking. The series will take place over three sessions: Thursday, Oct. 23, in the AMU, Room 157, Monday, Oct. 27, in the AMU, Room 252, and Wednesday, Oct. 29, in the AMU, Room 254. All presentations are 7 to 8:30 p.m. They are free and open to the public.

Ahrends was born in Cape Town, South Africa, and majored in psychology and social work at Rhodes University in Grahamstown. He was ordained an Anglican priest in 1983, serving as a priest, chaplain to Archbishop Tutu and sub dean of St. George’s Cathedral in Cape Town for 18 years. He was later appointed executive director of the Desmond Tutu Peace Trust. In 2005, Ahrends founded Four Consulting, a therapy and consulting practice “offering therapy, counseling and consulting in the field of transformation, healing, wholeness and personal growth.”

The Marquette University Center for Peacemaking, established in 2007, annually chooses an individual to address the Marquette and Milwaukee communities about the theory and practice of nonviolent peacemaking. “We look for someone who can bring to our community both an academic knowledge of, and practical engagement in, the power of nonviolence,” said G. Simon Harak, S.J., director of the Center of Peacemaking. The inaugural Peacemaker in Residence in 2007-08 was Kathy Kelly, an American peace activist, author, three-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee, and co-founder of Voices in the Wilderness.