A record crowd of over 750 participated in the 25th anniversary national assembly of Pax Christi USA Aug.8-10 in Washington, DC. Observance of the peace movement's birthday year will climax in Detroit Nov. 14 when CTA gives its 1997 leadership award to Pax Christi.

As always, the Pax Christi agenda stressed action for peace with justice, not just talk. Keynote speaker Jean-Bertrand Aristide, former Haitian president, stressed the solidarity between Pax Christi members and the poor of Haiti struggling for economic and political democracy. Conferees marked the Aug. 9 anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki by taking to the streets on a "pilgrimage for peace." Marchers prayed for alternatives to violence and poverty in public actions at the D.C. city government, the World Bank and the White House. Sixty-nine were arrested as they knelt in prayer in front of the White House.

The Pope Paul VI Teacher of Peace Award went to Maryknoll Fr. Roy Bourgeois for his work to close the U.S. Army School of the Americas, where Latin American military personnel have been trained in tactics that violate human rights. Bourgeois received a standing ovation when he connected social justice with church reform, proclaiming in his speech, "There can be no justice in our church until women are ordained and our priests can marry."