One week ago, we learned that the administration of Christian Brothers University would not allow our keynote speaker, the Rev. James Lawson, to speak on campus. This decision was based on Rev. Lawson's public pro-choice involvement on the abortion issue. After weighing various options, we decided that canceling the National Assembly was the option most in keeping with our commitment to nonviolence.

We invited Rev. Lawson to be the main speaker to address our national assembly on the theme Justice for All: A Culture of Peace through Nonviolence. Rev. Lawson is a retired Methodist minister who has devoted more than 55 years to the nonviolent struggle for peace with justice. His vast experience in nonviolence, particularly his involvement in the civil rights movement as an advisor to the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., makes him eminently qualified to speak on our chosen theme. In 1977, Rev. Lawson was the keynote speaker at the Pax Christi USA National Assembly and he was welcome at Christian Brothers University during the civil rights movement.

We were unaware of Rev. Lawson's pro-choice activities when we invited him to speak. We became aware of these activities through several Pax Christi members, including members of Pax Christi Memphis involved in planning the assembly, who objected to Rev. Lawson as our keynote presenter.

We recognize that Rev. Lawson's pro-choice position is not in keeping with the entirety of the consistent life ethic, which holds that all life is sacred and opposes every form of violence that threatens life, including war, the arms race, abortion, poverty, racism, capital punishment, and euthanasia. However, we cannot discount his lifelong work for nonviolence which has made a tremendous contribution to peace and justice. There is much more that we hold in common with Rev. Lawson than there is that separates us.

Pax Christi USA has a long-standing practice of refusing to make judgments regarding the moral fitness of individuals based on a litmus test of any single issue. We invited Rev. Lawson to speak about building a culture of peace through nonviolence; we did not invite him to speak on the topic of abortion.

The administration of Christian Brothers University presented options that would have allowed us to move forward with the national assembly at its campus but without having Rev. Lawson as our keynote speaker there. These options were unacceptable to us, and after much dialogue and careful consideration we decided to cancel the assembly. We apologize for the inconvenience that this decision will cause to all who were planning to attend.

Pax Christi USA stands firm in embracing a consistent ethic of life. As a Catholic organization, we uphold the value that our faith tradition places on human life at every stage, including the unborn. We recognize as well the societal conditions that are often a factor in women choosing abortions, such as domestic violence and a lack of economic assistance, affordable child care and health care, and insufficient emotional and community support. Working for an end to abortion must include working to end these types of social injustices for women.

The divisiveness surrounding the way the Catholic Church in the United States deals with the abortion issue affects Pax Christi USA as it does Christian Brothers University and parishes, schools and other Catholic institutions throughout the country. The need for dialogue around this issue is vital. Pax Christi was born as a movement of reconciliation more than 50 years ago. Our long experience at working toward reconciliation has taught us that dialogue is an essential element in reaching common ground. Pax Christi USA calls for an ongoing conversation within the Catholic community and beyond on this admittedly complicated and emotional subject. We pledge to do our part in furthering that conversation.

Pax Christi USA is the national Catholic peace movement. Its 14,000 members work for the transformation of society through nonviolence and advocate peacemaking as a priority in the Catholic Church in the United States. The movement, headquartered in Erie, Pennsylvania, publishes peace education literature and develops ministry programs that promote justice for the sake of creating a more peaceful, just and sustainable world. Pax Christi USA is a section of Pax Christi International, which is active in more than 30 countries.