2025 October Season of Justice, Peace and Creation Schedule
These programs are dedicated to Sister Helena Monohan, CCVI (May 1, 1942 – September 19, 2025), a lover of all of God’s creation and creatures, UIW Chancellor Emerita, educator and attorney. Sister Monohan was a founder of both the UIW Communication Arts Department and the Headwaters at Incarnate Word nature sanctuary.
"Building Friendships” through meals with people of other faiths.
Peace is made by building one friendship at a time. You are invited to participate in a meal with 6 to 15 people to get to know each other sometime from September through December.
Each meal group will include people from three of the following faith traditions: Baháʼí, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Mandean, Muslim, Native American, or Sikh.
Those who register will have options for when and where to gather. Participants are asked to indicate their faith tradition and if they would be willing to lead by gathering 2 to 5 people from that tradition.
To register and plan a date and place:
For more information, contact Sr. Martha Ann by email at kirk@uiwtx.edu or (210) 883-5934.
A Pilgrimage Thanking the Creator and Learning About Creation
Oct. 4, 2025, 9 – 10 a.m.
The Catholic Church has proclaimed 2025 a Jubilee Year and invites all to be “Pilgrims of Hope.”
You are invited to make a short pilgrimage starting at Confluence Park, crossing the San Antonio River and continuing to the World Heritage Site, Mission Concepción. The pilgrimage concludes at the Padre Margil Center, which features an exhibit of creation-themed art by students from the Brainpower schools. This event is organized by the Incarnate Word Sisters Justice, Peace and Creation Committee.
Families are welcome. Please arrive at Confluence Park by 8:45 a.m.
For more information, contact Sister MaryLou Rodriguez by email at marylou.rodriguez@amormeus.org.
Celebrate God’s Creation! A Blessing of the Animals on the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi
Oct. 4, 2025, 6 p.m. | Our Lady’s Grotto
Bring your animals, both live and stuffed! We will gather next to the Headwaters at Incarnate Word, a 53-acre nature preserve and one of the last undeveloped forests in San Antonio, which is where the San Antonio River begins and where native peoples have lived for over 12,000 years.
We commit ourselves to the Laudato Si' Action Plan of caring for our common home.
This event is hosted by the UIW Communication Arts Department and the Incarnate Word Sisters Justice, Peace and Creation Office.
For more information, contact Dr. Darlene Carbajal by email at dcarbaja@uiwtx.edu or Sr. Martha Ann Kirk by email at kirk@uiwtx.edu or phone (210) 829-3854.
“Atomic Coverup,” a Film Screening, a part of Banned Books Week at UIW
Oct. 8, 2:45 p.m. – 5:15 p.m. | UIW Library Auditorium
Film Screening and Discussion: Atomic Coverup: Censorship and Disinformation Since Hiroshima
A discussion will immediately follow the screening, led by Dr. Paul Lewis and his Philosophy class on the Atomic Bomb.
For more information, contact Dr. Paul Lewis by email at pmlewis@uiwtx.edu.
Women Connecting Globally—young and old!
Oct. 11, 8 – 10 a.m. (US Central Time)
Women Connecting Globally is a growing community of students, educators and friends who encourage each other in creativity, leadership, sustainability and friendship. The group operates with circular structures, prioritizing listening, compassionately building solidarity and promoting human flourishing. They draw inspiration from emerging communities that promote nonviolence, compassion and peace.
Who is Invited?
Young women aged 14 to 24 are invited to participate in frequent online gatherings. Participants are encouraged to meet in their own country or city to connect as the group joins old friends and makes new ones. Although gatherings are predominantly in English, participants can read translations in all main languages. Local communities are encouraged to collaborate on service projects that connect them to global goals.
Upcoming Gathering
The next gathering will focus on developing and sharing individual gifts.
Date and Time: Saturday, October 11, 8:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. US Central Time.
Location: University of the Incarnate Word, Gorman Building, Room 115 or online.
Registration and Background
Register here to join the gathering or to receive news of the growing movement.
Register Here
Persons familiar with the former Women's Global Connection (2001–2019) are welcome and encouraged to join.
Create Peace on Earth by 2030: Join the Peace Games Series
Oct. 15 - The Peace Games series begins.
You are invited to join Wednesday sessions held from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. (CST), which connect participants with people in different parts of the world. Alternatively, you can form a local team with members from the University of the Incarnate Word, other San Antonio colleges and universities, or the city community.
The Peace Center at Northwest Vista College is a partner in this initiative.
To learn more about the global movement and to register to be a part of local teams.
Sr. Helena’s and the CCVI Sisters’ Call to Education and Research for a Change
Oct. 22, 5:30 – 7 p.m. | SEC 2040-2041
Dr. Alfredo Ortiz Aragon invites all to join his PhD course, Qualitative Research Methods & Analysis, for a reflective dialogue on education and social justice.
The event is inspired by the words of Sister Helena Monahan:
“The word educate means ‘to lead out,’ ‘to reveal,’ ‘to expose.’ For 155 years, the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word have been leading each other and their students out of the prison of not knowing, revealing the meaning of truth and integrity and exposing the incredible potential of this world and beyond” (Monahan, 2024).
Participants will engage with Sr. Katty Hunanco, Sr. Martha Ann Kirk and Sr. Walter Maher on building upon the CCVI traditions, history, charism, concepts and methods to enact social justice through education and research.
Gather For Good: Guatemalan “Little Angels of Mary” Fun and Fundraising
Oct. 25, 6 – 8 p.m. | CHRISTUS Heritage Hall, the Village of the Incarnate Word (with online option)
Donation: $25
Join us for an evening of community, culture and compassion in support of Little Angels of Mary, a nonprofit dedicated to serving children and families in rural Guatemala.
Event Highlights:
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Enjoy delicious appetizers and refreshments.
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Hear inspiring stories of hope and resilience.
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Shop beautiful handmade crafts by Guatemalan artisans.
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Support life-changing education and nutrition programs.
Every moment shared helps build brighter futures for children in Guatemala. Founders Edwin Mendoza and Darlene Jasso, both past UIW students, are transforming lives with literacy and nutrition programs in an area where 69% of children have been malnourished. Their work aims to ensure children grow normally and avoid stunting. To help with the event, contact Darlene Jasso by email at djasso@littleangelsofmary.org.
The Atomic Bomb, a Philosophy Class
Oct. 27, 3 – 4:15 pm.
Join Dr. Paul Lewis and his Philosophy Class for a discussion session grappling with the ethical and historical issues surrounding the Atomic Bomb.
For more information, contact Dr. Paul Lewis by email at pmlewis@uiwtx.edu.
Global Youth Conference: Compassionate Leadership for Action and Impact
Oct. 28, 29 and 30
Join our Charter for Compassion colleagues to learn and share. You are welcome to attend as much or as little of the conference as you like. Participants are encouraged to gather in groups within their respective countries or cities for the Global Youth Conference.
Presentation Preview
In May 2025, students and teachers from UIW and St. Anthony Catholic High School, along with their friends at Holy Cross Lakeview in Uganda and Palestine, presented at the Compassionate Action conference on “Creating Artistic Bridges.”
View their international presentation to prepare for other engaging presentations at the upcoming Global Youth Conference.
Peace Day 2025, Incarnate Word’s 39th year of Learning about Justice Which Builds Peace
Oct. 29, 9 – 11:45 a.m. | UIW Student Engagement Center 2051 and on Microsoft Teams Online
For Microsoft Teams Online information, contact Sr. Martha Ann Kirk at kirk@uiwtx.edu or (210) 829-3854.
9 a.m. – 10:15 a.m. Pax Christi and the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative
After World War II, Marthe Dortel-Claudot started a prayer campaign for reconciliation between France and Germany, which grew into the Pax Christi movement. French and German Catholics realized they had been in three wars killing each other over a 70-year period. The movement began to address the question of why this occurred and what could prevent future violence. Dortel-Claudot received support from Bishop Pierre-Marie Théas and the organization officially started in 1945. Later, Eileen Egan co-founded Pax Christi in the USA in the 1970s.
The Catholic Nonviolence Initiative is a global movement dedicated to promoting active nonviolence as a core principle of the Gospel. Over a hundred organizations worldwide are part of this network. Learn from those who have been involved internationally, nationally and locally in Pax Christi.
Stories and Arts to Stretch our Hearts:
- reflecting on home
- creating community
- inviting compassion
10:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. Stories and Arts to Stretch Our Hearts
A Vaisakhi to Remember, written by award-winning Sikh author Simran Jeet Singh and illustrated by Japneet Kaur. This is a picture book celebrating community and heritage as a young girl looks for points of connection in a new country through the joyous Sikh Spring harvest holiday of Vaisakhi. While life changes, home is where we build community. A lesson plan for this is available.
Stories I Couldn’t Let Die: Shadows of Gaza by Salem Medhat Alaydi. Dianne Monroe, the Jewish author of the introduction of this book of Salem’s Instagram postings, will speak of her grandmother who suffered under the Nazis in Holland and why she tries to help Salem and his family. “I’m Salem. I’m 18 years old, and I’ve spent my whole life in Gaza. My home was destroyed in 2023, and since then I’ve been living in a man-made tent. Through everything, the bombings, the hunger, the endless days of fear I’ve carried my cell phone.”
Maya: A Life Before Adoption is the creation of AlmaLuz Sanchez, who was adopted from Honduras as a small child. Although Maya is unable to communicate her emotions because of the language barrier she is able to guide readers through her story with vibrant colored illustrations and familiar memories of her homeland including the food. Follow Maya as she adjusts to a new life with a new family in this touching book from a child’s perspective. Sanchez is pursuing her Ph.D. at the University of the Incarnate Word.
The Girl from Chimel by Nobel Prize winner Rigoberta Menchú will be discussed by Darlene Jasso, a founder of the Little Angels of Mary, working for literacy among indigenous children in Guatemala. Menchú’s stories of her grandparents and parents, of the natural world that surrounded her, and her retelling of the stories that she was told present a rich, humorous and engaging portrait of that world of the indigenous that seems to have been lost in the 30-year violent conflict.
Learn of Artistic Bridges, a global art project in which young people of different countries are sharing and you are invited to serve helping build the bridges.
Women Wage Peace Introduction
12 p.m. – 1:15 p.m. | Webinar and Lunch Gathering
Join the National Conference of Jewish Women – San Antonio online Webinar Registration - Zoom or come to the UIW Student Engagement Center 2051 to watch and have lunch.
Featured Speakers: Listen to Denise Israel, Karen Kisos and Regula Alon of Women Wage Peace (WWP) and some of their supporters. Women Wage Peace and their Palestinian partners, Women of the Sun, have been jointly nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Learn about and consider signing the Mothers' Call for Peace.
The Student Dietetic Association, sponsored by Dr. Heather Frazier, will provide a nourishing lunch and educate participants on food that is healthy for both people and the planet. Join the conversation online or in person at UIW.
1:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.: Afternoon Session
Location: UIW Student Engagement Center 2051 and on Microsoft Teams
For Microsoft Teams Online information, contact Sr. Martha Ann Kirk at kirk@uiwtx.edu or (210) 829-3854.
1:30 p.m. – 2:45 p.m. “UIW Ended Global Starvation”
Watch UIW TV Newscast, March 25, 2045, with Dr. Trey Guinn and Sr. Martha Ann Kirk. Click here for the film with Faculty Examples and here for the Student Examples. Learn how the Cardinals accomplished their ambitious goal of ending global starvation. More and more of them joined the movement Peace on Earth by 2030 led by internationally acclaimed David Gershon. Their lives started to be transformed, and they were transforming the world around them. What is needed to build peace on earth is abundant. What is needed to end global starvation is only 3% of the US military budget.
In the area of Guatemala where 69% of the children are malnourished, former UIW students started Little Angels of Mary in 2022. Hear from their founders former UIW students, from UIW students and faculty who have gone there, and students who have started a support organization on our campus. Consider why you should go on the next Guatemala Solidarity trip in May 2026 and also help them in projects here now. You can be a part of ending global starvation.
Learn about ending hunger on the UIW campus through the Cardinal Community Cupboard which the Ettling Center for Civic Leadership and Sustainability hosts. Do you need food? Can you be part of sharing food right here?
3:00 p.m. – 4:15 p.m. Jim Harrington: Writing for Peace and Justice
Dr. Jim Harrington will share on his two new books:
- The Texas Civil Rights Project, How We Built a Social Justice Movement
- Erdogan's Civil Death Project: Persecution of the Hizmet Movement in Türkiye
A book signing will follow the presentation. Books may be purchased at The Twig Bookshop.
Texas civil rights icon Jim Harrington recounts his lifelong fight for equality, winning major reforms for farmworkers and disabled Texans and helping build a movement for social justice. Over fifty years, he built one of Texas’s key civil rights organizations and played an essential role in many of its greatest victories.
His care about social justice in his own country has led him to the Hizmet (Service) Movement and writing with Coskun Yorulmaz Erdogan's Civil Death Project: Persecution of the Hizmet Movement in Türkiye. Toward the end of the last century, the Hizmet Movement emerged in Turkish society as a major proponent of civil society. “Hizmet,” also known as the Gülen Movement after its spiritual teacher Fethullah Gülen, achieved prominent recognition for its educational and multicultural work in Türkiye and elsewhere in the world.
Co-sponsored by the San Antonio Raindrop Foundation, who will provide delicious refreshments.
Exhibits in the Student Engagement Center Concourse
Support Little Angels of Mary families in Guatemala by buying handicrafts.
Act in the face of nuclear dangers, with groups such as the “Mayors for Peace Campaign” initiated by the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Help create a Camino of Peace and Compassion from San Antonio to Monterrey, Mexico. Join Peace on Earth by 2030 and the Charter for Compassion.
Participate in stopping one shooting after another in our country. Learn from MOMS DEMAND ACTION.
Learn from Veterans Against War why current fighting is creating problems rather than solving them. Join the movement to stop the cycle of endless war and corporate war profiteering.
October 30
12 p.m. - 1:15 pm, Mabee Library Special Collections Room
The Brackenridge Villa: Who lived there? What wisdom would they have for today?
Who? Native peoples lived by the headwaters. The enslaved servants of James Sweet who built the first part of the house in 1850’s. Isabel Brackenridge, her daughter Eleanor, the “Mother of Women’s Suffrage in Texas,” and her son George W. Brackenridge. Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word who bought the house in 1898. A Mexican Bishop who fled the Mexican Civil War for safety.
Be with Professor Tim Draves History Class as students take on the personalities of these characters and wonder what they might share today. Sr. Martha Ann Kirk will provide tea and cookies as Eleanor and Isabel may have served to the ladies who came to discuss women’s rights.
We are grateful to all of the contributors and exhibitors for these programs, especially Darrin Dunbar and his staff in the SEC and the UIW Office of Communication and Marketing.