Historic Peace Church Conference
Featured Speakers
Peggy Gish (Church of the Brethren) - has been working in Iraq with Christian Peacemaker Teams since
October 2002, so has been there before, during, and after the 2003 war. Gish
is
a grandmother, farmer, community mediator, conflict management trainer, and
former co-director of the Appalachian Peace and Justice Network in Athens,
Ohio. Her book Iraq: a Journey of Hope and Peace (Herald Press, 2004) tells
the
story of her experiences and CPT's work in Iraq.
Dr. Ann K. Riggs - Dr. Ann K. Riggs is Associate
General Secretary for Faith and Order at the National Council
of the Churches of Christ in the USA. She is editor of the NCCC’s Faith
and Order Commission Theological Series, published by Paulist
Press, and co-editor of Quaker Theology. A member of
Chapel Hill Monthly Meeting (Piedmont Friends Fellowship) and
a sojourner at Annapolis Monthly Meeting (Baltimore Yearly Meeting),
she holds a doctorate from the Catholic University of America
and M. Div. and Th. M. degrees from Duke University. Riggs is
co-author with Jeffrey Gros and Eamon McManus of Introduction
to Ecumenism, Paulist Press, 1998. She is a consultant to
the Standing Commission of the World Council of Churches Faith
and Order Commission, a member of the Christian and Interfaith
Relations Committee of Friends General Conference and a member
of the Theological Study and Reflection on Peace Core Group,
of the World Council of Churches’ Faith and Order program.
She has been active recently in international ecumenical consultations
on the Holy Spirit, theological anthropology, and peace theology.
Cascadia Press published Seeking Cultures of Peace: A Peace
Church Conversation, which she co-edited with Scott Holland
and Fernando Enns, in spring 2004.
Lisa Schirch (Mennonite Church) - is an associate
professor of peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University’s
Masters in Conflict Transformation Program. A former Fulbright
fellow, Schirch has fifteen years of experience consulting with
a network of strategic partner organizations around the world.
She is the author of three books: Ritual and Symbol in Peacebuilding, The Little Book of Strategic Peacebuilding, and Keeping the Peace: Exploring Civilian Alternatives in Conflict Prevention. Dr. Schirch holds a M.S. and Ph.D. in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University.
Damu Smith - Damu Smith, a nationally recognized human and civil rights leader is Co-chair of Black Voices for Peace, Director of the National Black Environmental Justice Network, and national leader for United for Peace and Justice. A longtime noted and tireless activist Damu has been involved in numerous social justice groups. He has served as Associate Director of the Washington Office of the American Friends Service Committee and as National Associate Director of Greenpeace USA. As Executive Director of the Washington office on Africa at the height of the antiapartheid movement, he helped to coordinate the successful efforts to get the U.S. Congress to pass sanction legislation against South Africa.
Most recently he has emerged as one of the outspoken voices for peace and justice speaking for the need of Black and other people of color groups to relate the fight against militarism with the struggle against racism and for education, health care housing, and other essential human needs.
