The Reins of Peace and Justice

Greg Schaber

 

The green-carpeted stairway leads up to the second floor of Xavier’s Dorothy Day House, its narrowness hinting at the cramped quarters above. Benjamin J. Urmston, S.J., leads the way, weaving across the broad landing and into the far-left office where he gestures toward a well-worn easy chair swathed in a green blanket.

“You can sit there,” he says. “Cesar Chavez took a nap in that chair.”

The offhand tenor of the comment fits well with the nature of the room. It’s filled with a cacophony of remembrances dating back several decades—the 2002 Maurice McCracken Peace and Justice Award, a sign reading “Peace is Patriotic,” a diploma for his doctorate in peace studies, a United Nations flag, a wooden cross with a hollow center “so we can crawl into it.”

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