A Journey of a Lifetime

In 1996, Rev. Canon Charles P. Gibbs was asked to lead URI as its Founding Executive Director. Retiring now after 17 years, Charles leaves behind a lasting legacy of servant leadership and an ever-growing global foundation for building cultures of peace, justice and healing.

During his 17-year tenure with URI, Charles has traveled over one and a half million miles. The people he met around the world impacted Charles’ approach to leading URI. On one of his early trips to Kenya during URI’s formative years, he was introduced to Jose Chaipenda, the head of the local African churches. Chaipenda posed a question to Charles, and that question stayed with him throughout his career:

“What would URI’s work do for the three kinds of people I work with – those born to die(born into starvation, illness, nothing to keep life alive); those born to survive (born into world with stronger flame of life, but will struggle throughout life to survive [struggling for resources, health, etc.]); and those born to really live (the privileged people, born into material comfort, privilege of security, education, wealth)?”

At the time, Charles was stumped. He didn’t know how to answer Chaipenda’s question, but promised that he would keep that important question close to heart as long as he was doing this work with URI.

Fifteen years later, Charles reflects on Jose Chaipenda’s question:

“A satisfactory answer must involve the efforts of the entire human community. I believe URI is playing its part every time a Cooperation Circle opens the path toward a fuller life for children and adults of oppressed religious minorities in Pakistan, or provides micro-loans to support small-scale livelihood projects in Kenya or Panama, or helps restore the broken lives of child soldiers in Uganda, or provides a pathway for those blessed with great material prosperity to share those blessings with others half-a-world away who are vulnerable, marginalized or struggling to survive the scourges of extreme poverty and violent conflict. URI and humanity have a long way to grow to answer these questions fully. But I believe in my heart that URI is growing in the right direction.”

Charles is an exemplar of servant leadership. He leaves URI a “rich” man: blessed with over 500,000 friends within the URI global community. Former US President Lyndon B. Johnson once said, "Peace is a journey of a thousand miles and it must be taken one step at a time." URI will forever be grateful that Charles was among those who took that first courageous step, inspiring all of us to follow.

United Religions Initiative - The Latest

A Tribute to URI's Founding Executive Director, Charles Gibbs, on the Occasion of his Retirement

PHOTO: The Right Rev. William Swing and the Rev. Canon Charles P. Gibbs at the URI head office in San Francisco

With self-effacing humor Charles Gibbs laughs about his singing voice.  We, his friends, go along and beg him not to sing Happy Birthday or the National Anthem.  In reality, Charles lives his life surrounded by a plenitude of musical CDs of all sorts, and these get embedded in his soul. On most occasions of life you can find Charles quoting an appropriate lyric because he speaks a musical language. 

Long ago Charles listened to the cacophony of religious clamor and predictable violence, and he heard the faint hopeful strains of harmonies.  So he offered himself to do an audacious thing...equivalent to learning  to be a gifted conductor while recruiting potential musicians and then sit with them while they learned to play and he learned to lead. The difference being that he would orchestrate people of all of the competing faith traditions to create the life-giving sound of peace in a troubled world.

At the beginning Charles had no recognizable credentials.  Rector of a small parish in San Francisco's fog belt, no experience in running a large organization, lacking as a fund-raiser, limited overseas travel, and was not an interfaith leader at any level.   Perfect!

But Charles does have three virtues of immeasurable worth.  A big heart...he is a lover of souls, and he comes by that innately.  If it takes a lake of sympathy to make a symphony, he is Lake Charles.  When you see him coming at you wearing some silly sweater and lumbering forward on those gigantic shoes with a joyful grin and outstretched arms, you realize why URI works. Patience...Charles builds maddening sufficient time into all equations so that everyone has a chance to weigh all of the options before coming to a wise decision.   Willingness to grow...URI took a step and grew.   Charles took a step and grew.  Multiply that by 17 years and you understand why URI is where it is today.

This hymn describes Charles best:

My life goes on in endless song;   

Above earth's lamentations,

I hear the real, though far-off hymn

That hails a new creation;

Through all the tumult and the strife,  

I hear the music ringing;

It sounds an echo in my soul

How can I keep from singing?

Don't tell me Charles Gibbs can't sing.   That man's got pipes!   Thank you Charles for everything.  I'll bet your voice pleases God.

Love and gratitude,

+Bill

http://www.uri.org

Reflection

A Public Servant Par Excellence

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy receiving the United Nations Public Service Award from United Nations Under Secretary General Wu Hongbo in Bahrain.

United Nations comes to Kerala in a different style. Kerala Chief Minister Mr. Oommen Chandy has been selected to receive its prestigious Public Service Award 2013  for his Mass Contact Program. Secretary General Ban Ki - Moon will present the award today (June 27)  at a special function arranged at Bahrain National Centre, Manama. Mr. Chandy becomes the first Chief Minister in India to receive this honor. Kerala was adjudged for this glorious tribute from among 50 countries in the Asia – Pacific region.  Mass Contact Program (MCP) was an invention of the Chief Minister which won the attention of the world. It saw the CM receiving 5.45 lakhs (5,45,000) petitions by visiting 14 Districts of Kerala and resolving 2.97 lakhs on the spot. In some Districts he stood beyond 19 hours without a break to redress grievances.

This is the best example of peace building and prevention of terrorism. It is the discontent and disappointed group that is usually drawn to terrorism. They feel there is no one to listen to them. This is how you can deal with the aspirations of the people of any State.

Dr. Abraham Karickam

CAMPAIGN AGAINST NUCLEAR WEAPONS BY URI SOUTH INDIA REGION

Nuclear Weapons Fact 

The atomic bomb killed more than 166,000 people in Hiroshima alone. The number of active nuclear weapons present on earth is enough to wipe off the entire human race. As per latest reports there are more than 67,500 nuclear bombs present on this planet. Since 1945, more than 4,680 nuclear bombers have been built. Alone in the Pacific the US has done more than 106 nuclear tests. More than 95% of all the nuclear weapons are in the control of the US and Russia.

The top 10 nuclear weapon countries in the world are; the US, Russia, United Kingdom, France, China, India, North Korea, Israel, and the NATO countries (Germany, Belgium, Canada, Greece, Italy, Netherlands and Turkey)

An average US nuclear bomb today is 10 times stronger than the nuclear bombs which were used to destroy the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

As per reports the US has tested more than 2000 nuclear bombs, the Soviet Union has tested 715 bombs, France has tested 210 bombs and Britain has done 45 tests. If we look at the total figures, since 1945 more than 2500 nuclear bombs have been tested on our home planet.

At present there are more than 47,000 active bombs in the world which are enough to wipe out the entire human civilization. As long as nuclear weapons are kept active, human beings are endangered species. According to the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT) which was signed between Russia and US, both these countries have to lessen their deployed nuclear weapons between 1,700 to 2,200 by December 2012. On 31^st December 2012, this treaty was suppose to expire and many security experts believe that both these countries will again redeploy as many nuclear warheads as they want against each other.

The pros and cons of these bombs has been a topic of discussion in many international summits and meetings. Elimination of nuclear bombs is practically impossible, still various efforts have been laid by various human support groups and various states of the top 10 military powers of the world to accomplish this dream.

We the delegates of URI annual youth camp 2013 (South India Zone) exhort all enlightened leaders of the world to:

1)      Refrain from the use of all forms of nuclear weapons

2)      Subscribe to NPT

3)      Support CTBT

Talking back to hate with love

URI South India Region is joining the campaign on Talking Back to Hate initiated by United Religions Initiative international office in San Francisco. Talking back to hate with love is our slogan. The purpose of this campaign is to counter hate speech, discrimination and bullying through education, advocacy and positive action.

 Talking Back to Hate will address these problems by engaging organizational partners and the global community in collaborative action against hate speech, bullying and discrimination.

 In addition to this stories of ordinary people who have taken extraordinary actions in response to these issues will be shared.

Our CCs are requested to join this important campaign by participating in any one of the following means:

1.    Broadcast the campaign in respective regions.

2.     Place the Talking Back to Hate button in publications.

3.    Share the stories and action commitments in relevant materials.

4.    Promote activities of any kind to raise awareness about hate speech and discrimination.

Dr. Abraham Karickam

Re-defining Peace Building

In the wake of our terrible loss of youth workers like Irfan Ali, I would like to emphasize one point. We have to re-define the concept of peace building. You need not wait for a conflict to erupt, then interfere and mediate and then say you are building peace. On the other hand, effective peace building is prevention of  violence and conflicts in whatever form. We don’t want to throw more martyrs to situations of fiery conflicts. Instead, we want to create an atmosphere of perennial peace and calm on the globe. That is why during TPA training we use the term ‘peace engineering’. Every Cooperation Circle of URI  is a peace centre in itself in its given locale, wherever it is. Therefore I agree hundred percent when our seniors say, growth and consolidation of our CCs are most important aspects before us. We used to dream about the planting of 1000 or 2000 CCs at some point. But somewhere we lost that thrust, which I feel is detrimental.

URI  should become a recognizable force in the world. For that we should be able to make its presence felt. If we can strengthen TPA, it can train hundreds of vibrant peace builders around the globe, who can avert violent situations to a great extent by strategically planning peace. With a thousand CCs to support them, URI will work wonders in creating cultures of peace, justice and healing.

Dr. Abraham Karickam

URI ANNUAL YOUTH CAMP 2013 MAY 1

Inauguration of Annual Youth Camp By Dr. Abraham Karickam

 

URI Award Winners at the Annual Youth camp

New Office Bearers of Interfaith Student's Movement (URI Youth Wing)

New Office Bearers of URI South India Zone

URI Youth Camp-Music Meditation Class by Rajan Cosmic

PARTICIPANTS IN SERIOUS GROUP DISCUSSION