In honor of Mercy Day and Founders Week, we are hosting two events on Wed. Sept 23, at 4 and 7:30 pm. At 4 p.m., Karen Donahue, RSM based here in Metro Detroit (and a longtime member of the Mercy Justice Team) will provide background on how the religious order of the Sisters of Mercy gradually changed their focus from service to attending to the five Social Concerns that were at the root of many contemporary problems. She'll also explain how nonviolence intersects with the other four Social Concerns. Then Ben Peters will share his talk, "’Artisans of Peace’: a counter-tradition of nonviolence in US Catholicism.” The term "artisans of peace" came from a recent Vatican statement at the UN where they called for "artisans of peace" in our war-torn world. A second talk at 7:30 pm will discuss Prof. Peters’ new book, Catholic Pacifist: the long and lonely quest of Gordon Zahn (Catholic U Press of America, 2026). The book follows the life of Gordon Zahn, a lifelong Catholic peace activist from Milwaukee, who promoted the then-neglected life story of Franz Jägerstätter, the Austrian who was beheaded in 1942 for refusing to fight in Hitler's army. Jägerstätter was beatified in 2007, just before the death of Zahn. Come and hear more about Gordon Zahn's efforts to bring his Catholic faith and his war-fighting country to the realization of the moral duty to end wars. Peters will be joined by Michael Hovey, our UDM Senior Adjunct Instructor in Religious Studies who had worked with Zahn. Both events, on UDM’s McNichols campus, are sponsored by CLASA, Gesu Peace & Justice Committee and the Office of Mission Integration. Free!