News Release

Peace activist Sister Peggy O'Neill speaks at UDM

The Carney Latin American Solidarity Archives (CLASA) and the Student Programming Board at the University of Detroit Mercy are sponsoring an evening with Peace Activist Sr. Peggy O'Neill. The event will be held on Tuesday, September 18th at 7:30 p.m. in the Student Center Fountain Lounge on the McNichols Campus. It is free and open to the public.

Peggy O'Neill is a Sister of Charity teaching at the University of Central America in El Salvador (the Jesuit university in San Salvador). The long-time peace activist has been living in El Salvador since 1986. She accompanied fellow Salvadoran people through 6 of the 12 year civil war and now through 15 years of healing.

Her current peace making efforts include founding Centro Arte Para la Paz, a center focused on peace through art. "Center for Peace Through the Arts" works with traumatized and displaced persons in El Salvador. Many people who use the center narrowly survived massacres during the earlier civil war in El Salvador. She organizes activities for children and helps women form groups for solidarity. The center promotes peace through dance, art, and theological reflection.

Sister O'Neill holds a doctoral degree in theology from New York University. She has worked in El Salvador for the past 20 years and is much loved by her students. This past May, international service students from the University of Detroit Mercy had the opportunity to work with Sister Peggy. Interested students can find out about spending a semester abroad, studying with Sister Peggy and others at UCA.

Release date: September 14, 2007

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For more information about UDM, or to apply online, go to www.udmercy.edu/apply.