January 4, 2017 – Excerpted from Put Out Into the Deep, Bishop DiMarzio’s column in The Tablet:

My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the beginning of World Day of Peace begun by Pope Paul VI. The Holy Father initiated this day of prayer based on the message of St. John XXIII and his Encyclical, “Pacem in Terris” (“Peace on Earth”). It was the wish of John XXIII that peace would be the prayer at the beginning of each New Year. He said, “Peace is the only true direction of human progress.”

The 20th century gave us two world wars and the threat of nuclear disaster. In our present century, the wars in the Middle East and Africa, as well as terrorism in Europe and in the United States all have truly been a legacy of unpeacefulness.

Read the full text of the Bishop’s column on The Tablet website.