One of our authors, Alice Pfeifer, is a nun with the Congregation of St. Agnes. The Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes (CSA) released the following statement January 20, 2002, to coincide with the feast of their patroness, St. Agnes, and the national holiday honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. and his commitment to nonviolence.

In it, CSA wishes to share who the Sisters of St. Agnes are and what they believe:

• We are women committed to living the gospel values of love and forgiveness.
• We are women committed to being peacemakers.
• We are women who have lost three of our members to acts of violence in Nicaragua, yet remain committed to nonviolence.
• We are women who believe, as citizens of a democracy, that it is our responsibility to add our voice to the public discourse.
• We are women who protest our government's training of terrorists and have demonstrated and advocated for closing of the School of the Americas now known as Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHISC).
• We are women who believe we are called to treat all people with value and dignity.
• We are women who pray for our country, our leaders and for all the victims of terrorism and their families.
• We are women who pray for our enemies and seek deeper understanding of the struggles that generate enmity.
• We are women who believe the United States needs to assess those foreign, economic and ecological policies that continue to widen the gap between the wealthy and the poor.
• We are women who believe our nation spends too much on making war possible and far too little on creating and empowering just societies in the world.
• We are women who strive to hear the cry of the poor and respond globally, nationally and locally with our presence and our resources.
• We are women who are committed to the social justice teachings of the Catholic Church and engage in legislative advocacy to promote the common good.
• We are women who embrace diversity of race, gender, religion, culture and work to eliminate prejudice and discrimination, both locally and globally.
• We are women who join with people of goodwill to pray for peace and to become peacemakers.