Community Building

URI encourages people to help each other by reaching across religious, ethnic, and cultural lines, creating a culture of respect and safety that fosters peace even during difficult times.

Examples of our work in this Action Area:

In Pakistan, the URI MCC Islamabad office works for inter-religious peace by addressing local Muslims' and Christians' joint need for necessities like roads, sewage systems, gas and water
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Youth for Peace CC's summer school brought together young people from different backgrounds to serve their community through volunteering efforts like helping disadvantaged families, painting houses, and repairing old cemeteries
After a Helsinki mosque was vandalized, URI members from the URI Multiregion formed an interfaith group to clean it, sending a strong message that they would not allow their community to be divided

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Stories

Covid 19: Blessing or Trial?

On August 3, Isabel participated in a live to talk a little about shamanism in a moment of reflection with the presence of more members of CC Caminhos da Terra.

Redefining Social Impact: Tronica City CC

There’s evidence to show that today’s youth is increasingly interested in making a positive social impact through careers and business models.

Isabel Ramos, My Teacher and Friend Charles Gibbs

In August 2008 near Iguaçu Falls, 90 representatives of 12 Cooperation Circles from 11 countries gathered for the Third URI Latin America regional assembly, which was to be followed by a day-long meeting for the Indigenous people attending. Isabel Ramos, a gifted copla singer from Cordoba, Argentina, was one of the Indigenous people. At the end of the first evening, I learned that when Isabel first saw me, a white, male Christian, she ran weeping and screaming from the room. I represented the devil that aimed to destroy Indigenous cultures and the people who lived them.

Pachamama Day Celebration

Members of the CC Indigenous Peoples of Argentina performed an honor ritual for the Pachamama. Throughout the month of August in South America, the peoples and nations of the Andes celebrate the awakening of the Pachamama, after its rest during the winter, beginning a new year after the Inti Raymi.

URI Pakistan Remembers Fr. Francis Nadeem

He was a committed and zealous man, a great man and an excellent priest.

Father Gerald O’Rourke - A Tribute by William E. Swing

Though he died quietly on Wednesday evening, July 29, 2020, at age 95, and though the URI family had hardly heard his name for many years, he will always be a giant in our midst. Why? Because his thinking was inlayed in our Charter.