March 17th, 2022
Rinor Jani, PTP Youth Representative to the UN, and representing PTP on the Department of Global Communications (DGC) Youth Steering Committee, has been selected by the DGC to develop and present an event for CSW. “Nuclear Disarmament and Disaster Risk Reduction: Women and Girls in the Lead” will be on March 17th, 2022, at 11:00 AM EST. Here is the link to registration:
MIDDLETOWN – Mater Dei Prep and the students in its Global Leaders program participated in a United Nations flag unveiling ceremony at the high school Feb. 15. During the event the school accepted a United Nations flag that hung in the office of Pathways to Peace founder and president Avon Mattison, who died in October and served as a mentor to numerous Mater Dei students. The flag symbolizes the unique bond between the United Nations and Mater Dei Prep’s Global Leaders program.
Pathways To Peace is a United Nations nongovernmental organization (NGO). Several dignitaries from the United Nations participated in the ceremony, including Ray Anderson, United Nations representative; Lindy Crescitelli, United Nations representative and chairperson of the Gandhi-King Season for Non-Violence Conference; and Marlenis Rosa, United Nations representative.
Others in attendance included Ibrahim Sharif, former New Jersey Martin Luther King commissioner; Rinor Jani of Albania, a representative of Pathways to Peace to the United Nations and member of the U.N. Department of Global Communications Youth Steering Committee; and retired Judge Daniel D’Alessandro, among others.
Mater Dei’s Global Leaders program partners with the United Nations, with students regularly attending and speaking at U.N. conferences centered on the organization’s Sustainable Development Goals.
MDP students played a prominent role at last summer’s U.N. High Level Political Forum. Pathways To Peace was selected to present “Healing Our World by Healing Ourselves: Lessons Learned through the Pandemic. An Intergenerational Perspective on Advancing Justice, Inclusion and Peace.” Mater Dei students led the conference with their video, “Why Our Voices Matter,” as they expressed their concerns about healing and sustainable solutions. The video amplified the voices of Mater Dei senior Tyler Malik Ismail and sophomores Mary Kate Brew, Dylan Coleman, Oliva Crowe, Abigail O’Sullivan, Mark Paone, Mia Rodriguez, Cathrine Volk and Gianna Wohanka.
George Anthony, director of the MDP’s Global Leaders program chaired the event. “Much of what we do here at Mater Dei Prep is a reflection of Avon’s beauty and leadership,” he said.
“This past October, the United Nations and Peace Communities throughout the world lost a true messenger of peace in Pathways To Peace Founder and president Avon Mattison. Over the past seven years, Avon has served as an inspirational mentor to numerous Mater Dei Prep students. Some of our students have gone on to officer positions within the United Nations, serve on the Pathways To Peace governing board and become active Peace Advocates.”
The ceremony included a tribute video to Mattison and a pre-recorded message from Pathways To Peace co-founder Joanie Cardelli and Pathways To Peace executive director Tezikiah Gabriel, student reflections and more.
After having time to reflect on the ceremony, Veronica Bucknor, a Mater Dei Prep freshman, said, “Yesterday, for me, was an experience that I will never forget.”
“The meeting didn’t feel like I was sitting down with a whole bunch of civil and human rights representatives, it felt like I was surrounded by a family,” she said. “One very strong and loving family.”
Bucknor said her favorite part of the event was after the ceremony when she and other students interviewed Sharif. “To be able to sit in his presence was enough, let alone being able to ask him my question. I was almost moved to tears by some of Mr. Sharif’s responses.”
After the interview, Bucknor said Sharif told her something she will never forget. “He shook my hand and said, ‘You the quiet one… but the most powerful one.’ This was in my head the rest of the day because it reminded me that I don’t necessarily have to have the loudest voice in the room. I can be quiet and change the whole dynamic.”
“I did not know Ms. Mattison,” said Kathy McLaughlin, chairman of the MDP board of trustees, at the ceremony. “I read about her accomplishments and I was impressed and inspired and stunned by what she accomplished. I realize that many peacebuilders are mourning her loss. The way I view it – and I hope you will view it – she’s left a living legacy among Mater Dei students and others through her mentorship and inspiration through her Pathways To Peace organization and that’s critically important to us.”
“The messages of the speakers were particularly powerful yesterday,” said freshman Quinn Caselo. They “spoke from the heart,” he said, noting the majority of them agree “the change is in our generation, and that it begins with us younger people. And that has a significant impact be- cause it reminds us that if we work hard enough, we can be the change we want to see in the world.”
Additional reporting by Elizabeth Wulfhorst
This article originally appeared in the Feb. 17-23, 2022 print edition of The Two River Times. Online edition
I miss seeing Avon’s name following mine on our zoom daily meditative vigils … (A – for Anne, Avon). As that connection gave me comfort. Only recently do I understand why. For besides the fact that Avon is the truest embodiment of peace in human form that I know – THERE’S MORE. Avon was close ally of the Center for Visionary Leadership whose book “Spiritual Politics” was the inspiration that led me after 911 to various simultaneous “pathways to peace” nationally and internationally (Peace Alliance Department of Peace campaign, Global Movement for the Culture of Peace and UN NGO “Peace Through Unity”). I have been a foot-solder in these 3 different but related organizations for many years. Yet only now do I more deeply know and appreciate the profound synergy that Avon actually was the visionary, co-founder / co-creator of them all! (The story of her help in our NGO’s founding is amazing!) I know Avon’s pioneer peacebuilding spirit is continuing to forge ahead these (heartfelt) Pathways to Peace that we share.
~Anne Creter
In 2013 I had the privilege of interviewing Avon on camera over several sessions. I became tremendously inspired by her presence and her stories, which were divided into a series available here. The staff and directors of Pathways to Peace also expressed their understandings of Peace Day. For me it was an unforgettable and treasured experience.
~David Hazen
Dearest Avon: Thank you for shining so much light into the world. We love and honor you for all of the astonishing pathways to peace you birthed into form including spearheading International Day of Peace and so many other efforts. Your light will surely continue to shine bright through all of the many lives you have touched and will continue to touch from the other side. I love you dear one. Thank you for always being a true champion for Peace, Conscious Collaborations and Good Will. Sending love and gratitude.
~Diane Williams
When a Mentor Passes
The Message and the Mission
What do you do when a mentor passes? It’s a particular kind of loss. It’s a chosen loss. They feel like family. Their meaning and their influence well outweigh their origins. They can be deeper than family in some way because there was a stepping into this relationship.
A recognition of like-mind, like-spirit, like-purpose, like… potential.
Avon Mattison-
She was unapologetically committed to her vision. Her essence was unification. This is what spoke to me. Years before I met her, I had pulled a similar thought, similar mission, down from the ether. This was part of the recognition that we were cut from the same cloth, the big “Yes!” you want to scream out when you hear someone speak or see someone step forward in the world. “Yes! Me too! I feel that way. I see it too!” And in that recognition of vision, you personally feel seen and just a little less alone in the world.
When I first met her, I did the closest thing to fan-girling I’ve ever done in my life and as I took her hand with tears in my eyes, I said, “You changed my life.”
I first started to fantasize about connecting with the rest of the world through silence and prayer when I was a kid. It was part of my play when alone in the woods. The world was my imaginary playmate… What if I got very, very still? I bet other people can feel me around the world! I bet I can play with the whole world in my head. In my heart! Perhaps it was simply a lonely little girls wish, but it grew into a deep understanding of the potential this simple wish could have to transform our planet to become a little kinder, a more welcoming place. It became my life’s work.
Finding the Message
Today, I sit and watch the snow cascade downward as I float through my conversations with Avon. I look for the message in the loss. With a true mentor the teaching can be both strongly led or incredibly subtle. I think of the comfort in being seen, as well as the challenge of be held to your best-self. You want to achieve, to reach for your best-self and to become better in the moments when you are not.
I think back to a moment in the pandemic when things were unclear and full of uncertainty. Someone reached to me, took me in hand and held me in the darkness, “I got you.” And I said, “Me too.” And I took a breath. Ahh, the power of a simple intent. This is also the role of the mentor metaphorically. Someone who you know will hold you in their consciousness, through the proverbial darkness, so you can take a breath and find your own way.
And then there is the big secret to the mentor relationship… we touch each other, the mentor and mentee. It may seem like one is teaching the other, but we are learning from each other. There is no hierarchy. Inevitably, both people are needed to fulfill any mission worth achieving. There is a passing on of good intentions that allow a vision to grow with each generation and allow us to cull and shape and make relevant… and live on.
This is when the message becomes clear. It’s time to take the mantle, whether you feel ready or not. We become our own guiding light. We smile, and look upward and say, “I got this. I got you. I’ll take it from here. Rest.”
With such love and respect,
Deborah
I met Avon as a Jin Shin Jyutsu practitioner in 2002 after 9-11 incident. Her faith and trust in peace was rocked but she continued to do her part to be strong and recover her passion of sharing peace with me and gave me renewed passion to be a person of love and peace.
Your spirit will always be with me.
~Martha Parker
We met at the UN. Our shared love for building peace brought us together for the 1995 50th Anniversary of the UN,
I thank you Avon for so many things. .. From The Ribbons in SF in 1995, to UNICEF Board meetings, to your introduction of me to Betty Williams and PeaceJam, to your participation in the founding of URI and especially for your introduction to the International Day of Peace.
Thank you for the foundation, the direction and purpose for my life’s work May you continue to inspire and direct from above!
May Peace Prevail on Earth!!
Love, Monica
My precious introduction to Avon came when I joined the planning committee of PTP over a year ago.
Avon went out of her way to connect people and to exponentially expand the essence and community of Peace. She fervently mentored intergenerationally, softly guiding and inspiring. Avon shone a light on others to highlight their humanity and propensity for Peace. The expanse of her work and dedication to putting Peace in our minds, hearts and hands has been sublime. A life’s work of deliberately spreading and gently sharing Peace as a practice.
I bid you a sweet farewell dear Avon as you recede to the purity of Peace. I pray your energetic signature continues to awaken us to possibilities for Peace. I miss your earthy presence and will always listen for your unstinting leadership.
~Natasha Singh-Ally
I had the honor of spending over many years weekly home visits with Avon, assisting her health and wellbeing through the art of Jin Shin Jyutsu®. A form of acupressure known to harmonize body, mind and spirit. We would merge in meditation and devotional song and mantra to Tara the liberator, Tara born from the tear of Avalokiteshvara, Chenrezig. She was a sensitive and elevated Being. I honor her for her peace building work and mentorship with young people, woman and man, marginalized people around the world. Avon became a sister and spiritual friend.
I live in Germany now. She is greatly missed but her light shines on.
om tare tu tare ture svaha
~Annette Huck