HISTORY of Interfaith Paths to Peace

In the spring of 1996, the Council on Peacemaking and Religion, faced with serious financial problems, decided to reorganize.  Their mediation program became Just Solutions.  The tenant advocacy program moved to the VOA.

The programs dealing with peace advocacy and religion became an independent organization, Interfaith Paths to Peace.  A committee, including the person who had pledged to finance activities for a year, hired an executive director who began work in October 1996.

Before the executive director could take up her duties, the board set up a budget, named the new organization, Interfaith Paths to Peace, and wrote a mission statement. Christ Church Cathedral, at 425 S. 2nd Street, allowed IPP to use an office free of charge until renovation began on what is now Diocesan House.  Articles of incorporation were filed, and work on an application for 501(c)(3) status began.
Carolyn Cromer, then assistant to alderman Tom Owen, served as the first president of IPP. She was followed in service by Maureen Schurr, Hugh Ella Robinson, and Pam Yenawine.

Since the first month of its existence, IPP has attempted to have at least one interfaith or peace advocacy program per month.  These programs have met with varying success in terms of numbers of participants.  However, reaction to the programs has been uniformly good and numbers have increased.

Working with the Fellowship of Reconciliation, IPP has helped sponsor and present annual remembrances of the first use of nuclear weapons as well as supporting numerous programs on specific issues of world peace and the abolition of the death penalty.

In 1998 IPP began a program for adults who work with youth. Y.A.R.D., now functioning as a program of the Office of Youth Development, continues to fulfill its original purpose of bringing youth workers together to share ideas and materials.  IPP has arranged a number of small informal dinner meetings among members of various faith groups and between police officers and the people of the neighborhoods they serve.

A series of presentations on the effect of faith in the lives of individual lay people was well received and became the basis for a program focusing on the role of various faiths in the lives of young people.  This series has continued in various forms focusing on interfaith understanding and relationships among neighbors and throughout the metropolitan area.

In 2001 IPP became a partner with the Cathedral Heritage Foundation by arranging two programs for the Festival of Faiths.  The long-standing Children of Abraham Thanksgiving Dinner, sponsored by IPP, Temple Shalom, James Lees Memorial Presbyterian Church, and the Islamic Cultural Center, has become an official part of the Festival.

Each May, IPP, working with groups such as the Bahá’í community,  Unity of Louisville, and First Unitarian Church, sponsors a peace-oriented Memorial Day service remembering all those who have died to preserve freedom here and abroad.

Although IPP continues to be a small organization, it is performing an important role in our community through its ongoing programming centered on individuals, their faith, and the way that faith shapes the way they live in the everyday world.  Close cooperation with other peace advocacy and interfaith groups makes IPP’s contribution to the community as a whole an important one.

Interfaith Paths to Peace | 425 S. Second Street | Louisville, KY 40202-1430
(502) 214- PEAC (7322) | Terry@InterfaithPathstoPeace.org