1. Tribute to Rosemary Goldie.

Rosemary Goldie was born in Australia in 1916. After graduating in her homeland, she came to Paris at the age of 20 to study at the Sorbonne University. She participated in the activities of the women-student chaplaincy, which was affiliated to Pax Romana. In 1937 she attended the Pax Romana International Congress in Paris, which focused on the theme of the formation of students. In 1938 the International Congress was held in Vaduz, Lichtenstein, and Rosemary was so much part of the Pax Romana family that, despite being Australian, she participated in that event as delegate of France since no other female student was available!

During the wartime (1939-1945) the Australian student movement became affiliated to Pax Romana through the international office, which at that time was located in Washington. Rosemary returned to Europe after the war and participated in the 1946 – 1947 “founding meetings” which saw, under the umbrella title Pax Romana, the creation of the professional-intellectual movement (ICMICA) in addition to the student movement. A native English speaker was desperately required in the new ICMICA secretariat located in Fribourg (Switzerland), and Rosemary accepted this task under the guidance of the newly elected General Secretary, Ramon Sugranyes de Franch. She spent six years there and was active in many “historical” Pax Romana meetings including the general assembly in Amsterdam with the Pie XII message (“Be everywhere present in the vanguard of the intellectual combat…”) and the pilgrimage to Rome for the Holy Year 1950 (5000 intellectuals from all over the world)… As Pax Romana worked alongside the Holy See to prepare the first Congress of the Lay Apostolate, Rosemary got involved with COPECIAL, the secretariat in Rome, which had the duty to prepare the three Congresses for the Lay Apostolate in 1951, 57 and 67, and which gave birth to the Pontifical Council for Laity.

Further stories about Rosemary’s life can be found in the press tribute to her. Among them: that she was auditor at the Vatican Council, that she was activily engaged in the drafting of the text on lay apostolate, and her role as under secretary in the Pontifical Council for Laity.

Rosemary did not give up her collaboration with Pax Romana when she moved to Rom in 1951; rather she found new ways to engage with it .She is and remains a symbol of Pax Romana and of Pax Romana’s evangelization and its role in the Vatican Council’s contribution to the Church regarding, among other things, the role of the laity, of women in Church and society, of intellectuals (graduates), the evangelization of culture, the presence of non Europeans in the governing body of the Church. Collectively, these contributions introduced diversity and plurality of cultures into the Church…

2. Dom Helder Camara
Many national movements have celebrated Dom Helder Camara on the occasion of the centenary of his birth (1909) and on the tenth anniversary of his death (1999). You may ask the secretariat to send you a tribute written by Luiz Gomez de Sousa who knew Dom Helder very well (text in Spanish or Portuguese). The speeches he gave at the UNESCO in Paris for an official celebration organized on the initiative of Pax Romana are also available (texts in French).

3. Various movements are organizing study sessions during the summer holidays (in the northern hemisphere). For instance, the French movement MCC is hosting a reflection on the theme “Agents of International Solidarity” from 15- 20th August. For more information, see: www.mcc.asso.fr   

4. The specialised secretariat SIESC (for teachers and professors) is organising a weeklong summer session for teachers….

5. The International Council of Pax Romana ICMICA will be held in Geneva from the 23-25th of July 2010. This will follow a study session on the agenda of international institutions that have their secretariat in Geneva. This is a way to identify the “global agenda” and the concerns of the international community (from the 19th to the 22th of July).