Chicago Police Superintendent Terry Hillard to join team's anti-violence dialogue at Roberto Clemente High School. The bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles and a team of young adults are calling on people of faith to follow in the footsteps of civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks by taking "simple acts of courage" to stop domestic and gang violence, hate crimes and other acts of aggression. On Friday, May 3 through Sunday, May 5, they will bring the message to Chicago.

Bishop Bruno and 12 young people from his diocese are on a 45-day cross-country pilgrimage to cities and sites where violence has had a major impact, including Laramie, Wyoming, where Matthew Shepard was beaten to death for being gay; the Oklahoma City bombing memorial; the Martin Luther King Jr. memorials in Atlanta and Memphis; the 911 crash site of United Flight 93 near Pittsburgh; and Ground Zero New York City. In Chicago, Bishop Bruno and the team will dialogue with youth of Roberto Clemente High School on Friday morning, and participate in a panel discussion at Fourth Presbyterian Church as part of the Interfaith Initiative Against Gun Violence on Saturday afternoon. On Sunday, Bishop Bruno will preach at St. James Cathedral.

Joining Bishop Bruno and the team at Roberto Clemente High School Friday morning, May 3, will be Bishop William Persell of the Diocese of Chicago, Chicago Police Superintendent Terry Hillard, and Nancy Johnstone, executive director of Youth Guidance, an agency of Episcopal Charities and Community Services, along with other religious and civic officials. Welcoming them will be the principal of Roberto Clemente High School, Irene DaMota. The bishops, Superintendent Hillard, Ms. Johnstone and the team will be available for interviews following the hour-long dialogue, which begins at 10am.

On Saturday, May 4 from 12.30 to 2.30 pm the team will participate in the Interfaith Initiative Against Gun Violence conference at fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago. Following the team's presentation, U.S. Representative Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) will talk about her efforts to curb gun violence. McCarthy was elected to Congress in 1999 following the shooting death of her husband on the Long Island Railroad.

At each stop of their pilgrimage the team will engage local youth and young adults in dialogue to learn about their experiences with violence and share with them in prayer and reflection. The stories they gather will be included in an interactive, multigenerational and online curriculum being developed by the Los Angeles diocese's Christian Formation office and Office of communications.

Many of the participants in the "Hands in Healing: Reaching Peace for Youth and Cities" pilgrimage have personally experienced the trauma of violence. One team member lost two brothers in gang shootings; two members have lived under South Africa's former apartheid system; and others have spoken out against domestic violence, racism, and homophobia.

The team will be guided by the spirit of Rosa Parks who sparked the civil rights movement in 1955 by refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery, AL, bus, said Bishop Bruno in a recent interview.

"As our own van moves across country, the young people and I will contemplate, from our own bus seats, how we can act more courageously to see that peace and justice prevail over violence now and into the future," said Bishop Bruno.