By Bob Williams

(Chicago, Friday, May 3, 2002) ­ Gangs, weapons, hate, racism and fear: these forces need immediate attention if urban violence is to be eradicated, students told the city police superintendent and other community leaders gathered here this morning for dialogue at one of the region's largest public high schools.

Gangs "kill innocent kids" and leave "people always fighting," said Adriana Macedo, 17, who attends Roberto Clemente Community Academy, a 2,000-student public high school serving Chicago's West Town and Humboldt Park districts.

Clemente student Betsy Zayas, 17, cited weapons as a leading concern in reply to a question put to the group of some two dozen youth ­ both local students and young adults visiting from L.A. -- by Bruno, who asked: "At the snap of my fingers, if I could give you anything you wanted to do away with violence in the world we live in, what would you ask?"

"If we could get rid of all the hate you wouldn't have any of this," said Clemente student Robert Gonzalez, 17. "It all touches back to hate and what we feel about each other and what we think about each other, and stereotypes as scapegoats and all that."

Echoing this view, college student Lester Mackenzie of L.A.'s Advent Episcopal Church, who grew up under apartheid in South Africa, called on the group to work for the prevention of hate crimes. Noting the loss of two brothers to gun violence, Luis Garibay Jr. of L.A.'s Cathedral Center cited the role of racism in fueling conflict.

Sharing insights from their Hands in Healing Violence Prevention Guide booklet, L.A. visitors Frances Moodie, parishioner of St. John's near USC, and Luke Jan Perido of Holy Trinity/St. Benedict¹s, Alhambra, offered points on gun safety and domestic violence, respectively.

After calling the group to raise awareness about sexual assault, Sara Clinehens of St. Stephen's Church in Hollywood, said that urban life would be enhanced by the lessening and eradication of fear.

"Have any of you ever heard the saying that love is the absence of fear?" Bruno asked, while co-moderating the dialogue with Johnstone of Youth Guidance.

Clemente student Daniel Mendez, 17, added that violence prevention is "not necessarily just getting rid of something, but, I would have to say, bringing something in: that would have to be a bigger realization that God is there. I believe if people actually just gave God a chance, and just allowed him to come into their lives, something great would happen."

"We're here to be in a relationship of learning," Bruno told the group, "to share with one another the things that can change this world and transform this world from a violent world to a peaceful world.

Bruno praised the local and national leadership of Chicago's Bishop Persell, whose resume also includes his tenure as rector of St. John's Church, Los Angeles. (It was at St. John's, L.A. travelers were interested to learn today, that Persell baptized Frances Moodie, one of the Hands in Healing presenters.)

Persell's remarks precede the Hands in Healing travelers presence tomorrow as panelists at a local gun violence symposium hosted by the Interfaith Initiative Against Gun Violence. Set for Chicago's landmark Fourth Presbyterian Church, the event will feature a keynote address from U.S. Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy of New York who was elected to the House of Representatives after the shooting death of her husband, and the severe injury of her son, during a lone gunman's rampage on a commuter train bound for Long Island.

The event is part of an itinerary coordinated through the Diocese of Chicago by a team chaired by the Rev. Mark Nestlehutt, associate rector of St. Chrysostom's Church, Chicago. Also on hand to greet the L.A. team today were Sue Cromer, coordinator of youth, campus and young adult ministries for the Diocese of Chicago, and Georgianna Gleason, executive director of Chicago's Episcopal Charities and Community Services.

The visit began yesterday when the L.A. travelers visited Seabury- Western Seminary in the Evanston, Ill., community shared with Northwestern University. The Eucharist shared in the seminary's Gothic chapel on the Feast of St. Athanasius recalled for several of the travelers their own ties to L.A.'s Congregation of St. Athanasius, the Southland's oldest Episcopal parish and the core faith group of the Cathedral Center in Echo Park. The group on Sunday will visit the Brent House ministry of the University of Chicago after sharing in morning services at St. James' Cathedral, where Bishop Bruno will preach during the 11am Eucharist.

Hillard also commended the work of Clemente Principal DaMota, who described her role as one of "working with minds and hearts and souls in the shaping of young lives. We cannot minimize the power of dreaming and a young mind."