Justice and Peace Shall Embrace: The AEC Pastoral on Crime and Violence

Justice and Peace Shall Embrace is a pastoral letter on crime and violence published by the Antilles Episcopal Conference of bishops on the first Sunday of Advent, November 30, 2003. Among the important aspects of the document is the need to understand and respond to the situation of widespread and increasing crime and violence in the region in light of the Christian faith, taking its cue from the Fourth Conference of Catholic Theology in the Caribbean Today held in Guyana on the theme The Challenge of Violence, and other regional pastoral letters with similar themes, such as the Catholic Bishops of Jamaica’s letter on violence, “Take Action for a Peaceful Jamaica”; the 2002 study of Domestic Violence and Abuse in Dominica, and Bishop Benedict Singh of Guyana’s letter, “Violence is not the Answer” (March 2003).