MISSION STATEMENT

The mission of the Peace Abbey Foundation is to create and install public works of art that promote peace and nonviolence; and to administer and care for Abbey Interfaith Peace Chaplaincy, The Pacifist Memorial, The Animal Rights Memorial, Abbey Cremation Cemetery for Conscientious Objectors, and the National Registry for Conscientious Objection.  Throughout the year, the Foundation presents the Int’l Courage of Conscience Award at conferences and peace ceremonies and extends the impact of the Peace Seeds interfaith prayers for peace through their dissemination worldwide.

We conduct and support programs that bring together and promote the cooperation of people of different faith traditions and non-theists as well. We do this in the spirit of the 1986 International Day of Prayer for World Peace, as celebrated that year by religious leaders from around the globe in Assisi, Italy.

The Foundation supports grassroots efforts to link the many dimensions of the peace movement with a committed emphasis on human rights and animal rights. We recognize these two dimensions of intrinsic rights as inextricably interconnected, just as social and economic justice require environmental sustainability and deep respect for the biosphere. Central to our universalist approach is the premise that nonviolence is the most effective and long-term strategy in addressing the multitude of challenges that now threaten our increasingly imperiled planet.

Short video of plaque installation at the Pacifist Memorial

A Tribute to Plymouth and
Lillian and Dick Gregory

Forevermore—let that word linger in your mind for just a moment: forevermore. This word perfectly captures the enduring spirit and legacy of the Gregory family.

Now let me begin this tribute by saying how fitting it is that today’s celebration of Plymouth as an international city of peace is being held in the 1820 courtroom, where justice once took center stage, here in the heart of Plymouth, America’s Hometown.

Though no longer a functioning courthouse, this room remains powerfully symbolic—a witness to history—as injustice continues to be contested in courtrooms like this, from Selma to Johannesburg, from Tiananmen Square to New Delhi, and at the International Criminal Court at The Hague.

Justice is never just for “us.” It’s meant for all—fairness, dignity, human rights. This is the justice Dick and Lillian Gregory lived and fought for.  READ MORE

• Tribute presented by Lewis M.Randa at the 1820 Courtroom, Town Hall, Plymouth, MA September 21, 2025.

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