Since 2006, the peaceCENTER has celebrated The Blessing of the Peacemakers, a joyous hour-long interfaith ceremony featuring music, prayer, new inclusive and innovative rituals and inspirational speakers. It is the first event marking the beginning of the 64-day Season for Nonviolence and honors all of the peacemakers in the city.

During the Blessing of the Peacemakers the peaceCENTER appoints the San Antonio Peace Laureate: a local voice of wisdom and experience to speak for peace and justice in San Antonio.This year we are honored to announce that the 2018 San Antonio Peace Laureates are: T.C. Calvert & Mario Marcel Salas, for 50 years of friendship and advocacy, sharing their wisdom, power and love to advance peace & justice in San Antonio, and beyond.

The Season for Nonviolence, January 30 – April 4, is a 64-day educational, media, and grassroots campaign that demonstrates that nonviolence is a powerful way to heal, transform, and empower our lives and our communities. Inspired in 1998 by the 50th and 30th memorial anniversaries of the assassinations of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., this international event honors their vision for an empowered, nonviolent world. It has been endorsed by such notables as the Dalai Lama and the late Coretta Scott King.