AUBURN – French pacifist Yvette Naal will speak on her experiences in Israel at 7 p.m. Friday, March 26, at St Philip’s Church hall, Route 4.

Neal, born in Paris in the 1930s, became a pacifist during World War II. In 1960 she joined the Peace Walk from San Francisco to Moscow, appealing to the U.S. and USSR to embrace unilateral nuclear disarmament.

Neal became a member of the Ark, a rural-based nonviolent action community in southern France. The Ark (Communaute de l’Arche) was started by a Sicilian theologian and artist, Lanza del Vasto, who went to India to join with Gandhi. However, Gandhi renamed him “shantidas” (servant of peace) and sent him back to work in Europe.

The Ark is largely a self-reliant organization located on 1,200 acres in a valley near Montpellier. Most of its members are Catholic, and they organized a 10-day fast at the Second Vatican Council in Rome to ask the bishops for recognition of the rights of conscientious objectors. The council approved their request.

Neal later came to the U.S. to work with Americans wishing to start an Ark community here. That petered out. Then she undertook a pilgrimage from Germany to Bethlehem. Once in the Holy Land, she decided to remain and started Beit Noah (House of Noah), a center where Israelis and Palestinians lived together and promoted inter-cultural communication.

After 10 years in Jerusalem, she returned to France to care for her parents. At age 60 she obtained her first driver’s license and runs a bed and breakfast, plus several peace discussion groups.

Neal continues to visit Israel and will speak and show slides about her experiences there. Admission is free.