Theology of Peace
"With all our hearts, we pray for all your children everywhere."
- Fred Rogers 1992 Boston University Invocation (The Fred Rogers Company)
- Fred Rogers 1992 Boston University Invocation (The Fred Rogers Company)
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The Presbyterian Church charged Rogers to work with families through mass media at his 1962 ordination. With the Neighborhood as his pulpit, messages that peace is more than the absence of war dominated Rogers' songs, books, specials, PSAs, and regular broadcasts. |
Rogers touches child's hand. 1998 (AP/Susan Goldman)
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"We all long to be lovable and capable of loving and whatever we can do through the neighborhood or anything else to reflect that and to encourage people to be in touch with that, then I think that's our ministry." - Fred Rogers 2001 (CNN) |
Rogers introduces Daniel Striped Tiger to young fans. c. 1970s (PA Center for the Book by Penn State University)
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So in all that you do, in all of your life, I wish you the strength and the grace to make those choices which will allow you and your neighbor to become the best of whoever you are.” - Fred Rogers 2002 Commencement Address at Dartmouth College (Dartmouth News) |
Rogers performs live at the University of South Dakota. 1973 (Neighborhood Archive)
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"I'd like to give you all an invisible gift. A gift of a silent minute to think about those who have helped you become who you are today... I feel that you deserve quiet time on this special occasion to devote some thought to them. So let's just take a minute in honor of those who have cared about us all along the way. One silent minute." - Fred Rogers 2002 Commencement Address at Dartmouth College (Dartmouth News) |
Fred loosens up after a long day on set. (Fred Rogers Center)
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"It doesn't take a great leap to see Rogers as a saint... in spite of his own shortcomings Rogers still seems to me to be far more saint than sinner-a compelling model for all of us who lack compassion at points and who fail to accept others just as they are." - Michael Long, author of Peaceful Neighbor 2015 (Salon Media Group) |
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"The real Mr. Rogers never preached, never even mentioned God on his show. He never had to." - Bob Faw Feb. 27, 2003 NBC Evening News (qtd. in The Simple Faith of Mister Rogers) Rogers dealt with topics rarely touched on by other programs including adoption, mothers nursing babies, divorce, and death. Distinction between reality and make-believe helped children cope with real-world issues. |
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Rogers greets Arnold Palmer, fellow Latrobe PA native, at Heaven's gate. 2016 (Tim Hartman)
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"In the days that followed Sept. 11, 2001, when as a Bangladeshi-American Muslim I cringed in searing pain with the blasphemy that the terrorists committed in the name of Islam, it was Mr. Rogers' reassuring voice that I turned to." -Tanveer K. Hoque Feb. 28, 2003 (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) |
Tribute letters following Rogers' death 2003 (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
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"I consider that what I do through Mister Rogers' Neighborhood is my ministry... the more I think about it, the more I wonder if God and Neighbor are somehow One."
- Fred Rogers (The World According to Mister Rogers)
Banner Image: Rogers speaks at Boston University Baccalaureate 1992 (Boston University/Zabarsky)