Sr Katrina Alton, National Chaplain to PCEW
More than 80 participants joined a Pax Christi Zoom gathering on International Women’s Day (8 March) to reflect on the theme “Towards an ‘unarmed’ and ‘disarming’ peace,” inspired by the 2026 World Peace Day message of Pope Leo.
As Chaplain, I was honoured to be joined by three remarkable women: Siobhan Burke, tutor at the St Bede’s Pastoral Centre in York; MaryAnne Francalanza FCJ, Director of the FCJ Centre for Spirituality and EcoJustice; and barrister Christabel McCooey.
International Women’s Day invites us not only to celebrate women’s leadership, wisdom and resilience, but also to listen deeply to women’s voices at the heart of peace-making – listening to one another, and to God. Our opening prayer set the tone:
“God who trusted women with the first yes, the first witness, the first fire.
We remember Mary who carried salvation into the heart of Empire, unarmed and disarming.”
We began with a simple question: What stirs in you when you hear the words “unarmed and disarming peace”?
Reflecting on her work in spiritual accompaniment, Siobhan Burke spoke about how her understanding of peace has evolved:
“Growing up, I thought peace meant avoiding conflict. Now I see that tension and disagreement are part of life. Peace is the ability to work through conflict authentically with others.”
For Siobhan, this requires courage and honesty:
“It’s an invitation to risk difficult conversations, to be vulnerable and real. Learning how to pray with strong emotions—anger, anxiety, fear—is part of cultivating peace.”
For MaryAnne Francalanza FCJ, the word disarming was especially powerful:
“Often something beautiful disarms—a smile, a child, an unexpected act of kindness. Disarmed people can build relationship because the barriers of suspicion fall away.”
Quoting the peace message of Pope Leo XIV, she reminded us:
“Goodness is disarming.”
Yet she acknowledged the challenge:
“It takes courage to approach someone whose views you strongly oppose with goodness and kindness that disarms. It makes you vulnerable. But this is our urgent task as the world becomes more polarised.”
Barrister Christabel McCooey pondered what this means for the justice system: “The Christian faith is marked by love. Love for God, neighbour, and strangely, love for our enemy. Just as in other spaces of public life, there is space for love in the justice system, and to think about how love might inform the delivery of justice.”
In the second part of the gathering, participants shared their own experiences, insights and questions. The conversation highlighted how the work of peace often begins in everyday encounters, through listening, courage, and the willingness to disarm our own hearts.
International Women’s Day reminds us that peace is not only negotiated between nations. It is cultivated in relationships, communities, and spiritual practice.
We ended by committing ourselves again to Jesus’ way of Gospel nonviolence:
“Make us true Gospel women, living interruptions to the logic of violence.
That Your kingdom may come, unarming our hearts, and disarming the world. Amen”
