International Catholic Movement for Peace
Our 2018-2019 Annual Report is now available.
There are signs of hope in the world about us, but one has to look hard to find them! The uncertainty of when –
and if – Brexit happens, weighs heavily on us. Violence, and especially knife crime, continues unabated. Trident
renewal persists, and exported British weapons are killing civilians overseas. Pax Christi is needed more than ever.
View highlights of our work, stats and figures of income / expenditure as well as feedback from members.
Sunday reflections from Easter – Pentecost : 3rd Sunday
To deepen our understanding of Gospel nonviolence, we invited seven members of Pax Christi to explore the powerful readings for the Sundays after Easter – readings that tell us something of the struggle of the early Christian communities to create a life-path for themselves built on the life and witness of Jesus.
Their reflections are short and personal and each of them has something to offer on the vocation we all have to be people of nonviolence.
This Sunday our reflection comes from John Williams.John is a Trustee of the Christian Peace Education Fund and former Secondary Schools Adviser for Westminster Diocese. 3rd Sunday of Easter
We echo the words of Pope Francis regarding nuclear weapons: ‘The threat of their use as well as their very possession is to be firmly condemned’. Rather than the tired narrative that nuclear weapons are a necessary deterrent, we agree with Pope Francis that they ‘exist in the service of a mentality of fear that affects not only the parties in conflict but the entire human race’. The tense, fragile relationships between nuclear-weapons possessing nations and their unbalanced relationships with others must not be described as peace.” The full article from The Universe can be found here.
Pax Christi is now calling for the Service of Thanksgiving to either be cancelled or changed to a Service of Repentance. Join us on May 3rd
The full article can be found here
At our Annual General Meeting in May we will be appointing new Pax Christi members to our Committee. Would YOU like to serve Pax Christi in this way – being part of the management and decision making process, bringing your own skills, insights and enthusiasm to Pax Christi? The Committee meets six times a year – some week-days and at least two Saturdays. Those wishing to stand need to be Pax Christi members and nominated by two other members (we can help with this bit). Contact the office if you would like to talk about this. More about the role here
With a consideration and understanding of current situations of conflict and violence, participants engaged in dialogue about the roots of violence, the hope for peace and reconciliation, and reflected on paths to a conversion to nonviolence. They noted that nonviolence is not only a method but a way of life, a way to protect and care for the conditions of life for today and tomorrow.
Members of the CNI roundtable on the Power of Nonviolence, which was co-convened by Pat Gaffney and Rose Berger, were able to give testimony to the effectiveness of nonviolence – these included Pietro Ameglio from Mexico, Kanini Kimau from Kenya, Rania Murra from Palestine and Jean Baptiste Talla from Cameroon.
“Our conversations on nonviolence and peace filled our hearts and minds with a consideration of the dignity of each person – young people, women and men, people who are impoverished, citizens and leaders,” said Mons. Bruno Marie Duffé, Secretary of the Dicastery. “Nonviolence and peace call us to a conversion to receive and to give, to gather and to hope.”
“Pax Christi International deeply appreciates the support and participation of the Dicastery in this workshop, which has been a significant and positive step in the work of the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative,” said Marie Dennis, Co-president of Pax Christi International. “We are touched by the interventions from all the participants, who reiterated the importance of nonviolence rooted in respect, patience and spiritual strength.”
Workshop participants hailed from Mexico, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Colombia, Honduras, Brazil, Canada, the United States, Uganda, Philippines, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Fiji, South Sudan, Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Palestine, the United Kingdom, France and Italy, and included Bishops, Archbishops, peace practitioners, theologians, social scientists, educators and those in pastoral ministry. In addition, the Dicastery’s Prefect Cardinal Peter Turkson (Ghana) was present, as was Cardinal Joseph Tobin (Newark, New Jersey, USA).
Participants will continue their dialogue and research; their reflections will be shared with the Holy Father, with the hope for a possible encyclical that will address these issues and challenges and will promote nonviolent initiatives as a way for mediation, rights, hope and love.
“We need to be artisans of peace, for building peace that is a craft that demands serenity, creativity, sensitivity and skills.” (Pope Francis, Apostolic Exhortation Gaudate et Exultate, 19 March 2018)