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Peace prayers at Westminster Cathedral


A prayer service was held last night in the Crypt Chapel of Westminster Cathedral, to remember the victims of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, to mark the anniversary of the execution of Blessed Franz Jagerstatter in 1943 for refusing to serve in Hitler's army, and to pray for all conscientious objectors and those who work for peace.

Organised by Pax Christi, the service was attended by Christians of many denominations as well as representatives from the Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim and Hindu communities.

Jagerstatter was beatified in October 2007. There were prayers, reflections and readings from some of his letters. Shortly before he was executed he wrote:

'Many actually believe, quite simply, that things have to be the way they are. If this should happen to mean that they are obliged to commit injustice, then they believe that others are responsible. The oath would not be a lie for someone who believes he can go along, and is willing to do so. But I know in advance, that I cannot accept and obey everything I would promise under that oath, then I would be guilty of a lie. For this reason I am convinced that it is still best , that I speak the truth, even if it costs me my life. for you will not find it written in any of the commandments of God or of the Church that a man is obliged under pain of sin to take an oath committing himself to obey whatever might be commanded of him by a secular ruler.

Even as I write these words with my hands in chains, I still find that much better than if my will were in chains. Neither prison, nor chains nor sentence of death can separate me from the love of God, can rob a man of his faith and his free will.'

Another World War Two conscientious objector was also remembered at the service.

Josef Mayr-Nusser (27 December 1910 - 24 February 1945) was an Italian Roman Catholic who served as the President of the Saint Vincent de Paul Conference of the Bolzano division as well as a member of Catholic Action. He is known best for refusing to recite the Hitler oath after he was drafted as a Nazi soldier and was sentenced to death at the Dachau concentration camp; he died en route to the camp in 1945.

Pope Francis approved his beatification on 8 July 2016 and he will be beatified in Bolzano on 18 March 2017.

The service was followed by the Peace Walk from Westminster Cathedral to the London Peace Pagoda in Battersea Park (See: www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=30693)

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