Peace Sunday 2021 marked with record number of events

Pat Gaffney, Vice President of Pax Christi, writes:

Overcoming the constraints of Covid-19, Pax Christi England and Wales has been overwhelmed with the variety of ways in which Peace Sunday 2021 has been celebrated. For many of the 54 years since the World Peace Day message was introduced Pax Christi has worked to share the message with parishes and communities throughout England and Wales. This year, the team has risen to the challenge to be more imaginative and innovative, possibly extending Peace Sunday outreach this year.

A national on-line service was held on 16 January, with around 160 participants including visitors from Palestine, Uruguay, Japan. From the comfort of their homes or community rooms, those taking part heard extracts from the message, A culture of care as a path to peace, related to some very uncomfortable contemporary realities: from Covid-19 to the arms trade and care for the environment. A video entitled Nonviolence in Action illustrated experiences of Pax Christi partners including Pietro Ameglio from SERPAJ Mexico, who spoke about the need to be 'disobedient' in the face of injustice and violence, Rania Murra from Palestine, who reflected that Palestinians live nonviolence through their steadfastness and Sarah Thompson, former Executive Director Christian Peacemaker Teams who suggested that we see nonviolence as repairing relationships and institutions. Pax Christi Chair Ann Farr led the closing prayer and blessing which included a plea that we learn to build bridges, not walls, relationships of trust rather than rivalries - sentiments that speak to many world contexts. The service was led by Pat Gaffney, vice-president of Pax Christi. One religious community who joined commented, "It was very reflective and prayerful. It was wonderful that so many took part in it and seeing the great work that Pax Christi is doing."

Peace Sunday itself saw messages, photographs, quotations, hopes shared on a Twitter storm, Facebook and Instagram. This followed a week of promotion of on-line resources that included videos, a hymn from the music group at Holy Apostle parish, Pimlico, and children's liturgy from the group Colour and Shape as well family friendly activities to the traditional resources of quotations, prayers, articles and homilies prepared by Fr Rob Esdaile. Giving the homily at his own parish, Our Lady of Lourdes, Thames Ditton, Fr Rob drew on stories from his own life experience that illustrated the fragility of peace: from the Cuban missile crisis to Brexit and Covid-9.

The Leeds Justice and Peace Commission with Pax Christi Leeds hosted their own on-line service, Pathways to Peace for Earthlings which used the Earth Rise image as its central motif -the image of earth from space. The prayers and readings were chosen to reflect the way the world peace message shows how issues of peace, justice and care of creation are woven together. A moving video of the Michael Rosen poem, These are the Hands, was offered from the Yorkshire Commoners Choir. Around 54 people took part in the service.

Pax Christi members from York, Oxford, Cambridge, Abingdon, London, Birmingham and Coventry reported good news of parishes drawing on the Peace Sunday resources in Masses on the day. One member wrote to her parish priest asking that her monthly contribution to the parish be offered as part of a collection to Pax Christi. Peace Sunday is traditionally the day when parishes have collections for the work of Pax Christi.

Pax Christi was greatly encouraged by the support of Diocesan Bishops and communication teams in helping to promote the day and the resources. In a message to parishes, Bishop David Oakley from Northampton Diocese wrote: "Peace Sunday is an opportunity for all of us to reflect upon this great fruit of God's Spirit. Jesus teaches us in the Beatitudes, Blessed are the Peacemakers… no disciple of Jesus is exempted".

LINKS

https://paxchristi.org.uk/peace-sunday-2021/.

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