Pax Christi UK members were asked to push January 2020’s Peace Sunday in their parishes at last Saturday’s Annual General Meeting in London. Nearly half of Pax Christi’s income of around £205,000 comes from Peace Sunday, but donations declined in 2019. They actually halved in Northampton, Nottingham and Portsmouth dioceses. Pax Christi is very appreciative of the generosity of many parishes and it was reported that some of the shortfall was made up however by a doubling of on-line sales of resources over the past year.
Donations to Pax Christi UK for Peace Sunday remain the main source of its income. Every year Pax Christi promotes the Holy Father’s World Peace Day Message on the second Sunday in Ordinary Time. This is in the Liturgical Calendar cycle of prayer. Pax Christi sends resource materials to every parish to help them mark and celebrate the day and raise donations for peacemaking. The money raised goes to support a small team of office staff and a large volunteer network to campaign for and promote peace, and to provide peace education, locally and nationally. “Pax Christi members also offer to speak at Mass in their area” says Pax Christi Director Theresa Alessandro and “marking Peace Sunday in a parish can support people to do something when they feel helpless or overwhelmed in the face of the violence and conflict that features so prominently in the news”. Pax Christi UK president, Archbishop Malcolm McMahon of Liverpool fully supports the appeal every year and encourages the use of Pax Christi envelopes. He celebrated an uplifting Mass at the end of Saturday’s AGM.
Around 80 Pax Christi UK members and supporters attended the AGM of the Catholic peace movement in Britain. They included people from the dioceses of Birmingham, Liverpool, Leeds, Nottingham, Portsmouth, Salford, Shrewsbury, Southampton and Westminster, and two from Pax Christi in Scotland. Also, peace activists Bruce Kent and Valerie Flessati, Anne Peacey (National J&P Network), Chris Cole (Drone Wars) and Patricia and Michael Pulham (Christian CND).
They heard Chair Holly Ball welcome the new Director Theresa Alessandro, who said she was “really enjoying” her new job. Theresa highlighted that Pax Christi’s networks are Catholic, ecumenical and inter-faith, and in the near future she will be taking forward the issue of morally responsible investment in Israel and Palestine, and Pax Christi International statements on the European Elections ‘The Europe We Want’, and on nuclear disarmament. Pax Christi has representation at the United Nations and the European Union. Valerie Flessati and Pat Gaffney are taking forward the international Catholic Nonviolence Initiative and met last month in Rome with the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and with Pope Francis himself. Valerie said, “it would be wonderful if Pope Francis one day produces an Encyclical on Nonviolence”.
In the afternoon, Pax Christi presented peace awards to four people who have been prominent supporters of peace: Fr Joe Ryan, who has been a staunch supporter of Justice and Peace in Westminster Diocese, Peter van den Dungen, who has worked to set up peace trails and peace museums, and teenagers Anna and Eleanor Marshall from Hallam Diocese, who have organised school events to promote justice, peace and ecological awareness. Fr Joe was cheered on by Bishop Nicholas Hudson, auxiliary in Westminster, and a large group of his parishioners from St John Vianney in North London. He highlighted his work on Migrants and the Climate Crisis and thanked Westminster for investing time and money in the diocesan J&P Commission. Peter reflected that, “nothing is more important than peace education but we have war and military museums!”. He was very proud of helping to set up a peace museum in the Iranian capital of Tehran. Anna and Eleanor reported that their commitment comes from their faith - particularly Catholic Social Teaching - their parents Sheena and Andrew, and regular engagement with J&P activists.
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