The peace campaigner Bruce Kent has called for the Church to mark the United Nations’ international peace day on 21 September each year.
The UN established the date in 1981 for a 24-hour worldwide ceasefire. Kent, a retired priest and vice-president of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, the Movement for the Abolition of War and Pax Christi, made the suggestion at a Tablet event on peace activism and Catholic theology. Afterwards he told The Tablet that this would complement the Church’s observation of World Peace Day on 1 January, introduced by St Paul VI.
“In terms of Christian tradition, the notion of stopping war for just one day (and then why not another and another?) echoes medieval attempts to limit and restrict war, such as the ‘Truce of God’ which outlawed war for certain seasons of the year, such as the harvest, and the ‘Peace of God’ which prohibited attacks on certain groups of people, such as clergy.”
He called for the Church to recognise 21 September “as a day of prayer and action for peace”.
Pax Christi International designates the date as the start of its “Days of Nonviolence”, which runs until 2 October, the UN’s International Day of Nonviolence and the date of Gandhi’s birthday.
Responding to the appeal, a spokesperson for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales told The Tablet: “In communion with the Catholic Church worldwide and following the lead of the Holy Father, the bishops join Pope Francis for the world day of peace on 1 January every year. Soon after the Church in England and Wales holds its own Pax Christi Sunday.”
“Peace Sunday” is celebrated in England and Wales on the second Sunday in Ordinary Time, which this year fell on 16 January.
Kent, 92, was the general secretary and subsequently chair of CND between 1980 and 1990, and president of the International Peace Bureau from 1985 to 1992.
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