Walking, talking, cycling, dancing and knitting for peace with Pax Christi

Never shying away from a challenge, Pax Christi members around the country are preparing for a week-long fundraising drive, #Pilgrimage4Peace, between 15 - 21 May...

With much reduced Peace Sunday income, due to Covid-19 restrictions on parishes, other ways of raising funds, spreading a message of peace and building community have to be found.

Matt Jeziorski, Executive Committee member, set out the challenge! Combining two interests, cycling and peace history, Matt is taking a 50 mile cycle ride on 15 May, International Conscientious Objector Day. Setting off from home in Warrington Matt plans to end his ride in Barrowford, Lancashire where two Catholic brothers, Tom and Peter Allen, are buried. Both were conscientious objectors in the First World War.

Others taking to their bikes are Sean Finlay from Wisbech, East Anglia, cycling a loop that takes in Walsingham and RAF Sculthorpe, carrying with him a poster of Pope Francis with a dove. Rachel Sweetman, staff member, will cycle 75 miles on one day, commemorating 75 years of Pax Christi's work. Tim Devereux, from Leeds plans a five day route covering 250 miles. It is especially poignant as it partly replicates a ride taken with his brother on the Camino some years ago. Sadly his brother died with Covid this year.

Not to be outdone, Pax Christi chair Ann Farr and Exec member Joan Sharples are knitting4peace, making beanie hats and scarves which will be sent to refugees via Care4Calais - getting sponsored while they knit. Pax Christi Administrator, Fausta Valentine, is calling on dancer friends to help teach basic routines during a ZOOM dance-a-thon on 15 May.

A week is not long enough for Bellerive FCJ college in Liverpool, they are holding a 'Month for Peace'! Exploring the lives of women peacemakers, including the founder of the order Marie Madeline, holding assemblies and making pledges for peace form part of this month. Their fundraising has an ecological element to it, as the students plant sunflower seeds in lockers that would have been thrown away. Archbishop Malcolm McMahon, Pax Christi' s President, will visit the school on 21 May.

Some political demands will be made during the week as Bruce Kent knocks on the door of Downing Street and the London Embassies of nuclear weapon states on 19 May. Just so they know why he is there, he will read out part of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (which they have not signed!) and hand in a letter urging them to do so. An eight mile walk through London on 18 May, led by Pat Gaffney, former Coordinator, will take in monuments and sites that highlight women and peace, starting with the the moving suffragette scroll in Christchurch Gardens, the 20 Century Martyrs at Westminster Abbey finishing at the Peace Pagoda in Battersea Park. Rev G Nagase, a Japanese Buddhist monk who helped to build the Pagoda in 1985, will join the walk.

While the whole project begins on 15 May it will continue into 2022 as former Pax Christi chair, Holly Ball, plans to visit every Catholic Cathedral in England during the year ahead.

Sponsorship has started to mount up, at the time of writing it has reached £4,500 but we need much more. As well as the financial support Pax Christi is receiving there is great solidarity and encouragement being shown by those who want to join in with some of the activities, those sending messages of support and those donating. As the country 'opens up' so too is the community of peacemakers 'opening up' , finding words, gestures and activities that shine a light on the work that is still to be done in creating a culture of peace.

You can support these efforts here: https://tinyurl.com/PaxDonate

Pat Gaffney is Vice President, Pax Christi