Celebrating Peace Sunday - 16 January

Talks at Masses, Peace Sunday reflections and a collection for Pax Christi England and Wales are among the initiatives marking Peace Sunday this weekend. In Coventry, Ann Farr of Pax Christi will be speaking at Masses in St Patrick's Church, Coventry. At least another three Coventry churches are marking the day and there is a display of Peace Sunday resources and Pax Christi Prayer Cards in the Chapel of Unity at Coventry Cathedral. Pax Christi member Anne Dodd, who will be giving a talk at the end of each Mass in her Abingdon parish in Portsmouth diocese, said: "I hope to convey that peacemaking is a central part of traditional Catholic belief."

Middlesbrough Justice and Peace has organised a talk by Aisling Griffin, Pax Christi's Education worker on Saturday 15 January with copy in parish newsletters about liturgy ideas and permission to take up collections. A Peace Sunday Reflection service is being led by members in Wrexham. A Peace Banner is being placed on the pulpit and special bidding prayers and prayer cards have been organised by the Bromsgrove Justice and Peace Group in Birmingham Archdiocese. The proceeds of the second collection are being sent to Pax Christi.

In London, at Holy Apostles in Pimlico, the children of Westminster Cathedral Primary School are preparing a Peace Liturgy, there will be a Peace Sunday Bidding Prayer and an Action Prayer in the newsletter at each Mass and online promoting Pax Christi. Fr Pat Browne's sermon at Holy Apostles will focus on the Pope's Message for Peace. On the Pax Christi website, the Holy Apostles Folk Group, sing 'Peace Perfect Peace'. Pat Gaffney, a former Director of Pax Christi England and Wales, will be bringing prayer cards and leaflets to her parish of Southwark Cathedral. All resources can be downloaded from Pax Christi's website.

In his message to parishes for Peace Sunday 2022, the Pax Christi National President, Archbishop Malcolm McMahon of Liverpool, says, "we are all conscious of the need to restore and rebuild our communities here and around the world, accepting that we need new ways of working and relating to each other. He urged practical support of Pax Christi's peacework, saying, "the Christian message of peace, through reconciliation, justice and nonviolence, can offer hope and direction in these times." The theme of 'Education, work and dialogue between generations: tools for building lasting peace,' has been taken from Pope Francis' World Peace Day message on 1 January. Francis felt, "all can work together to build a more peaceful world, starting from the hearts of individuals and relationships in the family, then within society and with the environment, and all the way up to relationships between peoples and nations."

Parishes are asked to print out the liturgy booklet which includes ready-to-use penitential prayers, homily reflections by Fr Rob Esdaile, and bidding prayers, as well as organise a collection. "Peace Sunday invites us to celebrate and commit to a journey together to the Christian tradition of peacemaking and to reject the logic of violence," says Fr Rob Esdaile of Thames Ditton parish in Arundel and Brighton Diocese, who writes Pax Christi's materials for parishes. He feels, "the call to inter-generational dialogue has a particular resonance as the Church walks together on the 'Synodal Path', and adds that, "I hope that in my own parish and in parishes around the country that art of listening to each other will help us all to become better witnesses to peace in our world."

Dioceses of Birmingham, Brentwood, Hexham and Newcastle and Southwark are among those urging that Peace Sunday 2022 is marked. Also, the Columbans and Passionists in their media. The National Justice and Peace Network, Westminster, and North-West Justice and Peace e-bulletins have also promoted the 16 January focus on peace.

Pax Christi England and Wales is a membership organisation - with an office in St Joseph's Centre, North London - hoping to regain momentum since last year's observance of Peace Sunday was so curtailed by Covid. Pax Christi relies on Peace Sunday donations to help fund its work, and those were down by 75 percent in 2021. This goes alongside providing materials for parishes, schools and families to explore their role in peacemaking. The Pax Christi England and Wales website offers, 'Activities & Prayers' pages for children's liturgies and for schools, and an 'Artists for Peace' project, inviting young people to create images, videos, graphics, that illustrate the link between peace and care of creation.

LINKS

Pax Christi Peace Sunday: https://paxchristi.org.uk/peace-sunday-2022/

Twitter: @PaxChristiYouth