Women Peacemakers: Celebrating International Women's Day

On March 8th at 7pm, you are warmly invited to gather for an International Women's Day celebration that is both prayerful and theologically rich, rooted in the Church's growing reflection on Gospel nonviolence and the call to become peacemakers in a wounded world.

Taking inspiration from the 2026 World Peace Day message of Pope Leo: "Towards an 'unarmed and disarming' peace," the evening will explore what it means for women of faith to witness to Christ's peace in contexts often shaped by conflict, polarisation and fear. Rather than understanding peace simply as the absence of war, we will reflect on peace as a deeply Christian vocation: a way of living grounded in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

In recent decades, Catholic theology has increasingly reclaimed Gospel nonviolence not as a marginal ideal, but as central to discipleship. From the Sermon on the Mount to the Cross, Christ reveals a power that does not dominate but transforms. His refusal to meet violence with violence challenges what theologians describe as the "myth of redemptive violence" - the assumption that force can ultimately save us. To journey towards an "unarmed and disarming" peace, then, is to allow our hearts, relationships, and institutions, to be reshaped by this deeper logic of mercy and justice.

In my role as National Chaplain to Pax Christi E&W, I will be hosting the event. Drawing on Scripture, Catholic social teaching, and our experience, I will be joined by a distinguished panel: Christabel McCooey, barrister and tribunal judge, committed to holding power to account. Siobhan Burke, tutor at St Bede's Pastoral Centre in York, who offers accompaniment and formation to lay leaders, and MaryAnne Francalanza FCJ, Director of the FCJ Centre for Spirituality and EcoJustice in London, whose work brings contemplation and social engagement into fruitful dialogue.

Together, they will help us consider how women's wisdom, attentiveness and moral courage can contribute to building communities marked by justice, reconciliation, and Gospel nonviolence.

All are very welcome to join this evening of prayer, reflection and dialogue. Bring your wisdom, intuition, and holy attentiveness, as we reclaim the wisdom of redemptive nonviolence in a world crying out for healing and hope.

You can register to attend here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/22Qt5xzrTTaUIw9Z4bPSSA#/registration