London: Interfaith peace services on Bl Franz Jagerstatter anniversary, Nagasaki Day

Prayers at the Peace Pagoda - ICN/JS

On Sunday, 9th August, Pax Christi held their annual commemoration of the life and witness of Franz Jägerstätter in the church of Our Most Holy Redeemer and St Thomas More in Chelsea. Jagerstatter was executed in Berlin in 1943 for his refusal to fight for the Nazi regime. He was a conscientious objector who openly criticised the Nazi party and saw it as his religious duty to adhere to the principle of nonviolence.

From a Berlin prison in 1943 Franz Jägerstätter wrote: "Even if I write these words with my hands in chains, I still find that much better than if my will were in chains. Neither prison, nor chains, nor sentence of death, can rob a person of their faith and their free will." Franz Jägerstätter was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007.

Dr Valerie Flessati, Honorary Vice-President of Pax Christi and Colin Kerr, Treasurer, were among those who spoke at the service. Colin Kerr, in his reflection drew a link between the martyrdoms of St Paul and Jägerstätter, and called on us to reflect on the sacrifice and moral determination of both, and the family and friends who are left behind.

"Acts of conscience are never purely personal acts; in fact, they are anything but personal. They impact on those around especially on those who are in close relationship," Colin said.

St Paul and Jägerstätter knew that their sacrifice would be felt by those who loved them, but could not in conscience betray their faith. Jägerstätter, under pressure to submit to the Hitler Oath for the sake of his children and wife, said it would be better for him to die in his faith than his children to have a collaborator father.

The service was an interfaith gathering of Catholics, Buddhists and other nonviolence activists. All joined in lighting candles at the front of the Church, in a symbol of opposition to war. The event itself called on us to reflect on the atrocities being carried out today, and to remember other conscientious objectors who have died steadfast in following their beliefs.

After the service, participants carrying banners, processed to the London Peace Pagoda in Battersea Park by the Thames, for a ceremony marking 81 years since the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki.

At the Peace Pagoda, Rev Nagase Shonin of the Nipponzan Myohoji Buddhist Order, who has served as the guardian of the London Peace Pagoda for decades, led the water sprinkling ceremony and blessing in memory of the more than 250,000 who lost their lives in Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The Lotus Sutra was chanted while participants offered incense.

In attendance were representatives of the Japan Anti Nuclear Movement, CND and spiritual leaders of Christian and Catholic communities.

Among those who spoke during the ceremony were Father Dominic Robinson SJ, Chair of Westminster Diocese Justice and Peace, Rev David Walsh, Vicar of All Saints,Battersea, Rev Fergus O'Connor from Golders Green Unitarians, Gandhi Foundation and Mr Shiego Kobayashi of Japan Anti Nuclear Movement UK.

The ceremony ended with a recitation by award-winning actor Michael Mears from his play The Priest's Tale, based on the diaries of Fr Wilhelm, a Jesuit priest who survived the bombing, and a song for peace by Paul Steele.