SAVE THE DATE! Online Forum — “Building a World Without Nuclear Weapons: An Urgent Imperative” JANUARY 27, 2024, 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm ET

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“To love our enemies means we have to begin the process of ending our preparations to kill them, including our preparations to drop nuclear weapons on them.”

—Living in the Light of Christ’s Peace: A Conversation Toward Nuclear Disarmament
A Pastoral Letter by Most Reverend John C. Wester, Archbishop of Santa Fe
January 11, 2022, page 16

As we approach the second anniversary of Archbishop Wester’s pastoral letter, cited above, and the third anniversary of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) entering into force, Pax Christi Massachusetts is planning an online forum on January 27, 2024, 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm ET, entitled Building a World Without Nuclear Weapons: An Urgent Imperative, to examine the existential threat and moral implications of nuclear weapons, to enter into dialogue about solutions, and to urge prayer and action from individuals and groups.

Registration details are still being developed, but three powerful speakers have already been secured: Archbishop Wester; Dr. Ira Helfand, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW)/Back from the Brink, and Marie Dennis, Catholic Nonviolence Initiative/Pax Christi International. Claire Schaeffer-Duffy of SS. Francis and Therese Catholic Worker, Worcester, will serve as moderator.

We thank and welcome our many co-sponsors for this forum! You can find them all listed here.

Keep watching www.paxchristima.org for the registration opportunity! 

If you have questions about the event, please email [email protected].

Northampton Peace Activists Initiate Fast for Palestine, and Invite all to Join

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Calling on their neighbors and friends to join them, a coalition of Northampton peace activists initiated a fast for Palestine on December 12, 2023. Pax Christi MA is supporting this effort, which is described in this press release. The fast will be maintained until all of the area’s elected officials support two main demands:

1.      A permanent ceasefire in Gaza and the West Bank.
2.      Enforcement by the President and Congress of the Leahy Law with respect to the Israel Defense Forces.  This law prohibits shipment of U.S. weapons to gross violators of human rights.
 
Click here for a descriptive flyer, which includes more background information and contact information for Central/Western MA legislators.
 
Neighbors and friends who wish to show solidarity are invited to join the fasters as outlined in the flyer, join in some modified form (e.g., one day per week) and/or support the fasters with prayer.

Stopping the Genocide in Palestine: A Conversation with Craig Mokhiber, December 9, 2023

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This webinar, presented by PCAP (Palestinian Christian Alliance for Peace) and FOSNA (Friends of Sabeel North America), was co-sponsored by Pax Christi MA.

Archbishop John Wester on Dorothy Day and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

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Archbishop John C. Wester of Santa Fe, author of Living in the Light of Christ’s Peace: A Conversation Toward Nuclear Disarmament, was in New York City during the last week of November for the Second Meeting of State Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons at the United Nations. While there he offered a Mass at the Church of the Divine Savior on the anniversary of the death of Dorothy Day, November 29. A small but enthusiastic contingent from Pax Christi MA was in attendance. Archbishop Wester’s homily is linked above. Here is the link to his letter, co-signed with other bishops, to the UN meeting

Statement in Support of the Second Meeting of State Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

Archbishop Wester’s homily, Mass at Church of the Divine, 11/29/2023

Attending the Mass from Massachusetts were, from left, Christopher Spicer Hankle, Pat Ferrone, Karen Brennan, Linda Taylor, Archbishop John Wester, Madeline Labriola (Rhode Island), and Peter Metz. Also attending but not in the photo: Claire Schaeffer-Duffy, Scott Schaeffer-Duffy, and Dr. Ira Helfand.