August Hiroshima/Nagasaki Commemorations: Parish supports and Massachusetts Events

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Parish Supports for August 9

As an outgrowth of its recent Faith Leaders Summit series, the PCAN group (Pax Christi New England Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons) is offering some homily talking points and Prayers of the Faithful for Sunday, August 9, the anniversary of the Nagasaki bombing, which falls on a Sunday this year.

One of the panelists in our fourth session, Father Stephen Newton, Executive Director of (AUSCP) the Association of US Catholic Priests, suggested encouraging priests to preach about nuclear abolition that day. PCAN developed the resources, with input from AUSCP, and these points and prayers are now featured on the AUSCP webpage:

Events August 6

A few commemorations are planned around the state for the commemoration of the bombings in Hiroshima (August 6) and Nagasaki (August 9), with Pax Christi members participating:

You Can’t Build Nuclear Bombs and Care for the Planet – Worcester August 6

Date/Time: Thursday August 6th @ 6:30pm to 8:30pm

Place: Elm Park, Worcester, MA; parking at St. Spyridon

This Hiroshima Commemoration is presented by the Center for Nonviolent Solutions with the theme: “You Can’t Build Nuclear Weapons and Care for the Planet”

The program will include the Worcester Peace Choir singing special arrangements of songs of peace and justice including Finlandia (Song of Peace) by Jean Sibelius. Everyone will be encouraged to join the Choir for many songs including Pete Seger’s “Where have All the Flowers Gone.”

The program will also include Mountain River Taiko, a multi-generational Japanese drumming ensemble that has been sharing their lobe of taiko for over 10 years.

Massachusetts State Senator Robyn Kennedy, and Mayor Joseph Petty will also participate and Reverend Aaron of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Worcester will offer an ecumenical prayer. A peace message from the Mayor of Hiroshima will be shared.

The program will also feature a demonstration of Shintaido (translated as “New Body Way”), a unique system of movement, physical conditioning, and personal expression developed to strip away the combat-focus of martial arts to create a modern path for human connection, peace and self discovery.

Participants will be encouraged to add a prayer or message of peace to a lantern shade and the program will conclude with a traditional lantern floating ceremony.

The Danger of Nuclear War is Greater than Ever – Holyoke, August 6

Date/Time: Thursday August 6TH @ 4:30pm

Place: Mont Marie Cemetery Gardens, Holyoke, MA (Across from Mont Marie Senior Residence, 36 Lower Westfield Rd.)

Co-sponsored by: Greater Springfield Campaign Nonviolence, Pax Christi Western Massachusetts, JustFaith Ministries, the Agape Community, Sisters of St. Joseph of Springfield, Pioneer Valley Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), and the Western Massachusetts Back from the Brink (BftB) hub.

Featuring:

  • Welcome and opening prayer
  • Campaign Nonviolence
    Dramatic reading of: “Original Child Bomb,” by Thomas Merton
  • Keynote address: Ira Helfand, PSR, IPPNW, ICAN, BftB
  • Call to action: Mayors for Peace/Hiroshima-Nagasaki Seeds Project
  • Closing prayers (New England Peace Pagoda, Leverett)

The event will be held outdoors, rain or shine. Bring a lawn chair. Parking on site. For more information contact Deacon Bill Toller (413) 478-5201

For other events around the state, visit Massachusetts Peace Action.

Pax Christi New England Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (PCAN) – Early Summer Update

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PCAN had an active and productive spring, producing the Faith Leaders Dialogue Sessions (see below) over May and June. Now we move into the months of commemorating nuclear violence from the past: the Trinity Commemoration in July and the 1945 Japan bombings in August. Here’s an update on our activities, a registration opportunity for the Trinity Commemoration in New Mexico (virtual option), and a link to a timely film from the late Daniel Ellsberg.

Faith Leaders Summit Dialogue Sessions

Inspired by the leadership of Archbishop John Wester, who published a seminal pastoral letter over four years ago and has organized the Partnership for a World Without Nuclear Weapons, PCAN organized and produced a virtual summit, in four 90-minute sessions, each featuring five to seven Catholic and other faith leaders as presenters and moderators sharing their views on how best to activate and mobilize a great many people of faith to work actively for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

Videos of the sessions are now available on the PCAN page of our website and on PCAN’s YouTube channel. We encourage all to share them widely and to subscribe to our channel!

PCAN joins the Partnership for a World Without Nuclear Weapons (PWNW)

PCAN is pleased to announce its acceptance as an affiliate of PWNW, an organization founded in 2023 by the four dioceses of five prelates dedicated to the abolition of nuclear weapons.

They are: Most Reverend John C. Wester, Archbishop of Santa Fe and Most Reverend Paul D. Etienne, Archbishop of Seattle, who have made several pilgrimages to the Japanese nuclear bombing sites, along with Most Reverend Peter Nakamura Michiaki, Archbishop of Nagasaki, Most Reverend Alexis Mitsuru Shirahama, S.S., Bishop of Hiroshima, and Most Reverend Joseph Mitsuaki Takami, P.S.S., Archbishop Emeritus of Nagasaki. 

We look forward to working with PWNW to advance their mission of remembering the destruction caused by nuclear weapons, journeying together to support nuclear victims, and protecting against nuclear harm.

Global Nobel Laureates Assembly on Artificial Intelligence and Nuclear War/Rome, July 14-16

This global convening of Nobel Laureates, to be held at The Pontifical Villas of Castel Gandolfo, Vatican territory, is structured to combine the depth of closed scientific deliberation with the reach of high-level public engagement — culminating in the Rome Declaration. The objectives are to assess risk, assess governance, build a global consensus, and develop new leadership.  PCAN member Dr. Ira Helfand will attend. Keep checking the website for streaming opportunities.

81st Commemoration of the Trinity Test/Register for In-Person or Virtual Attendance

On July 19 at St. Michael’s High School in Santa Fe, local faith leaders, nuclear disarmament advocates, environmental organizations, and community members will gather to commemorate the 81st anniversary of the Trinity Test, the world’s first atomic bomb detonation, which took place in New Mexico on July 16, 1945. The interfaith vigil will call for nuclear disarmament and renewed action toward peace and environmental justice.

Keynote speaker is Most Reverend John C. Wester, Archbishop of Santa Fe. The event is organized by the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, Back from the Brink New Mexico Hub, Interfaith Power and Light New Mexico, Nuclear Watch New Mexico, Soka Gakkai International-USA, and the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium.

Event Details
Date: Sunday, July 19, 2026
Time: 2:30pm (Please note that 2:30 pm MT would be 4:30 pm ET, 3:30 pm CT, and 1:30 pm PT)
Location: St. Michael’s High School (100 Siringo Rd., Santa Fe, NM); virtual attendance also available
Registration and livestream information: bit.ly/2026-Trinity

An Ordinary Insanity: Daniel Ellsberg narrates a powerful wakeup documentary

Many in the PCAN Community have suggested this 29-minute video as a good introduction to the problems posed by nuclear weapons and the compelling rationale for eliminating them. Free on YouTube!

Call for new members

PCAN is always seeking new members! We need “workers in the field,” and welcome all who wish to put their energies toward the work of eliminating nuclear weapons. Some of our work involves focusing the attention of the Catholic Church–clergy and laypeople–on the issue of nuclear weapons, but we do plenty of other work, and we welcome people of all faiths (or none) to join. We are especially in need of people with technological skills, but we also need people who will pray, study, lobby their legislators and dioceses/parishes, and work their networks to get the word out. If you are interested, please contact the PCAN team at PaxCan2030@gmail.com.