THE
P RTAL
February 2019
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Catholic Social Teaching
Peace Sunday
Fr Ashley Beck on peace and the Catholic Church
L ast month
on the Second Sunday in Ordinary time (20 January) the Church in England and
Wales kept Peace Sunday, a special Day of Prayer for Peace in the world, as we do every year. In much of
the Catholic world, this day of prayer is kept on New Year’s Day but it makes sense here to observe the day
on a Sunday.
The day of prayer was initiated in the late 1960s
by Pope St Paul VI (who had a high regard for the
Anglican Communion) and each year the pope
issues a special message for the day.
These are significant but are often
not noticed: the first one from Pope
Benedict XVI in 2006 significantly
strengthened the Catholic Church’s
condemnation of nuclear deterrent
policies. The theme of the Holy Father’s message
for this year is Good Politics is at the Service of Peace
and he challenges politicians to look at how they
carry out their responsibilities, criticising those who
fail to do so.
We see this in the teachings of popes since Benedict
XV back then, but particularly since Pope St John
XXIII’s 1963 encyclical Pacem in Terris and the
witness of the Second Vatican Council - and the
teaching is continuing to develop as the Holy
Spirit guides the Church’s Magisterium.
In the years after the council, at the same
time as the annual Day of Prayer for Peace
was initiated by the pope, the peace organisation
Pax Christi was founded and it has been at the
forefront of the Church’s witness against war and
violence since then. In England and Wales Pax Christi
produces excellent material each year for parishes and
schools to use on Peace Sunday and some parishes
support its work by having a second collection.
He lists political ‘vices, which undermine the ideal
of an authentic democracy, [and] bring disgrace to
public life and threaten social harmony. We think of
corruption in its varied forms: the misappropriation
of public resources, the exploitation of individuals,
the denial of rights, the flouting of community
rules, dishonest gain, the justification of power by
force or the arbitrary appeal to raison d’état and the
refusal to relinquish power. To which we can add
xenophobia, racism, lack of concern for the natural
environment, the plundering of natural resources
for the sake of quick profit and contempt for those
forced into exile.’ (The whole message is available
on www.vatican.va). Work for peace is often demanding; many
churchgoers simply aren’t interested and don’t think it
should be the Church’s concern; also Christian peace
activists who take part in peaceful demonstrations
at military installations and similar places often get
arrested. Details of Pax Christi’s work can be found on
www.paxchristi.org.uk.
Also last month the Pope, in his annual address to
diplomats in Rome, accredited to the Holy See (also
available from the same website), identified populist
nationalism as a real problem in the world, and we see
signs of that in so many places at the moment. The Church’s developing teaching about peace is an
integral part of what Catholic Social Teaching is about;
while there is much about the international situation
which is depressing, it does give us an opportunity to
witness to authentic Christian teaching.
As I have pointed out in earlier articles in this
series Catholic teaching about peace has developed
significantly since the horrors of the Great War a
century ago, partly in response to the sheer brutality
of modern warfare. For details of the new MA degree
in Catholic Social Teaching at
St Mary’s University, Twickenham,
contact Fr Beck on
[email protected]
Catholics from an Anglican background have a lot
to offer to the Catholic peace movement. The witness
against war of groups like the Anglican Pacifist
Fellowship, Christian CND, the Jubilee Group and
CAAT (Clergy Against the Arms Trade) are part of
our tradition.