The Portal January 2019 | Page 9

THE P RTAL January 2019 Page 9 Catholic Social Teaching World Peace Day Thoughts on World Peace Day from Fr Ashley Beck W e are celebrating the season of Christmas, and one of the great theological themes is peace. This is because of what the angels sang to the shepherds in Luke’s account of the birth of Our Lord; also one of the prophetic titles we apply to the Lord, to the Messiah, is Prince of Peace. This series of articles is about Catholic Social teaching, and peace is one of the areas of human life which we address through its insights. A few months ago St Paul VI was canonised by the present Holy Father - Paul, of course, noted for his warm and welcoming approach to Anglicans. Just over fifty years ago, at the beginning of 1968, he initiated for Catholics an annual World Peace Day, a special Day of Prayer for peace in the world. 1 January, the Octave day of Christmas, is now kept in our calendars as the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God; it also commemorates Our Lord’s circumcision after his birth, which was formerly the main focus of the feast. The pope made this great feast day World Peace day each year, drawing on the theme of peace in our celebration of Christmas. In this country New Year’s Day has never been marked as a big religious celebration, although it is good to begin the new civil year by coming to Mass (and Midnight Masses for New Year are becoming increasingly popular), so here we actually transfer the observance to a Sunday later in January (this year 20 th ). Our Catholic Peace organisation Pax Christi (www. paxchristi.org.uk) produces excellent material each year, and some parishes have a second collection to support the organisation’s work. Sadly many parishes can’t be bothered to observe it at all; perhaps this is because what we teach as Catholics about peace challenges others in society and sets us at odds with other people, and often we don’t like to be different. Each year the Pope produces a special message for World Peace Day. These are readily accessible from www.vatican.va and over the years the messages have been an important part of papal teaching – sometimes their importance has been overlooked. For example, Pope Benedict XVI’s first World Peace Day message at the beginning of 2006, made it clear that nuclear deterrent policies are not acceptable in terms of Catholic teaching: ‘What can be said, too, about those governments which count on nuclear arms as a means of ensuring the security of their countries? Along with countless persons of good will, one can state that this point of view is not only baneful but also completely fallacious. In a nuclear war there would be no victors, only victims. The truth of peace requires that all — whether those governments which openly or secretly possess nuclear arms, or those planning to acquire them— agree to change their course by clear and firm decisions, and strive for a progressive and concerted nuclear disarmament.’ In other words, the policies are a pack of lies. A message of peace for the world – but not a comforting one for the leadership of countries like the UK, the United States or Russia. Perhaps because of this the message got very little publicity at the time, and even now lots of people don’t know about it. The pope’s message not only helps us understand Catholic teaching about peace; it helps us understand more about Benedict XVI. World Peace Day is important. A Happy New Year to you all.