By Katie Vasquez
The pews at Church of Our Saviour in Manhattan were filled with people advocating for the same cause: an end to the use of nuclear weapons.
Their prayers hoping to guide world leaders who are at the United Nations the week of March 3 to discuss a new treaty that would prohibit them..
Archbishop John Wester of the Diocese of Santa Fe, New Mexico celebrated the Tuesday evening Mass on March 4. He is one of the leading voices in the nation calling for the abolition of these weapons. Archbishop Wester discussed the dangers and morality of these devices, along with how the church is engaging with the meetings at the United Nations this week.
This will be the third gathering of states parties on the treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons. World leaders will discuss how to eliminate the weapons, provide victim assistance and environmental remediation.
So far 94 states have signed the treaty and 73 have ratified or acceded it. Several Catholic groups including the Dorothy Day Guild, Pax Christi New York, and the New York Catholic Worker helped to organize this Mass to coincide with the discussions.
Members say hearing the guidance of Archbishop Wester brings motivation to their work.
“I think Archbishop Wester is drawing our attention to both levels, both the high, high level work at the Church and diplomatic work, but also the importance of the local level in organizing Catholics to see the dangers of these types of weapons,” said Kevin Ahern, the director of the Dorothy Day Center.
“He’s really articulated how the Church has evolved from accepting deterrence to releasing nuclear weapons are immoral and how we can shift away from that,” explained Claire Schaeffer-Duffy, a member of the Catholic Worker movement.
“I would think that Catholics can work hard by educating. All of us need to educate ourselves on the issue,” said Archbishop Wester. “We really are in this false sense of security right now, in my opinion. Our young people, really, don’t remember the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, and they don’t have any real memory of the first arms race at all. And so it’s important for us to especially to educate our youth, but also educate all of us on the dangers of nuclear weapons,”
The Catholic groups there planned to hold other events throughout the week including a peaceful protest outside the United Nations on Wednesday, March 5.
They hope their voices will make a difference in ending the use of nuclear weapons.