Pax Christi USA’s 50th Anniversary Conference Committee is pleased to announce that Archbishop John C. Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico will be the opening keynote speaker on Friday, August 5th of the 2022 Pax Christi USA 50th Anniversary National Conference.
With the announcement of Archbishop Wester as our opening keynote speaker, we would also like to invite people to now register for the conference and enjoy the early bird registration discount through April 1.
The 50th anniversary conference, which is scheduled to take place in Washington, D.C., August 5-7, 2022, coincides with the days of remembrance and lament for the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 6 and 9). Last month, Archbishop Wester released “Living in the Light of Christ’s Peace: A Conversation Toward Nuclear Disarmament,” a pastoral letter calling for nuclear disarmament.
“Archbishop John Wester’s call for an end to the arms race and for taking the necessary steps towards full nuclear disarmament comes from the voice of a good shepherd who pastors the place where nuclear weapons were first tested and continue to be developed and stockpiled,” stated Bishop John Stowe, OFM Conv., Bishop-President of Pax Christi USA. “We should all heed his voice and contribute to the process of disarmament through practicing nonviolence in our daily lives and advocating the end of nuclear weapons. In his address to the ambassadors accredited to the Holy See on January 10, the Holy Father re-iterated that even the possession of nuclear weapons is immoral. Archbishop Wester brings this teaching to the U.S. in a significant way.”
Pax Christi USA members have worked on nuclear disarmament at the local, state, national, and international levels for decades, dating back to our founding in 1972. Welcoming Archbishop Wester to the 50th Anniversary National Conference is both an acknowledgment of the work and legacy of the movement and a recommitment to the integration of nuclear disarmament with PCUSA’s other priorities, which include economic and racial justice, human rights and care of creation, the spirituality of nonviolence and peacemaking, and demilitarization and reconciliation with justice.
You can read more from Pax Christi USA’s press release on Archbishop Wester’s letter, “Living in the Light of Christ’s Peace: A Conversation Toward Nuclear Disarmament” last month.