Earlier this month, we received wonderful news that Archbishop John C. Wester, our keynote speaker at this year’s national conference and author of the pastoral letter, Living in the Light of Christ’s Peace: A Conversation Towards Nuclear Disarmament, has been nominated as the Arms Control Association’s Person of the Year. Pax Christi USA is encouraging our entire membership to vote in support of Archbishop Wester’s nomination. There are no requirements for voting: anyone can vote! Voting is happening NOW through January 12.
If you are part of a Pax Christi state chapter or region, a local group, religious community, parish, college or high school, we encourage you to circulate this information to your email lists and over social media. You can download the graphic we’re using to support Archbishop Wester here.
Pax Christi USA has been honored to partner with Archbishop Wester and the Santa Fe Archdiocese in support of his important pastoral letter and this opportunity is another way to elevate the message of nuclear disarmament and lift up our shared work for a world free of nuclear weapons.
Voting for Archbishop Wester would help:
- Enhance his credibility as a leader on nuclear weapons issues.
- Raise his profile and influence in the international arms control community, national and regional media, and with elected leaders, including the New Mexican congressional delegation and state politicians.
- Encourage the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to promote the issue of nuclear weapons disarmament.
- Increase readership of Archbishop Wester’s pastoral letter (available in English here and Spanish here).
- Galvanize our efforts and others in the Catholic Church in the U.S. and beyond, plus national and international interfaith leaders, toward nuclear disarmament. It would be the first time since 2008 that a faith leader was chosen.
- Bring more public attention to bear upon the Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories that are located within the Santa Fe Archdiocese, and in general the U.S.’s $2 trillion nuclear weapons modernization program.
- Help to institutionalize anti-nuclear weapons advocacy within the Santa Fe Archdiocese.
You can read the Arms Control Association’s newsletter here, with Archbishop Wester’s interview in the December issue.