Beginning 12:45, Wednesday 6th St. Luke’s Church (top of Bold Street)
Christians in Liverpool will again hold what has now become their annual ‘Walk of Witness’ through the City Centre to support the call of Pope Francis and other Church leaders to reject the use or possession of nuclear weapons.
On Ash Wednesday (6th March) a group of Christians and supporters will again gather in Liverpool to begin Lent with an expression of remorse and repentance for our government’s decision to renew the Trident nuclear weapon system. Unethical spending on armaments, especially indiscriminate nuclear weapons, and especially at a time of severe austerity cuts to support for the most vulnerable, and for the NHS, is an appallingly mistaken choice for which our society should be ashamed.
The event is organised by Liverpool members of Pax Christi, the International Catholic Peace Movement founded in 1945 to work for peace, reconciliation and the non-violent settlement of differences by negotiation, mutual respect, tolerance and compromise.
Participants are asked to assemble at 11.45am on the steps outside St Luke’s bombed Church at the top of Bold Street. The witness will start at 12noon, proceeding down Bold Street, stopping to reflect at the statue representing ‘Reconciliation’ in Concert Street, and then at the site of the old St Peter’s Church in Church Street, where Ashes, the traditional Christian symbol of repentance, will be distributed.
Proceeding along Lord Street, victims of all warfare, past and present, will be recalled, especially remembering the devastation suffered by the people of Liverpool during the Second World War. As Pope Francis has said, ‘War is madness……even today, after the second failure of another world war, perhaps one can speak of a third war, one fought piecemeal, with crimes, massacres, destruction’ (September 2014 on the commemoration of World War 1).
Our witness will end with prayers outside the Queen Elizabeth ll Law Courts,where a statement will be delivered underlining the illegality of the UK’s renewal of the Trident nuclear submarine programme. This modernisation involves an increase in destructive capability and represents a failure to observe the letter and spirit of Article 6 of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, signed by our country in 1968. Pope Francis reminded all countries of their responsibilities in his speech to the UN: ’There is an urgent need to work for a world free of nuclear weapons in full application of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, in letter and spirit, with the goal of complete prohibition of these weapons.’ (25th September 2015).
Our witness is led by Liverpool Pax Christi, in solidarity with the witness of other Christians outside the Ministry of Defence in Whitehall, London.
Merseyside Pax Christi member, Jan Harper, who will lead Liverpool’s protest, said:
‘I agree with Pope Francis that ‘weapons of mass destruction, particularly nuclear weapons, create nothing but a false sense of security’. (Vatican 10th November 2017). ‘We need to wake up to the threat of nuclear weapons, which is almost too horrific to imagine: just one Trident submarine can create 192 Hiroshimas. We should be people of hope, and join with the 122 countries that signed an historic international agreement at the UN in July 2017, stating that nuclear weapons are ’not only immoral, but must be considered an illegal means of warfare’.
Newsdesks: Jan Harper is available for telephone interview, including during the event 11.45 am to 13.00 on 07746 919915, and can be contacted by email: janharper1@yahoo.co.uk We intend to make available video film from the event as it happens.