by Carol Burns, Pax Christi
Disarming the Heart
A liturgy of repentance in a Nuclear Age
An Ash Wednesday service will be held on Wednesday 6th March at 12.30 outside Holy Trinity Church on Boar Lane in Leeds.
Since 1982, Christians have assembled on Ash Wednesday at the Ministry of Defence to pray for peace and a conversion of hearts and minds away from nuclear war preparations, the destruction caused by nuclear testing and the wasted resources that are invested in nuclear weapons and in all weapons.
Over those years services have been held in Liverpool and Glasgow and people from peace groups from different parts of the country have travelled to London.
This year 2025 the Leeds Pax Christi group are organising a prayer service in Leeds.
Ash Wednesday is the beginning of a time of repentance in the Church calendar and we will be praying for all those involved in nuclear war preparations to repent and have a change of heart.
We also recognise that we can all do more to speak out about nuclear war preparations and to prayer to have the courage to carry on with our opposition.
We are inspired by Pope Francis in 2023 in his Urbi et Orbi’ message where he said:
“The human heart is weak and impulsive; if we find instruments of death in our hands, sooner or later we will use them. And how can we even speak of peace, when arms production, sales and trade are on the rise?”
All are welcome to join us on 6th March