We Celebrate Peace… and Commit to the Work Yet to Come

How inspired and inspiring were the messages of unity coming from the steps of the United States Capitol in Washington D.C. this week!

Did you know that the 59th Inaugural National Prayer Service on Thursday featured two vowed women religious? Sr. Carol Keehan helped get the Affordable Care Act passed under the Obama Administration; and Sr. Norma Pimentel is the director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley and has been working among immigrants at the border in Texas.

Dear people, our/your human presence at the boundaries makes a difference!

On the peacekeeping front, at the United Nations in New York City, signs of historic change lit up the night sky as the photos by Seth Sheldon capture. One message reads: “Nuclear Weapons Now Illegal 22.Jan.2021”. A second sign reads: “Nuclear Weapons. Always Immoral. Now Illegal.”

We are one step closer to the elimination of nuclear weapons as the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) is entered into force on January 22, 2021. We always knew nuclear weapons were immoral and now they are illegal under international law.

This is such a powerful moment in the work that Sr. Ardeth Platte OP and I have been involved in: raising awareness about the devastating human cost of nuclear warfare, and the outrageous economic machine that supports nuclear weapons in our world.

We join with two thirds of the world as we celebrate the treaty’s Entry Into Force.

While the United States hasn’t supported this Treaty, voices from around the world are sending a reminder that they are watching and waiting –no longer so patiently — to see action.

The USA has been obligated under an earlier Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons since 1970, along with four other countries (England, France, China, Russia), to pursue nuclear disarmament “in good faith” “at an early date”. This new Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is an expression of the impatience of non-nuclear states with the failure of states who signed the original treaty to meet their obligation to disarm.
Read more https://www.grdominicans.org/we-celebrate-peace-and-commit-to-the-work-yet-to-come/