Leadership Team thanks Archbishop John Wester for prophetic stance on nuclear weapons

Acting on our Critical Concern to deepen and assimilate more consciously the practice of nonviolence, the Institute Leadership Team sent a letter to Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico thanking him for his pastoral letter, Living in the Light of Christ’s Peace: A Conversion Toward Nuclear Disarmament, issued on January 11, 2022. Archbishop Wester’s reflection on the role New Mexico played in the development of nuclear weapons provides the context for his call for nuclear disarmament.

Despite signing the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the United States and the other nuclear- armed states have not lived up to their commitment to eliminate their nuclear arsenals. Currently, the United States is poised to spend $1.5 trillion to upgrade and modernize its nuclear weapons. This is money that will not be available to address the real security threats facing the nation: climate change, racial oppression, growing economic inequality, political polarization and pandemic disease.

Over the years, sisters and associates have taken part in vigils and nonviolent civil disobedience actions at the Nevada Test Site and the Y-12 nuclear facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

To read the letter, click here.