P.O. Box 81, Swarthmore, PA, 19081-- brandywine@juno.com (610) 544-1818
Saturday, August 9, 2009 Nagasaki Day 11AM - in front of SS Peter & Paul Roman Catholic Cathedral
fotos: Ray Torres |
In contrast to Hiroshima Day three days before, the Nagasaki Day Peace Dedication had wonderfully cool weather. Participants arrived at the Cathedral to the sight of large signs with pictures of the explosive mushroom clouds and aftermath of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki lining the front of the Cathedral, visual reminders that ground zero for the world's 2nd atomic bombing, August 9, 1945, was St. Mary's Urakami Roman Catholic Cathedral. Often called the "forgotten nuclear city", the largest Christian Catholic population in all of Asia at the time was obliterated in the immediate blast and fire of the plutonium bomb. After the sound of a siren followed by that of a nuclear bomb explosion, people stood in silence as the bell of peace tolled sixty- three times, once for every year of war and nuclear weapons since the bombing of Nagasaki. An account of the Nagasaki bombing was followed by readings illustrating the cost of war and the price of peace: J. Robert Oppenheimer's recollection of the first atomic test blast ("Trinity", July 16, 1945), the words of a Nagasaki survivor, the story of Sadako and the One Thousand Paper Cranes, and a reflection from Daniel Berrigan's A Book of Uncommon Prayer. People then participated in a ceremony of remembrance and peace, lighting incense, dipping hands in a basin of water, and tolling the bell of peace. The bell then tolled our walk - lead by a banner of the Nagasaki "Madonna & Child" - around the Cathedral to the Phila. Archdiocesan Headquarters behind the Cathedral. There a statement by Pax Christi (www.paxchristiusa.org) calling on the Church and the U.S. Bishops to condemn "Complex Transformation", a $150 billion plan to design and produce another generation of nuclear weapons. We arrived back in front of the Cathedral as a wedding was about to take place: limousines, tuxedoed men, long flowing gowns worn by the bride and bridesmaids. We wished them and one another peace and concluded our Nagasaki Day peace dedication with song and a Nagasaki Day '08 Litany (see below). Many thanks from the Brandywine Peace Community to all who participated and to our co-sponsors: Phila. Catholic Peace Fellowship and the NorthWest Greens. Nagasaki Day 08 Litany Response [all]: May our memory of Hiroshima and Nagasaki be forever a commitment to peace In Remembrance of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, St. Marys Urakami Roman Catholic Cathedral reborn from beneath the rubble, and 63 years of war and nuclear weapons... [all] Amidst the seas of violence, disaster, and neglect that swirl around us today....[all] For vibrant lives suddenly and shamelessly taken from the community of family and loved ones...[all] For the lives that continue, haunted forever by the pain of absence, and the nightmare images forever seared into our memories...[all] For empire and all the deaths due to the arrogance of patriotism, religious or ideological fanaticism, and indifference to the world and human need...[all] For reconciliation amongst all peoples... [all] For the care of children and the earth... [all] For the violence of poverty and the wounding of body and spirit resulting from racial, religious, and sexual hatred...[all] For our societys addiction to oil, weapons, and war-making... [all] That we may end war and the threats of war, abolish nuclear weapons, resist the war economy and beat swords into plowshares...[all] That we will care for the victims of violence, disaster, and hatred, and that we will commit ourselves to an active nonviolence, accepting the risks and struggles of peacemaking...[all] That we may see the possibilities of justice and peace, always clinging to the Promise of Peace...[all] |
