Media Release: Prayers close Week of Peace
From: Auckland Peace Action
Date: Sunday, 20 November

Auckland Peace Action’s Week of Peace closes today with Prayers for Peace, an alternative prayer service outside of the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Parnell at 1:30pm Sunday.

Rev Emily Worman, daughter of the late David Lange, feels compelled to be part of the alternative Prayers for Peace service outside the Cathedral.

“I couldn’t stay at home during this week. A week in which we are boasting military strength, hosting a weapons supermarket and promoting war as a solution to problems we see around the world today,” said Emily.

Christians will be holding prayers and a service calling for peace and commemorating the people harmed by the military outside the Naval Celebration Service at Holy Trinity Cathedral. The service is to commemorate conscientious objectors, those soldiers who were shot by their own armies for cowardice or desertion and the civilian victims of war. It aims to act as a counterpoint to the celebration of the military that the Anglican diocese of Auckland is complicit in and which is in opposition to the teachings of Jesus and the ethical positions of Christians throughout New Zealand.

Emily is ordained by the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC), a denomination founded on social justice that has been actively challenging racism, sexism, homophobia, ageism, and other forms of oppression since 1968.

“I’m praying for an alternative: a future in which we celebrate those who actively pursue peace, budgets that are focused on eliminating poverty and policies founded on love and compassion.”

Wojtek Krzyzosiak, who is a practicing Anglican, says he is disappointed by the stance of the Anglican Diocese of Auckland regarding war and militarisation. “We worship a God who was tortured and executed by an occupying military power. It is utterly ludicrous that two thousand years later we are now lauding the work of the same institutions that did this and continue to maim torture and kill innocents, and the Diocese of Auckland cannot reasonably claim to be in favour of peace while celebrating war.”

ENDS

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