A vigil will be held at noon on March 23 at the Sword and the Cross war
memorial on the grounds of St. Paul's Anglican Church on Bloor St. E. in
Toronto ON. This is the sixth in a series of vigils being used to call on
the mainline churches to renounce the Just War doctrine and to symbolize
that by removing the bronze sword from this stone cross and replacing it
with a ploughshare.

The March 23 vigil will commemorate Archbishop Oscar Romero's 1980 calling
on the government of El Salvador to "Stop the Repression!" To the soldiers
he said, "No one has to comply with an immoral law. It is time now that you
recover your conscience and obey its dictates rather than the command of
sin." The next day he was assassinated while celebrating the eucharist.

The vigillers have written another letter to all the leaders of mainline
churches in Toronto asking for meetings to explore how the leaders could
lead in removing the sword from the cross as a public renunciation of the
Just War doctrine. During Holy Week the vigillers will fast and visit the
Toronto headquarters of the Anglicans, Roman Catholics, United,
Presbyterian, Lutheran and Baptist churches to pray.

On Good Friday, with or without the church leaders, the vigillers will begin
the process of taking down the Sword from the Cross.

-----------------------------------------
Doug Pritchard
Christian Peacemaker Teams Ontario
Toronto ON
cpto [at] web [dot] net

"If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for
peace!"
Luke 19:42