Catholic leaders to attend ‘groundbreaking’ forum on nuclear weapons in New Mexico 

CNA Staff, Aug 20, 2024 / 06:00 am

Catholic organizations at the University of Southern California (USC) and the University of New Mexico (UNM) are banding together to host a forum with policymakers and leading voices on nuclear disarmament and deterrence.

The “Forum on Nuclear Strategy: Disarmament and Deterrence in a Dangerous World” is set to take place on Saturday, Sept. 7, at the University of New Mexico, led by the Endowed Chair of Roman Catholic Studies and the Religious Studies program at UNM and the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies (IACS) of USC.

The “groundbreaking” forum will discuss deterrence and disarmament approaches to nuclear weapons amid rising political rivalry between the U.S., China, and Russia, according to an Aug. 13 press release by IACS.

The forum is “considered the first of its kind since the American Catholic bishops reshaped the nuclear weapons debate in the 1980s,” the release noted. In 1983, the U.S. bishops released a pastoral letter, “The Challenge of Peace,” which discussed Catholic teaching on war, deterrence, and disarmament. 

“The forum is an important opportunity for experts in religious and secular fields to learn from each other as they explore modern nuclear strategy decisions,” said Archbishop John Wester of Sante Fe, who is set to present welcoming remarks at the forum, in the release.

“It’s precisely these conversations that will lead to a clearer understanding of the threat that nuclear weapons pose and how best to navigate the waters of the perilous arms race we find ourselves in today,” he added.

Wester has contributed to the conversation on nuclear weapons particularly through his pastoral letter on nuclear disarmament in 2022, “Living in the Light of Christ’s Peace: A Conversation Toward Nuclear Disarmament.” 

The subject of nuclear weapons is particularly relevant as New Mexico plays host to the Los Alamos and Sandia nuclear weapons laboratories as well as the largest storage site of nuclear warheads in the U.S. arsenal, the Kirtland Underground Munitions Maintenance and Storage Complex. 

New Mexico is also historically connected with nuclear weapons, as the first atomic bomb was detonated at the Trinity Site in New Mexico in 1945. 

“It’s important that we host this discussion near the birthplace of nuclear weapons and with leading experts from differing perspectives regarding nuclear strategy,” stated Richard L. Wood, president of the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at USC.

“With regional conflicts escalating and the threat of nuclear war rising, humanity is at a critical moment,” Wood said. “Our forum will be a platform for in-depth discussion and debate that will explore our current global realities and seek tangible solutions to the rising threat of nuclear conflict.”

Before the forum begins, participants will have a closed-door discussion for debate and discussion on finding common ground. In the public forum, participants will summarize their thinking and the results of the dialogue.

Archbishop Emeritus Joseph Mitsuaki Takami of Nagasaki, Japan, and the bishop of San Diego, Cardinal Robert McElroy, are set to participate in the forum, as well as political leaders including the former deputy secretary-general of NATO and former U.S. undersecretary of Arms Control and International Security for the U.S. State Department, Rose Gottemoeller, and Thomas Countryman and Christopher Ford, both former U.S. assistant secretaries of state for International Security and Nonproliferation under Barack Obama and Donald Trump, respectively. 

The archbishop emeritus of Nagasaki, who survived the atomic bomb when he was in utero, will share a reflection at the forum. Takami lost several members of his extended family in the Aug. 9, 1945, atomic bombing of Nagasaki.

Academic voices will include Maryann Cusimano Love, associate professor of international relations at The Catholic University of America; Richard Love, professor of national security strategy at the National Defense University; and Gerard Powers, director of Catholic peacebuilding studies at the University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. 

The director of Los Alamos National Laboratory, Thomas Mason, will also participate in the forum.  

Local leaders and Indigenous communities impacted by nuclear-weapons testing are also set to participate.

Those wishing to attend may register here to attend in person or via livestream.