The Church of Our Saviour in midtown Manhattan plans to hold a March for Peace on Wednesday, January 1, to coincide with the Church’s 58th World Day of Peace.

After the regularly scheduled noon Mass at the Chapel of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (325 E 33rd Street, between First and Second Avenues), participants will walk to the Church of Our Saviour (Park Avenue at 38th Street) with signs displaying names of countries and regions of the world in conflict. The chapel is part of Our Saviour parish.  

The parish is planning the second annual prayer march in conjunction with New York-area coordinators of the Community of Sant’Egidio, a Rome-based, worldwide lay Catholic association dedicated to prayer, the poor, and peace.

“At Our Saviour, we’re going to read abstracts of Pope Francis’ 2025 Message for Peace, ‘Forgive us our trespasses: grant us your peace,’” Father Enzo Del Brocco, CP, priest associate at the parish, told The Good Newsroom in a December 23 phone interview. “The march will be on the sidewalks like we did last year…This is so vital – to bring awareness, to try to help bring peace to this world that is falling apart.” The event will be followed by refreshments in the parish hall.

“It’s not just to bring awareness, but it’s really to pray for peace. One of the responsibilities that we have as Christians is to pray for peace, but really also to act as peacemakers through manifestations like the event that we’re going to do on January 1st, and with dialogue among ourselves. We live in such a polarized world, and we’re really called to build bridges. The importance of dialogue is key; this is the message from Pope Francis…War is always a defeat for humanity; no matter who wins or who loses, it’s always a defeat,” Father Del Brocco added. 

He cited wars and unrest and violence in several countries and regions: “What’s happening in Ukraine; what’s happening in Gaza, what’s happening in Haiti; what’s happening in Sudan; what’s happening in Mozambique; what’s happening in Central America – there are so many places in the world at war or going through civil disruptions,” he said.

Father Del Brocco, born in Pittsburgh, has been a Passionist priest since 1991 and is currently a Passionist order vice-provincial in the United States. He served in Haiti for nearly six years until December 2019. In March 2024, at Our Saviour Church, he led a prayer service for peace in Haiti. The parish’s pastoral administrator, Monsignor Kevin Sullivan, attended the service as a gesture of support.  

Vatican News reported recently, “In his message for the 58th World Day of Peace marked on January 1, Pope Francis reflects on the central theme of the upcoming Jubilee of Hope and reiterates his pressing appeal for debt forgiveness, reminding us that we are all ‘debtors’ to God and one another.”