06 August 2022

The ‘Doomsday Clock’ is
ticking closer to Midnight
on this Hiroshima Day

Survivors of the atomic bombing in Hiroshima lay flowers at the cherry tree in Merrion Square, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

President, Irish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

Irish CND Annual Hiroshima Day Commemoration,

6 August 2022

1 p.m., Merrion Square, Dublin 2


Good afternoon.

It is good to be with you this afternoon in Merrion Square on this anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing. I’m sorry that I’m not with you in person. Instead, I’m here in Milton Keynes, and for health reasons I’m not able to travel very much at the moment.

But I am with you in this video link and I am with you very much in spirit.

I am here at the monastery beside the Japanese Peace Pagoda in Milton Keynes which has very strong associations and very strong links with the Hibakusha and the victims of and survivors of the Hiroshima bombing on 6 August 1945.

Many people may be wondering why, 77 years later, we need to remember that bombing. But, of course, we are living in dangerous times. We have never been closer to Hiroshima than we are today.

The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists says that the ‘Doomsday Clock’ is only 100 seconds to Midnight. That is the nearest we have been to Global Hiroshima since the ‘Doomsday Clock’ was first inaugurated in 1947. In 1947, we were seven minutes from Midnight. When it came to the end of the Cold War in 1991, the world could take a breather, take a deep breath. By then we were, in fact, 17 minutes from Midnight.

Now it likes increasingly like the world is running out of time.

We edge closer and closer, by microseconds, every moment, to Doomsday.

That push comes because of global warming; but it also comes because once again we are living in an atmosphere where the world is at war and where the nuclear powers are threatening to use their nuclear weapons if each alliance starts to expand any further.

Many experts, many commentators, are saying that Russia is in danger of resorting to nuclear or chemical weapons if the war in Ukraine intensifies.

Indeed, Vladimir Putin has exploited gaps in international law and policies. International law has failed in recent years because the international powers, particularly the nuclear weapons powers, have failed to regulate nuclear capabilities.

Putin says that he has special combat readiness for his nuclear weapons. He is threatening his foes in the West that he has identified, telling them that they face consequences that ‘you have never faced in history.’

In other words, there is no such thing as a ‘nuclear deterrent.’

He is willing to use his nuclear weapons, and we can presume therefore that all the nuclear powers are willing to use their ‘nuclear option’ too.

Who is going to pull us back from the precipice?

Who is going to say that enough is enough?

Who is going to try to lead the way so that we can get back to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty that Trump walked away from in 2019, paving the way for Putin being able to make his nuclear threats?

Now Putin has abandoned any thought of making a commitment to ‘no first use’ as a principle in international law.

The experts agree that it is now hard to predict what is going to happen with nuclear weapons and the nuclear stockpiles in the world.

Never before has the need for CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) been greater.

We need to campaign for the complete abolition of nuclear weapons.

We need to campaign for a commitment from the nuclear powers, to give a commitment not to use their nuclear weapons and to reduce their stockpiles.

We need to remind the world that just one nuclear weapon 77 years ago on 6 August 1945 wiped out 200,000 people in Hiroshima – and that nuclear weapon was smaller than any of the intermediate-range nuclear missiles that we are being threatened with use today.

I am sad that’s may be my last address on Hiroshima Day as President of the Irish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Health is telling me that I should soon step down.

But that does not reduce my commitment to campaigning for nuclear disarmament, campaigning for the abolition of all nuclear weapons, campaigning and reminding us all that we need to remember Hiroshima – not just on 6 August but every day, every moment, until all nuclear weapons are put out of reach!

Thank you.

(Revd Canon Professor) Patrick Comerford is President of the Irish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. A priest in the Church of Ireland, he is now living in retirement in Milton Keynes. This address was recorded for Irish CND’s annual Hiroshima Day commemorations in Merrion Square, Dublin, on 6 August 2022.



Praying with USPG and the hymns of
Vaughan Williams: Saturday 6 August 2022

The Transfiguration in an icon in the parish church in the hill-side village of Piskopiano in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, whose music is celebrated throughout this year’s Proms season.

In my prayer diary for these weeks I am reflecting in these ways:

1, One of the readings for the morning;

2, Reflecting on a hymn or another piece of music by Vaughan Williams, often drawing, admittedly, on previous postings on the composer;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary, ‘Pray with the World Church.’

The Transfiguration in a poster from the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies, Cambridge

Today marks the 77th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945. As President of the Irish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), I have recorded a message for Irish CND’s Hiroshima Day commemoration in Merrion Square Day. Later in the evening, I hope to attend the Hiroshima Commemorations at the Japanese Peace Pagoda by Willen Lake in Milton Keynes.

In the Church calendar, today (6 August) traditionally marks the Feast of the Transfiguration.

The Gospel reading for the Feast of the Transfiguration today is:

Luke 9: 28-36 (NRSVA):

28 Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. 29 And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. 30 Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. 31 They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 32 Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. 33 Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, ‘Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah’—not knowing what he said. 34 While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. 35 Then from the cloud came a voice that said, ‘This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!’ 36 When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.

The Monastery of the Transfiguration or Great Meteoron in Meteora, northern Greece (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s reflection: ‘Jerusalem, thou City blest’

Ralph Vaughan Williams was the composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores, a collector of English folk music and song. With Percy Dearmer, he co-edited the English Hymnal, in which he included many folk song arrangements as hymn tunes, and several of his own original compositions.

This morning [6 August 2022], I have chosen the hymn ‘Jerusalem, thou City blest,’ which is set to the tune ‘Newbury’ in the New English Hymnal (No 228).

Yesterday, I was reflecting on the hymn, ‘There is no moment of my life,’ by the late Father William Brian Foley (1919-2000), which is set to this tune by Vaughan Williams in the Irish Church Hymnal (No 19). But he first harmonised ‘Newbury’ for the English Hymnal in 1906, and set it to ‘The Maker of the sun and moon’ by Laurence Housman (1865-1959).

This tune is one of the many folk melodies arranged by Vaughan Williams. He found it in a collection published by Miss MG Arkwright in the Journal of the Folk-Song Society. There it was used for a Christmas carol, ‘There’s six good days set in a week,’ also known as the ‘Hampshire Mummers’ Carol.’

‘Jerusalem, thou City blest’ is similar to a hymn with the same name written by the Revd Edward Caswall (1814-1878), but this hymn is attributed to the Editors of the New English Hymnal, where it first appears.

The New English Hymnal, published in 1986 by the Canterbury Press, is the successor to the 1906 English Hymnal. Its general editor was the then chairman of the English Hymnal Company, George Timms, and the musical editor was Anthony Caesar, assisted by Arthur Hutchings, Christopher Dearnley and Michael Fleming.

The English Hymnal (1906) was edited by Percy Dearmer and Vaughan Williams, and was seen as the musical companion to Dearmer’s practical guide to liturgy, The Parson’s Handbook.

‘The music is intended to be essentially congregational in character …’ Vaughan Williams said in the opening words of his preface. The high quality of the music is due largely to his work as musical editor. The standard of the arrangements and original compositions made it one of the most influential hymnals of the last century. The hymnal included the first printing of several arrangements and hymn settings by Vaughan Williams.

Today’s hymn is particularly recommended for holy days, and is suitable for the Feast of the Transfiguration, apart from verse 6, which is suitable for a saint’s day.

Jerusalem, thou City blest,
Fair home of God’s elect!
No sun, in all his radiance bright,
Thy glory could reflect.

In thee no sickness may be seen,
No hurt, no ache, no sore;
In thee there us no dreads of death,
But life for evermore.

The blessed saints, who’ve run the race,
With glory there are crowned;
No tongue can tell, nor heart conceive
What joys in thee they’ve found.

God is their sun, and Christ their light,
They see him face to face;
The Spirit’s perfect bond of love
Doth every heart embrace.

O happy ones, in heaven who dwell,
Pour forth for us your prayer,
That God our Father through his Son,
May bring us with you there.

And praise and honour be to him
Whom earth and heaven obey,
For that blest saint whose festival
Doth glorify this day.

The Transfiguration depicted in a fresco in the Analipsi Church (Resurrection) in Georgioupoli, Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayer:

The Collect:

Father in heaven,
whose Son Jesus Christ was wonderfully transfigured
before chosen witnesses upon the holy mountain,
and spoke of the exodus he would accomplish at Jerusalem:
give us strength so to hear his voice and bear our cross
that in the world to come we may see him as he is;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

At the annual conference of the USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) in High Leigh last week, we were updated on the work of USPG’s partners in Ukraine, Russia and with USPG’s partners with Ukrainian refugees. The theme in the USPG prayer diary this week has been ‘Refugee Support in Poland,’ and was introduced by the Revd David Brown, Chaplain of the Anglican Church in Poland.

Saturday 6 August 2022 (The Transfiguration of Our Lord):

The USPG Prayer Diary invites us to pray today in these words:

Today we celebrate the completely human, completely divine nature of Jesus. We give thanks that He came down to be with us, perfection in our midst.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

The Transfiguration depicted in a stained-glass window in a church in Lucan, Co Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

‘We are one, after all, You and I:
Together we suffer, together exist’

The Atomic Bomb Dome, Hiroshima

Patrick Comerford

Tomorrow marks the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima 77 years ago on 6 August 1945. During the week, I have been listening once again to Leonard Bernstein’s Symphony No 3 (Kaddish).

The composer Leonard Bernstein was a peace advocate who travelled the world to share his music in joy and peace. Even in the later years of his life, he continued to share music in moments of historical importance.

On the 40th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, Bernstein travelled back to Japan in 1985, to attend the Hiroshima War Memorial event as part of his ‘Journey of Peace’ series of concerts.

Later in the evening Bernstein performed his own Kaddish. It was originally dedicated to John F Kennedy after his assassination and it is named after the Jewish prayer chanted at every synagogue service.

Before a full house of 1,800, Bernstein conducted the European Community Youth Orchestra in moving performances of Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No 3 and his own Symphony No 3 (Kaddish), composed on the theme of a prayer for peace.

The Japanese audience was deeply moved, and people applauded Bernstein for 10 minutes at the end.

He said, ‘I hope it does some good to grant us the wisdom that war is obsolete and that we should stop all this nonsense once and for all.’

For Jews everywhere, the word Kaddish (‘Sanctification’) has a highly emotional significance. It is the name of the prayer recited for the dead at the graveside, on memorial occasions and at all synagogue services. Yet, there is not a single mention of death in the entire prayer. On the contrary, it uses the word chayei or chayim (‘life’) three times. Indeed, the Kaddish is a series of paeans in praise of God.

In his Kaddish Symphony, Bernstein exploits the dualistic overtones of the prayer: its popular connotation as a kind of requiem, and its celebration of like and creation. He does this both in his speaker’s text and in his music.

In the original version, the choice of a woman as the Speaker and as vocal soloist – singing sacred words traditionally reserved for men in the synagogue – was in itself a dualistic decision. The woman in the symphony represents that aspect of humanity that knows God through intuition, and can come closest to Divinity, a concept at odds with the male principal of organised rationality.

The Speaker mourns, in advance, humanity’s possible imminent suicide. At the same time, it is observed that people cannot destroy themselves as long as they identify themselves with God.

There is a particularly anguished outburst by the Speaker in the middle of the Din-Torah (trial-scene or ‘Judgement by Law’) in which God is accused of a breach of faith with humanity.

This scene has a Biblical precedent in the story of Job and also has its roots in folk such as the legend of Rabbi Levi Yitzhok of Berditchev. Bernstein strongly felt the peculiar Jewishness of this ‘I-Thou’ relationship in the whole concept of the Jew’s love of God, from Moses to the Hasidim, there is a deep personal intimacy that allows things to be said to God that are almost inconceivable in other religions.

This change is manifested by agonized, non-tonal music which culminates in an eight-part choral cadenza of vast complexity. But immediately after this, the Speaker begs God’s forgiveness and tries to be comforting; and the ensuing lullaby is explicitly tonal, with gentle modulations.

At the climax of the Symphony, another painful spoken moment is followed by a gradual clarification and resolution into G-flat major.

The concluding words are:

O my Father, Lord of Light!
Beloved Majesty: my Image, my Self!
We are one, after all, You and I:
Together we suffer, together exist,
And forever will recreate each other.
Recreate, recreate each other!
Suffer, and recreate each other!

Shabbat Shalom