He has earned a rare epithet which nobody else seems to have: ‘a peace hero.’ How did he become a peace hero? Decades of tireless, committed struggle for peace, justice and disarmament have earned this honour for Bruce Kent, who died on 8 June, 2022, at his home in London, two weeks before his ninety-third birthday. When he died, he was Mr. Bruce Kent. But for many years he was well-known as Father Bruce Kent.
Bruce Kent was born in 1929 in south-east London to Canadian parents. His father was a Presbyterian, while his mother was a devout Roman Catholic. He spent his early years in Canada. When he returned, he studied at the Jesuit Stonehurst College and later at Oxford, for a law degree. He then did two years of national service as an officer in the Royal Tank Regiment. It was at this time he heard the call to become a priest.
When he told his parents of his decision, his mother was happy, but his father was not. After six years of seminary training, he was ordained a priest in 1958 at Westminster Cathedral. That was the year when the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament was born. As a young priest in various London parishes, he came across as a genial, smart and helpful person. Cardinal Heenan made him his secretary. Soon Fr Bruce became the Catholic chaplain at London University. The title of ‘Monsignor’ came soon.
At the Second Vatican Council, he listened to Archbishop Thomas Roberts SJ of Bombay speak about how war and poverty—how peace and prosperity—are connected. He visited India and saw the cruel face of poverty. He understood the vital importance of peace for human wellbeing and how proliferation of weapons incited conflicts that destroyed lives and livelihoods. He began to go on a pilgrimage to the native village of the Austrian farmer, now a Blessed, Franz Jagerstatter, whose deep faith made him refuse to fight in Hitler’s war and so made him a martyr. Fr Bruce Kent became a peace activist.
Unlike Cardinal Heenan, who did not appreciate the activism of his former secretary, Cardinal Basil Hume, who succeeded Heenan, was more tolerant. Fr Bruce realized that the good news that Jesus announced was in direct conflict with war, weapons, particularly nuclear weapons. He saw his life’s mission was to lead a people’s struggle against the ever-increasing proliferation of weapons., including nuclear weapons.
Fr M A Joe Antony SJ
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