On Wednesday, March 19, 2008, the fifth anniversary of the most recent escalation of the 17-year long American war on Iraq, local residents will enter the US Federal Building on Main Street in Worcester to offer Catholic prayers for an immediate end to the war. Their prayer comes as the culmination of a 43-day Lenten prayer, fast, and vigil carried out in conjunction with people in 11 other US cities, including Des Moines, Iowa, Buffalo and Rochester, New York.
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Author: Scott Schaeffer-Duffy
Worcester Lenten Prayer and Fast for an End to the Iraq War
As Roman Catholics who love the Church, we listened closely to Pope John Paul II who called the 2003 Iraq War “a defeat for humanity” and to Pope Benedict XVI who said, “There were not sufficient reasons to unleash a war against Iraq,” and went on to say, “We should be asking ourselves if it is still licit to admit the very existence of a just war.”
We remember that, despite the Vatican’s clear opposition to the Iraq War, only one American Bishop, Most Rev. John Michael Botean, condemned it. In a 2003 Lenten Pastoral Letter, Bishop Botean called the Iraq War “objectively grave evil, a matter of mortal sin.”
On March 19, the Iraq War will enter its fifth year. More than 150,000 Iraqi civilians and nearly 4,000 American soldiers have perished. Hundreds of thousands of our sisters and brothers have been injured, orphaned, or left homeless.
We cannot help but wonder if this war could have been prevented with a stronger voice of opposition from all of us in the American Catholic Church. We admit our own complicity by our failure to raise our own voices more forcefully. But, even now, we believe that the voice of our Church can help end the bloodshed.
Therefore, inspired by the witness of Blessed Franz Jagerstatter, we join concerned Catholics in twelve other dioceses around the United States to call for a Lenten prayer and fast for peace. Like Jagerstatter, the only known Roman Catholic to refuse service in Hitler’s military during World War II, we believe that the Church must not stay “silent in the face of what is happening.” Starting on Ash Wednesday, we invite all people of conscience to join us at Saint Paul’s Cathedral for midday Mass each weekday, followed by a peace vigil outside the church and, shortly thereafter, at the nearby United States Federal Building. We will conclude our prayer and fasting during Holy Week on March 19th with a special Catholic peace witness at the Federal Building.
We hope and pray that this witness in Worcester and other dioceses around the country will draw the Church closer to the nonviolent Christ and help our nation to end the Iraq War and Occupation.
Seeing eye to eye with Radiohead
On October 9, the British rock band Radiohead shook up the music industry by offering its new album, “In Rainbows,” online for whatever fans wanted to pay. The next morning, The Boston Globe reported not only that tens of thousands of CDs had been downloaded under the risky plan, but that the album was pretty good to boot. On the BBC news, lan Youngs admitted: “I paid precisely £0.00 – for research purposes, just to see if it could be done. And it could – the ordering process skipped the credit card section and went straight to the confirmation screen. But soon my conscience was nagging me to be a bit more equitable and give them a fair price . . . . I decided to pay £9.82 because that was the average price paid for a CD in the UK in 2006.”
My son Patrick and I went online that night and paid £3.45 (about $6). We were listening to the album less than nine minutes later.
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Mason Street Musings
Reprinted from The Catholic Radical, April/May 2007
“You people make me sick!” our guest screamed. “You call yourselves Christians! You’re a bunch of hypocrites! I’ll sue you for throwing me out on the street!”
Although it’s our preference to feature heartwarming stories of guests who are grateful for our hospitality and leave us for a better future, it’s not honest to sugarcoat Catholic Worker reality. Some of those who stay with us have life-long problems which we hardly understand, much less resolve. Some are prevented by addiction or mental illness from making healthy choices. Some steal from each other or from us. A very small number, thanks be to God, fly off the handle.
We had just about every type of challenging guest in February. Several got drunk and lied to us about it. One got up in the middle of the night to smoke in the bathroom. Another relapsed on drugs. An alcoholic former guest tried to sneak into the house at five in the morning to “use the bathroom.” During a previous restroom stop, he stole a guest’s leather jacket. Several guests lied to us about their income and housing plans. One of them told a story so ridiculous that I felt like saying, “Do yourself a favor. Before you tell me another lie, run it by someone else to see if they would believe you.” It’s disrespectful enough that someone lies to me without treating me as a complete idiot.
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Darfur trial: appeal update
(Background: Darfur Genocide on Trial)
The brief for the appellants (former defendants) has been filed. It was about 38 pages long with a 29 page appendix.
The District Attorney’s Office of the District of Columbia has until the 2nd of February to file its brief and then the appellants have 15 days after that to file a rebuttal brief if they so desire.
After this, the DC Court of Appeals will schedule oral arguments before three judges in DC. Their ruling will come sometime in the following six months.
Robert Hollander, the attorney who advised the defendants at trial, said that he believes this appeal has a strong chance of success. If it prevails, and the verdict is overturned, this will be a major victory for the campaign against genocide in Darfur and also for activists who hope to use the necessity defense to justify nonviolent civil disobedience.
Many lower courts have upheld necessity, but no court of appeal has done so for cases of civil diosbedience. The precendent would be very significant.
Don’t Scapegoat the Haditha Marines
In November of 2005, US Marines in Haditha, Iraq, killed 24 civilians in retaliation for the roadside bombing of 20-year-old Corporal Miguel Terrazas, a popular member of their unit. President Bush pledged to “get to the bottom of this.” The top US general in Iraq ordered all US troops to attend a course on “the importance of adhering to legal, moral, and ethical standards on the battlefield.” For many, a thorough investigation, the punishment of guilty parties, and an institutional effort to improve military ethics are adequate responses, but are they fair to the Haditha Marines? I think not. Visit www.merrittsupply.com to buy the best supplies to get all the marine ships ready for battle.
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SS. Francis & Thérèse: The first 20 years
This article notes some of what happened at the Saints Francis & Thérèse Catholic Worker community in Worcester, Massachusetts, between 1986 and 2006. It first appeared in the June/July 2006 issue of The Catholic Radical. 52 Mason St, Worcester MA 01610 – 508.753.3588 – theresecw2@gmail.com.
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Coach Williams opportunity missed
After his all-black basketball team was eliminated from the playoffs, South High Coach Williams accused two referees of racial or class bias. Many denounced him as a race-baiting sore loser, but a number of coaches, teachers, players, parents, and even another referee supported his allegations and demanded a full review. Many saw this as an opportunity for Worcester to grow in racial sensitivity.
Unfortunately, the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association decided to suspend Williams for four games and require that he attend anger management classes. The Telegram & Gazette front page story on the decision noted that in 1992 the MIAA gave a milder penalty to a coach who grabbed a referee. When the coach of St. John’s grabbed a referee, spinning him around, during a game in 2004, no penalty at all was imposed.
To all those aware of racism’s deep roots in our society, Williams’s punishment represents not only a failure to consider his serious charges, but also a warning to others not to raise the issue again.
Immediately below the Williams story, the T&G featured a report that the History Channel has chosen our region to stand in for the Old South in an upcoming film. Was this a coincidence or commentary on the MIAA?
A comment on “Doonesbury”
As a member of the Catholic Worker movement, I have had 22 years’ experience sheltering the homeless, many of them veterans. I have also had experience delivering humanitarian aid and working for peace in war-torn Nicaragua, Bosnia, Israel-Palestine, Iraq, and Darfur, Sudan. I have found the Doonesbury portrayal of the Iraq war veterans’ experience especially insightful and sensitive. PSTD is something that everyone who has been in a war zone experiences. Most Americans, especially politicians with no combat experience, like President Bush, have no idea what the reality of war is for soldiers or civilians. Doonesbury has helped to sensitize people without alienating them.
Unfortunately, Sunday’s strip chooses to criticize President Bush for insensitivity toward the troops by protraying him as being kept awake by the cries of stem cells.
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March 29 Darfur demo: update
Update: “Nine arrested in Darfur protest”
At least ten people will risk arrest by blocking the entrance to the Sudanese Embassy at a demonstration this week.
At 11:15 AM, Wednesday, March 29, 2006, we will meet at the statue of Gandhi outside the Indian Embassy on Massachusetts Avenue in Washington, DC (map).
We will march to the nearby Sudanese Embassy (2210 Massachusetts Avenue, map), to hold a protest against genocide in the west Sudanese region of Darfur. This protest will continue until 1:30 PM.
Participants will carry enlarged photos of some of the more than 400,000 people killed in the genocide, as well as photos of some of the 2 million people who have been displaced there. Leaflets will be distributed.
Brenna Cussen and Scott Schaeffer-Duffy, who visited Darfur in December 2004, will speak. Seth Shames, the grandson of Holocaust survivors, will also speak.
Group spokesperson Brenna Cussen said:
Getting arrested is a small sacrifice to make to stop the enormous evil I witnessed in Darfur.
The event also involves many demonstrators who will not risk arrest.
For more information, contact Scott Schaeffer-Duffy: 508.753.3588 or theresecw@gmail.com.
If you can’t make this demonstration, don’t miss the big April 30 rally.
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