|
Pax Christi email address
The Peacemaker
Dear friends,
Yesterday afternoon, for half an hour under the great dome of the US Capitol, along with ten others I prayed, sang,
and spoke out – and then was arrested -- on behalf of the poor, the hungry, the homeless, the squeezed middle-class,
the victims of war, and the wounded Earth itself––against the travesty of Congressional and Presidential kowtowing
to the hyper-wealthy and the largest corporations in the world.
I am joyful that Rev. Bob Edgar, former
six-term Congressman from Pennsylvania, former head of the National Council of Churches, a recipient of The Shalom Center’s
“Prophetic Voices” honor, now head of Common Cause, invited us to gather. On 24 hours notice, eleven of us came
prepared to be arrested; dozens more came to support and affirm our insistence that the present debates about the budget
and the debt ignore the deepest teachings of our faith.
I am joyful that Methodists and Presbyterians,
Mennonites and Roman Catholics, folk from the United Church of Christ and Interfaith Worker Justice, clergy and laity, women and men, African-Americans
and Euro-Americans, were among the eleven along with me.
I am joyful that Rabbi David Saperstein, director
of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, came to spend more than an hour with us and to speak in strong support
of us, even though he could not himself take part in civil disobedience because he was committed to lead gatherings of Jewish
leaders that afternoon. They themselves were coming to approach members of Congress on behalf of meeting the needs that
Torah and all of Jewish experience teach us that governments need to meet.
We gathered first at the Methodist
Building, two blocks from the Capitol. As we prepared to leave, Bob Edgar invited me to send us forth in prayer. I said,
“You Who taught us long ago that “Tzedek tzedek tirdof, Justice justice shall you seek,” and Who
taught us that “justice” is mentioned twice to insist that we must use just means to seek just results
-- May You fill us with courage and compassion as we go forth to use that form of action that is purest justice: nonviolence
-- on behalf of those who most need justice.”
When we gathered under the Rotunda, welcomed by
Congressman Rush Holt and Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, we gathered in a tight circle to pray, to sing hymns, to speak
our truths to the powerful, and to tell each other our stories about visiting the Rotunda, about encountering the Congress,
about getting arrested.
I noticed that each of us chose hymns and songs with care to be inclusive
of all our traditions -– “Spirit of
the Living God, fall afresh on me. Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me”; “We Shall Overcome”; “Down
by the Riverside.”
You can see some brief videos and photos here:
New
York Times, July 29, p. A12.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/28/the-caucus-click-conscientious-objection/
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/07/29/Clergy-arrested-in-Capitol-budget-protest/UPI-56331311937579/%27%20rel=%27nofollow
http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2011/07/faith-leaders-arrested-in-us-capitol-during-protest.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/28/religious-leaders-arreste_n_912337.html?ref=fb&src=sp
http://www.pressherald.com/blogs/maine_washington_politics/126322718.html
(Some of the photos and video show me in a wheel chair. Still a hangover from my auto crash two
years ago: If I have to stand or walk for more than 20 minutes, my knee and back begin to ache. The Capitol Police were kind
enough to bring me a wheel chair. I wore the Rainbow tallit that my mother, peace be upon her, embroidered for
me on my 50th birthday. I have been arrested about a dozen times wearing it, and about ten times before – about as
many times altogether, Phyllis says, as I have written books.)
The eleven of us were arrested at
1:30, charged with interrupting the flow of traffic in the US capital. In fact, the flow was interrupted only by the Capitol
Police themselves, who cleared tourists and visitors from the great rotunda. We, gathered in a tight circle under
that great dome, were no hindrance to those who watched and listened to us and then went their way to Congressional offices.
We were a hindrance
to the legislators of both parties for carrying on the travesty of defining the great crisis before the United States as
the national debt –
Not about millions deprived of jobs and despairing whether they could ever work
again;
Not about the danger that the poor and senior citizens could be deprived of the payment of their
Social Security pensions and their Medicare and Medicaid health needs;
Not about the rotting infrastructures
of our water systems and sewers and railroads;
Not about the failing school systems and tuition raises
making college impossible for large numbers of the middle class;
Not about the dead and maimed of unending,
unwinnable wars, or the trillions spent to kill and destroy;
Not about the unprecedented droughts
and unprecedented floods afflicting not only such faraway countries as Russia and Pakistan but increasingly, whole regions
of the United States itself, as a result of the worsening climate crisis;
Not
about any of these but about different ways of squeezing choking, drowning those governmental programs that could meet these
needs.
Why? to reduce the federal debt swollen by senseless wars, by slashing the taxes
of the hyper wealthy 2% of Americans, and by failing to tax the real incomes of great global corporations.
For me, this echoed the teaching of the Passover Seder that In every generation, a Pharaoh arises to oppress us –
in this generation, Pharaoh in the form of the great corporations that have now bought most of Congress; and that In every
generation, every human being must know that it is we, not our ancestors only, who must go forth to freedom.
When one policewoman read us the first of three warnings that must precede the arrest, I thanked her for their courtesy
and then added – “As police officers, you must enforce the law. And you are also citizens, and I hope that you
too will join us to speak on behalf of the hungry and the homeless, against those who now control this Capitol.”
And to all our readers -- May you do the same, in the Name of that Unity Who under many different names
calls us to pursue justice by just means. Now more than ever: As the Hassidim teach, it is from the deepest dark that
new light rises.
Shalom, salaam, shantih, peace and healing -- Arthur
Rabbi Arthur Waskow, director, The Shalom Center http://www.theshalomcenter.org; newest book, co-authored with R. Phyllis Berman, is Freedom Journeys: The Tale of Exodus
& Wilderness across Millennia (Jewish Lights), available from “Shouk
Shalom,” our on-line bookstore --
https://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/602/t/4180/shop/shop.jsp?storefront_KEY=698
_______________________________________________
InterfaithWitness mailing list
Post: InterfaithWitness@lists.forusa.org
List info: https://lists.mayfirst.org/mailman/listinfo/interfaithwitness
To Unsubscribe
Send email to: InterfaithWitness-unsubscribe@lists.forusa.org
- Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2011
11:53 AM Subject: RE: Afghanistan
Dear Sheila , Thank you so much to all of you who’ve joined me in calling
for a decisive end to the nearly decade-long war in Afghanistan. Tens of thousands of people have already signed onto our effort to start
bringing our troops home, but we know ending it will take many more Americans standing up and making their voices heard.
There are a few things
you can do right now to spread the word and ask people to join us: It’s
been almost ten years, and we can’t just stand by any longer while we continue to spend billions of dollars and put
our brave servicemen and women in harm’s way. That’s why I’m proud to stand with Senators Barbara Boxer,
Sherrod Brown, Dick Durbin and all of you to call for a responsible – but definitive – end date for complete
withdrawal of combat forces. If we all work together, we can end our nation’s longest war and bring our men and women in uniform home.
Thank you again for your
support, Kirsten
OUr dear friend... message from Bill Brisotti
Marie (Re) Zirkel died yesterday.
Wake:
Arthur White Funeral Home, 315 Conklin St, Farmingdale
Thursday & Friday, 2:00-5:00 & 7:00-9:30 Mass OLMM
Saturday, 9:45 am
--
All the best,
Mary Beth
| $$ for Jobs
& Education – Not War BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW BRING OUR WAR $$ HOME
National
March & Rally Saturday, April 9, 2011 At Noon
Union Square 14th Street
& Broadway New York City
Long
Island groups on LIRR Will meet at 11 a.m.
outside
the waiting room and march down to 14th Street together
Rally at Union Square
(14th and Broadway) at noon March leaves Union Square going south down Broadway at about 2:30 to Foley Square.
March is under 2
miles and takes 30 min to under 1 hour, depending on pace. The second rally or End Rally is at the Fountain at Foley Square until 5 PM.
For info:
www.UNACpeace.org or 646-998-6103
LI Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives 38 Old Country Road Garden City, NY 11530
Celebrating 26 Years
of Peacemaking on Long Island, 1985-2011
|
--
|
|
| PRESS RELEASE APRIL 1, 2011 CONTACT: Margaret Melkonian, LI Alliance, 516-640-0980,
mmelmc@yahoo.com Sister
Jeanne Clark OP, Pax Christi LI, 631-704-7187 Pax Christi Long Island Honors Fr. John Dear with Peacemaker
Award For Crossing the Line for Peace and Nonviolence
On Saturday, April 2 at Noon in Manhasset
On Saturday, April 2, Pax Christi Long Island will present its annual
Peacemaker of the Year Award to Fr. John Dear, S.J.
The luncheon program will take place at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock, 48 Shelter
Rock Road in Manhasset and begins at noon. Everyone is welcome. “Seen by many as the
spiritual heir of the Berrigan brothers, Fr. Dear believes that the key to the spiritual life is not just finding inner peace, but also bringing peace to bear on the outside world,”
says Sister Jeanne Clark, Coordinator of Pax Christi Long. Fr. John Dear is an internationally known voice for peace and nonviolence.
A Jesuit priest, pastor, peacemaker, organizer, lecturer, and retreat leader, he is the author/editor of 25 books, including
Living Peace; Peace Behind Bars; and his autobiography, A
Persistent Peace. He co-founded Pax Christi New Mexico and works on a nonviolent campaign to disarm Los Alamos,
a nuclear weapons facility. These days, he speaks to tens of thousands of people each year in churches, schools and communities
across the country and the world. He writes a weekly column for the “National Catholic Reporter” at www.ncrcafe.org. John Dear has been arrested over seventy-five times in acts of nonviolent civil disobedience
for peace, and has organized hundreds of demonstrations against war and nuclear weapons at military bases across the country.
His talk will reflect on his work crossing the line for peace and nonviolence.
In honoring Fr. Dear, we remember also the words of Dr.
Martin Luther King: “I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we
as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to
a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important
than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.”
“Pax Christi
LI renews its strong commitment to overcome violence and militarism and to bring peace to bear here on Long Island,”
says Sister Jeanne. Pax Christi Long Island is part of the national
Catholic Peace Movement. For more information, Pax Christi.LongIsland@verizon.net ###
Margaret Melkonian
Director LI Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives
38 Old Country Road Garden City, NY 11530
516-741-4360 Celebrating 26 Years
of Peacemaking on Long Island, 1985-2011
|
|
