tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54981391827050714262024-03-13T07:06:59.291-07:00Catholic Worker NewsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger119125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5498139182705071426.post-78104932929664950082012-01-25T10:28:00.000-08:002012-01-25T10:28:25.910-08:00The Catholic Worker Archives at 50<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ILyTV8OPWTo/TyBJhVRhwbI/AAAAAAAAAts/yPFF0-bfvhs/s1600/runkel+archives.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ILyTV8OPWTo/TyBJhVRhwbI/AAAAAAAAAts/yPFF0-bfvhs/s400/runkel+archives.jpg" width="280" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Phil Runkel at the Catholic Worker Archives.</i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Photo by Jim Forest</i></span></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Marquette University began its archival relationship with the Catholic Worker in March 1962, with the receipt of six boxes of Dorothy Day’s papers and records of the New York community. This was largely due to the initiative and collecting acumen of the director of libraries, William Ready. He had first broached the matter to Dorothy five years before (around the time that he was extending a similar invitation to J.R.R. Tolkien). A half-century later, the <a href="http://www.marquette.edu/library/archives/Mss/DDCW/DD-main.shtml">collection</a> comprises more than 200 cubic feet, including the personal papers of Dorothy Day, Peter Maurin, and others involved in the movement; records of past and present Catholic Worker communities; photographs, audio and video recordings; and a wide variety of publications. Most records are open to research use, although materials of a confidential nature have been restricted at the donor’s request. The collection continues to be frequently consulted by students, scholars, and the general public. Catholic Workers can support Marquette’s mission by saving their records (following these <a href="file:///H:/My%20Documents/GUIDELINES%20FOR%20CATHOLIC%20WORKER%20RECORD%20KEEPING%20AND%20ARCHIVING.doc">guidelines</a><a href="" name="_GoBack"></a>) and donating them on a periodic basis.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Archives is open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Inquiries, requests, and encouraging words are appreciated. Please contact:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Phil Runkel, Archivist<br />
Raynor Memorial Libraries<br />
1355 W. Wisconsin Avenue<br />
P.O. Box 3141<br />
Milwaukee, WI 53201-3141<br />
(414) 288-5903; FAX (414) 288-6709<br />
<a href="mailto:Phil.Runkel@marquette.edu">Phil.Runkel@marquette.edu</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.marquette.edu/library/archives/day.shtml"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.marquette.edu/library/archives/day.shtml</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5498139182705071426.post-64605042248160040802012-01-23T06:11:00.000-08:002012-01-24T06:17:14.267-08:00Peacemakers express concern for imprisoned priest<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>by Joshua J. McElwee</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AyWUAWPnj70/Tx68hzZ70kI/AAAAAAAAAr0/697JpyRTc7c/s1600/bix+2010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AyWUAWPnj70/Tx68hzZ70kI/AAAAAAAAAr0/697JpyRTc7c/s400/bix+2010.jpg" width="285" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Activists and friends of an 83-year-old Catholic priest imprisoned for an act of civil resistance are expressing some relief after prison officials responded to concerns he was facing unfair treatment in prison. The priest has not eaten since Jan. 10 to protest his placement in solitary confinement.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jesuit Fr. Bill Bichsel was serving a three-month prison term in the Federal Detention Center near Seattle, Wash., for a July 2010 action at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., where a new nuclear weapons manufacturing facility is being planned.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bichsel was moved Jan. 10 to a prison transition facility in Tacoma, Wash. He was sent back to the federal detention center in Seattle the next day because authorities said he had received an unauthorized visit at the transition facility.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fellow activists say Bichsel has begun a fast since his return to prison, where he is being held in solitary confinement. The activists also were concerned that Bichsel, who suffers from blood circulation problems, was not receiving an adequate number of blankets to keep warm.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In a posting <a href="http://disarmnowplowshares.wordpress.com/">at the blog of the “Disarm Now Plowshares” group</a> [2] Jan. 19, activist Blake Kremer said Bichsel had told him “it is very cold for me all of the time.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“I cannot sleep at all,” Kremer reported Bichsel as saying during a phone call. “24 hours a day without sleep, fighting off the chill. I have asked for a jacket or a pillow or a mattress; they do not comply.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zjpEfava09U/Tx68olTIDWI/AAAAAAAAAr8/KNcn3TrDHMM/s1600/william_bichsel+mug+shot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zjpEfava09U/Tx68olTIDWI/AAAAAAAAAr8/KNcn3TrDHMM/s1600/william_bichsel+mug+shot.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Knoxville County Jail mug shot.</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Activist Joe Power-Drutis reported this afternoon on the same blog that Bichsel has now received extra blankets and is “much warmer,” following a support vigil for the priest outside the prison Sunday, which saw more than 40 people attend.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Power-Drutis also said there “remains a couple of other health related issues” that the activists “hope to resolve those soon through direct negotiation.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Supporters say Bichsel was visited by Buddhist monks with the Nipponzan Myohoji order when he was moved to the Tacoma facility Jan. 10. They say the authorities at the facility reprimanded Bichsel for the visit and had him rearrested the next morning.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">According to Kremer, Bichsel started his fast partly “to unite us as one and strengthen resolve against nuclear weapons” and would be appreciative of any who would join him in the effort.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons said that while he couldn’t comment on the case of a specific inmate, he did say that the “typical issue” for all inmates in the federal system is a blanket and sheet, and that there is a “full health services staff on duty at all of our facilities.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“If we receive information either from the inmate or the inmate’s doctor on the street that there was some sort of pre-existing condition that was being treated, obviously we would pick up the ball from there,” said Chris Burke, a public information officer at the bureau’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Now, sometimes, our doctors’ treatment may differ from what [the prisoner] was receiving on the street for a lot of different reasons. But those conditions will still be treated regardless.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before his imprisonment for the Y-12 action, Bichsel had served a three-month sentence in the spring of 2011 for a November 2009 act of civil resistance at the U.S. Navy nuclear weapons base in Bangor, Wash.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Supporters were concerned for Bichsel during that imprisonment, as he was transferred between at least six different facilities across the country.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Writing on the “Disarm Now Plowshares” blog, Power-Drutis said that a May visit to Bichsel in the Knox County, Tenn., Sheriff's Detention Facility found the priest “a broken and very hurting soul.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Twelve others participated with Bichsel in the 2010 action at the Y-12 complex, for which they faced sentencing in September.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Four others participated with the priest in the 2009 action, which saw the activists cut through the outer fences of the Washington state naval base before walking toward the center of the base holding a sign that read “Disarm Now Plowshares Trident: Illegal Immoral” and scattering sunflower seeds and hammering on a roadway and fences.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Among the other four who participated in that action was Jesuit Fr. Steve Kelly, who has been imprisoned since April at the Seattle facility, where he is serving a 15 month sentence. According to supporters, Kelly has been in solitary for most of his imprisonment.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Two of the other three people found guilty for the 2009 action have since been released. Susan Crane, a member of the Jonah House community in Baltimore, is still being held on a 15 month sentence at the Federal Correction Institution in Dublin, Calif.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[Joshua J. McElwee is an NCR staff writer. His email address is jmcelwee@ncronline.org.]</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Source:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://ncronline.org/news/peace/activists-express-concern-about-health-imprisoned-priest"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://ncronline.org/news/peace/activists-express-concern-about-health-imprisoned-priest</span></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5498139182705071426.post-6353470722954104312012-01-12T06:33:00.000-08:002012-01-25T04:46:10.756-08:00Almost Forty Anti-Torture Activists Arrested at White House<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CjOZ33I7tFU/Tx7D0V1NzjI/AAAAAAAAAsU/_GB406aW2CE/s1600/Jan11%252C_march.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="425" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CjOZ33I7tFU/Tx7D0V1NzjI/AAAAAAAAAsU/_GB406aW2CE/s640/Jan11%252C_march.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">WASHINGTON, DC--Thirty-seven members of Witness Against Torture were arrested in front of the White House on Thursday, January 12 around three this afternoon. Dressed in the iconic Guantanamo orange jumpsuits and black hoods and accompanied by a cage representing indefinite detention, the activists were warned to clear the sidewalk by National Park Police or risk arrest. After occupying the sidewalk for more than three hours, they were arrested one by one.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“We came to the White House because just eleven days ago, President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act. It is dead wrong,” says Leah Grady Sayvetz, an activist and college student form Ithaca, New York arrested this afternoon. “The NDAA makes Guantanamo near-permanent and expands detention powers just when this terrible and immoral detention apparatus should be being dismantled.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The activists held signs that said: “NDAA is Guantanamo Forever,” NDAA is Guantanamo Come Home,” “Shut Down Guantanamo,” “Shut Down Bagram,” “Release Those Unjustly Bound” and pulled a full-size cage up on the side walk.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Witness Against Torture took the cage to the White House on Saturday, January 7 and began a twenty-four hour a day vigil that ended on January 11 at the end of the Ten Years Too Many National Day of Action to Shut Down Guantanamo.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Witness Against Torture, a grassroots movement to shut down Guantanamo, is completed a ten day “Hungering for Justice” liquids-only fast January 12. About one hundred people—in DC and around the country—participated in the fast and engaged in daily actions in front of the White House, and elsewhere to call attention to the terrible injustice that is Guantanamo, Bagram, and secret prisons.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>For more information, visit:</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.witnesstorture.org/">www.witnesstorture.org</a></span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Photos, photos, photos!</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nearly 300 photos of 2012 Witness Against Torture were taken by Justin Norman, <a href="mailto:justin@shriekingtree.com">justin@shriekingtree.com</a> from Des Moines, Iowa.</span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A slide show of these photos is here.</span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/shriekingtree/sets/72157628783007611/show/"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.flickr.com/photos/shriekingtree/sets/72157628783007611/show/</span></a></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5498139182705071426.post-84513990800768038432012-01-11T06:17:00.000-08:002012-01-24T06:30:19.668-08:00The Guantanamo Nightmare Turns Ten<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>by Ane Bores</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PteOH6wpyRE/Tx6_rTKHFTI/AAAAAAAAAsE/b-zmLsXV634/s1600/guantanamo-hombre.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PteOH6wpyRE/Tx6_rTKHFTI/AAAAAAAAAsE/b-zmLsXV634/s640/guantanamo-hombre.jpg" width="424" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ten years after the fateful events of September 11, 2001, when al-Qaeda suicide bombers flew two planes into the Twin Towers in New York, killing thousands of civilians and sparking a conflict between East and West which continues to this day, the closure of the Guantánamo detention centre is still more of a dream than a reality.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The US high security concentration camp at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, around 570 miles from Havana, was opened in 2002 to house terrorists captured during the War on Afghanistan. Former president George W. Bush launched this offensive soon after 9/11 to protect the US public from the terrorist threat.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Guantánamo detention centre has always been at the centre of controversy because of its disregard for the presumption of innocence and the most basic rights of detainees.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">According to several UN reports, there is clear evidence that many of those held have suffered torture or degrading treatment, including interrogation under extreme conditions.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hundreds of classified documents published by Wikileaks have revealed that the Pentagon’s real objective was always to obtain the greatest amount of information possible in order to help eliminate al-Qaeda members.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is what happened at the beginning of May, 2011, in the case of Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda, who was executed by the US government on the basis of information obtained from suspect interrogation techniques. Meanwhile, some 60% of prisoners transferred to Guantánamo remain under indefinite detention; even though it has yet to be proven that they actually pose a real threat.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Broken promise</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In January 2009, President Barack Obama promised to close Guantánamo within twelve months. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The day after taking office, Obama ordered the temporary suspension of activities at the camp, and no military tribunals were held for 120 days while the new administration reviewed the judgments of those accused of terrorist offences, expressly condemning the use of illegal interrogation methods.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, three years later, Guantánamo is still unfinished business for the Obama administration. The camp remains open and exists in a legal void. The lack of financial resources for transferring prisoners to the United States, and the refusal of other countries to take any of the detainees, means the closure of Guantánamo seems increasingly remote and impossible to predict.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d4y5WH5IN_c/Tx7ALRPHpwI/AAAAAAAAAsM/8qnererWugE/s1600/Guantanamos-cabezas-cubiertas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="268" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d4y5WH5IN_c/Tx7ALRPHpwI/AAAAAAAAAsM/8qnererWugE/s400/Guantanamos-cabezas-cubiertas.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The camp’s closure was hindered considerably when the Republicans successfully gained control of Congress in the 2010 elections, using their new majority to block the use of public funds for prisoner transfers.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was around this time that the US held the first and only civilian trial of a Guantánamo detainee.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ahmed Ghailani was acquitted of 284 of the 285 charges against him, but the prisoner transfer veto by Congress meant that further trials could not go ahead. The US Attorney General was obliged to lay charges against a group of five prisoners to be tried by a military tribunal at Guantánamo Bay.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some prisoners were moved to other countries, such as Spain, but that was only around 70 of them – a small minority indeed.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Wikileaks exposes the scandal</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i><br />
</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On April 25, 2011, leading international newspapers published revelations by Wikileaks.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The internet organization had gained access to around 760 classified military reports dating from 2002 to 2009 which exposed how many elderly people and teenagers with no terrorist links were being held and transferred to Guantánamo with the sole aim of obtaining information from them.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">According to the files, prisoners would be held in detention regardless of their state of health if it was thought that they were hiding valuable intelligence.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Spanish newspaper El País, which had access to the classified documents, reported that the US administration did not even know why some of the prisoners had been moved to Guantánamo, and in many cases it was concluded that the detainee posed no threat, although they were still kept in detention.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One 89-year-old man with senile dementia and depression, for example, was imprisoned because a satellite phone had been found in the residential block where he lived.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The reports also explain the Pentagon’s assessment system for trying detainees, based, in the main, on suspicion and the accusations of fellow inmates. Despite failing to obtain any reliable evidence to corroborate the offences they are charged with, 143 people have spent more than nine years imprisoned in Guantánamo.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Eight dead prisoners</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Inayatula, an Afghani, was last year to the list of prisoners found dead at Guantánamo under suspicious circumstances, who now number eight.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The US military put his death down to suicide. They allege that Inayatula, who is accused of being a member of al-Qaeda’s logistical wing, was unconscious and not breathing when the guards found him, and that they were unable to revive him.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the midst of the controversy over interrogation methods at Guantánamo, Inayatula’s autopsy will reveal whether or not he was yet another victim of Barack Obama’s policy failures.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Source:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.theprisma.co.uk/2011/06/05/guantanamo-detention-centre-or-nightmare/"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.theprisma.co.uk/2011/06/05/guantanamo-detention-centre-or-nightmare/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ed Note:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The results of Inayatula’s autopsy have yet to be reported. However, if this report is handled as questionably as similar reports, it is unlikely the public will know the truth in any case.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://my.firedoglake.com/valtin/2011/06/01/adweek-article-misrepresents-autopsy-results-on-guantanamo-suicide/"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://my.firedoglake.com/valtin/2011/06/01/adweek-article-misrepresents-autopsy-results-on-guantanamo-suicide/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5498139182705071426.post-16507920254821937242012-01-06T05:24:00.000-08:002012-01-24T06:11:51.738-08:00Three Y12 Resisters Finally Released<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-taM6UXdJiuA/Tx6xs88CYOI/AAAAAAAAArU/7y-7vTObAv0/s1600/Y12+2010+arrested.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="301" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-taM6UXdJiuA/Tx6xs88CYOI/AAAAAAAAArU/7y-7vTObAv0/s400/Y12+2010+arrested.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Police handcuff resisters at the July 2010 action in Tennessee.</i></span></td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thursday, January 6, 2012 marked the end of eight long months of imprisonment for Steve Baggarly, Mike Walli and Bonnie Urfer who have been released from prisons in Lisbon, Ohio; Morgantown, West Virginia; and Lexington, Kentucky. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Each received maximum sentences for their faithful witness against the destructive power of thermonuclear weapons at the Y12 Nuclear Weapons Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, July 5, 2010, resistance action. For each of them, the Y12 action was one of many compelling actions in which these resisters have stood to speak truth to power. Their odyssey through the legal system took them to jails and prisons in Knoxville, TN; Maryville, TN; Ocilla, GA; and Oklahoma City, OK in addition to the facilities from which they are released today.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pKZWa4V_BXs/Tx638uNpOEI/AAAAAAAAArs/u3heAcGUavc/s1600/Bonnie+Urfer+2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pKZWa4V_BXs/Tx638uNpOEI/AAAAAAAAArs/u3heAcGUavc/s200/Bonnie+Urfer+2011.jpg" width="128" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bonnie Urfer</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Still in custody is Bill “Bix” Bichsel. He entered SeaTac prison to serve three months for his Y12 action in November. (See related story.)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The last remaining Y12 resister from the July 2010 action to be sentenced is Dave Corcoran, who entered a plea of guilty in late December and will be sentenced on March 21, 2012.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Source:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.nukeresister.org/2012/01/07/three-y-12-nuclear-resisters-released-after-8-months-behind-bars/">http://www.nukeresister.org/2012/01/07/three-y-12-nuclear-resisters-released-after-8-months-behind-bars/</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cAEmyZfzgNs/Tx6zhuXu4ZI/AAAAAAAAArc/zbs4NOnQenU/s1600/Mike+Walli.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cAEmyZfzgNs/Tx6zhuXu4ZI/AAAAAAAAArc/zbs4NOnQenU/s200/Mike+Walli.jpg" width="140" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Mike Walli</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Ed. Note: Bonnie Urfer and Steve Baggarly wrote eloquent sentencing statements. These may be read below.</b></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Bonnie Urfer's Sentencing Statement</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://catholicworkercommentary.blogspot.com/2011/09/bonnie-urfers-statement-to-court-so.html">http://catholicworkercommentary.blogspot.com/2011/09/bonnie-urfers-statement-to-court-so.html</a> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Steve Baggarly's Sentencing Statement</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://catholicworkercommentary.blogspot.com/2011/09/steve-baggarly-sentencing-statement.html">http://catholicworkercommentary.blogspot.com/2011/09/steve-baggarly-sentencing-statement.html</a> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-u2jvKXNzoXo/Tx6zqYZePAI/AAAAAAAAArk/q_qFaQOFV_Q/s1600/Steve+Baggarly+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-u2jvKXNzoXo/Tx6zqYZePAI/AAAAAAAAArk/q_qFaQOFV_Q/s200/Steve+Baggarly+1.JPG" width="156" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Steve Baggarly</i></span></td></tr>
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</span></o:p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5498139182705071426.post-38212808501344941552012-01-05T07:15:00.000-08:002012-01-05T07:15:49.253-08:00Rita Corbin Calendars Still Available<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BrR8Qt3bFio/TwW-Wq-sVhI/AAAAAAAAAqY/xbgdnW_qCiY/s1600/Corbin+calendar+cover.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="502" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BrR8Qt3bFio/TwW-Wq-sVhI/AAAAAAAAAqY/xbgdnW_qCiY/s640/Corbin+calendar+cover.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Maggie Corbin reports that there are some 2012 Calendar, designed by her mother Rita Corbin, are still available. Rita had finished about half of this annual project when she was killed in car accident in November. Maggie is herself a graphic designer and was able to complete and publish the calendar.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The calendars are $7.00 each to cover the cost of printing and shipping—an amazing bargain for something so beautiful and inspiring. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also available are Rita Corbin art note cards for $7.00 per dozen (assorted designs)</span></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Please send orders to</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i> Rita Corbin Art</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i> PO Box 1543</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i> Brattleboro, VT 05302</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Make checks payable to Maggie Corbin. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5498139182705071426.post-61091944912550877772012-01-04T12:11:00.000-08:002012-01-04T12:11:16.850-08:00Maloy Catholic Worker Craft Retreat Returns!<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VMmhMrynHqg/TwSxRCmrnwI/AAAAAAAAAp0/Rwv7I8LIwjY/s1600/SandyBaskets.19105253_std.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VMmhMrynHqg/TwSxRCmrnwI/AAAAAAAAAp0/Rwv7I8LIwjY/s320/SandyBaskets.19105253_std.jpg" width="301" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Basket weaving at a previous retreat.</span></i></td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MALOY, IA--Strangers and Guests Catholic Worker in Maloy, Iowa, will host a Craft Retreat, February 16-21, 2012.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once again, the retreat will offer a rich blend of learning, sharing, making music, making useful things and celebration. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here is a tentative schedule:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <i>Thursday</i>: Arrival, organizing, planning and loom set-up<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <i>Friday</i>: Rag preparation and weaving, cheese making<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <i>Saturday</i>: Basket weaving (with newspaper) class, weaving on loom<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <i>Sunday</i>: Liturgy, Sabbath relaxation and in the evening, pot luck, folk dancing and singing with our neighbors.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <i>Monday</i>: Weaving continues. Candle-dipping<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <i>Tuesday</i>: Scripture study, finish projects, clean-up, good-byes<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Other possible crafts are soap making and weaving dishcloths or kitchen towels. If you have a skill you’d be willing to offer, let the organizer know.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For more information, contact:</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><pre style="background: white;"><tt><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Betsy Keenan <<a href="mailto:keenanweaving@yahoo.com" style="cursor: pointer;">keenanweaving@yahoo.com</a>><o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5498139182705071426.post-26795716864326868002012-01-04T11:41:00.000-08:002012-01-04T11:41:29.427-08:00Anti-Torture Activists Trial Begins in DC<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rcuoVS-VNHg" width="420"></iframe><br />
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</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">WASHINGTON, DC--A jury trial for five anti-torture activists began on Tuesday, January 3, 2012 in D.C. Superior Court before Judge Fisher on a charge of unlawful conduct.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Our strategy is to put Guantanamo on trial,” says Josie Setzler, a human rights advocate and grandmother from Ohio, “to demand action from our elected Representatives and our President, to see Guantanamo shut down and this travesty ended.”</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On June 23, 2011, as the House of Representatives voted on an appropriations bill containing a measure to strip funding from any efforts to repatriate Guantanamo detainees, the activists stood one by one and addressed the men and women elected to represent their interests. Their statement began:</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Today the House of Representative is in the process of contemplating not the passage of a bill but the commission of a crime. Provisions in the proposed Defense Appropriations Bill grant the United States powers over the lives of detained men fitting of a totalitarian state that uses the law itself as an instrument of tyranny. The law would make the prison at Guantanamo permanent by denying funds for the transfer of men to the United States, even for prosecution in civilian courts.”</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Spread throughout the House Gallery, the fourteen were able to complete their statements before being led away by Congressional guards. Many of the Representatives on the floor listened intently, while others jeered derisively. Everyone within hearing range understood that the activists were objecting to the continued abuse and detention of men at Guantanamo—many of whom have been cleared for release by the Bush and Obama administrations but continue to be held largely because of the political cowardice of Congress. The fourteen welcome the opportunity to make their case before a jury in a trial that is expected to last most of the week. According to court documents, the case is known as “Shakir Ami (aka Bryan Hynes) et al Co-Defendants;” a somewhat garbled reference to Shaker Aamer, one of the longest-held men at Guantanamo, a British resident of Pakistani descent. In the past, Witness Against Torture activists have been arrested without IDs and taken the names of men at Guantanamo, ensuring—at least symbolically—that these men have a day in court, a day denied them by the Obama administration. The defendants-- Brian Hynes of the Bronx, NY, Judith Kelly of Washington, DC, Mike Levinson of White Plains, NY, Carmen Trotta of New York City, NY, and Josie Setzler of Freemont, Ohio—were among fourteen originally arrested and charged. The government dropped charges against the other nine just days ago, saying arresting officers could not positively identify most of the activists.</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5498139182705071426.post-90620995167307515652012-01-04T11:26:00.000-08:002012-01-04T11:26:36.262-08:00Anti-Torture Activists "Occupy" Washington, DC<div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IabiRBzjK1I/TwSnpcE4ZQI/AAAAAAAAApo/PDCtwrfji-U/s1600/Witness+against+torture+2012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IabiRBzjK1I/TwSnpcE4ZQI/AAAAAAAAApo/PDCtwrfji-U/s400/Witness+against+torture+2012.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">WASHINGTON, D.C. — January 11 will mark the tenth anniversary of the first detainees' arrival at the U.S.-controlled detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. To remember this travesty, Witness Against Torture is planning 10 days of activities in Washington, D.C. demanding an end to torture and indefinite detention at Guantanamo, Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, and elsewhere, and that the president reject the just-passed National Defense Authorization Act.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jan. 2-12: WAT sponsors Hungering for Justice, a 10-day fast highlighting the ongoing crimes at Guantanamo and Bagram. Dozens of activists are expected to participate in the fast in Washington as well as other cities. Locations of daily activities in support of the fast to be announced. Jan. 3: The jury trial of 14 anti-torture activists is scheduled to begin in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, Moultrie Courthouse, 500 Indiana Ave., N.W. In June 2011, the 14 stood one by one in the Gallery of the House of Representatives to petition lawmakers to uphold the Constitution by not making funding for Guantanamo permanent. WAT will stand with the 14 in the court room, outside the courthouse, and around the city as their trial proceeds.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On Wednesday, January 4 the defendants convened a press conference outside the courthouse before they went into trial for the day. Jan. 11: A dramatic Human Chain from the White House to the Capitol Building marks the 10th anniversary of detention at Guantanamo. WAT joins a broad coalition of human rights groups in sponsoring this vigil, which will begin after a noontime rally in Lafayette Park. During the rally and vigil, activists will be wearing orange jumpsuits and holding signs and other visuals demanding that the detention center be closed.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Despite his campaign pledge to shut down Guantanamo, President Obama has continued the Bush administration's practice of indefinite military detention there and at Bagram,” says Jeremy Varon, professor of history at the New School and an organizer with WAT. “Now, Obama says he will sign the National Defense Authorization Act, which extends this abusive regime by allowing the president to order U.S. citizens, as well, to be held indefinitely without due process on American soil. Not one more year – not one more day – of such policies is acceptable. Witness Against Torture is here in Washington to add our message to the 'Occupy' movement's call for a return to a just political and economic system by demanding an end to the national disgrace that is Guantanamo.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Witness Against Torture is a grassroots movement that came into being in December 2005 when 24 activists walked to Guantanamo to visit the prisoners and condemn torture policies. Since then, it has engaged in public education, community outreach, and non-violent direct action. January 2012 will be the sixth year the group has “occupied” Washington, DC to call for justice, accountability and mercy. To learn more, visit <a href="http://www.witnesstorture.org/">www.witnesstorture.org</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5498139182705071426.post-61009398892677267772011-12-30T07:29:00.000-08:002012-01-05T04:41:58.058-08:00Report on the Holy Innocents Faith and Resistance Retreat in Washington, D.C.<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>by Art Laffin</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: right;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Focusing on the theme: ”Let all the World's Children Live--Remember the Massacred Children and Create the Beloved Community in a Disarmed World," </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">more than sixty people from the Atlantic and Southern Life Communities, and the New Jerusalem Community in Philadelphia, gathered in Washington, D.C. December 27-30 for the annual Holy Innocents Faith and Resistance retreat. The retreat included a moving ritual on the theme of the retreat, several compelling panels with parents and children reflecting on their experience living in Catholic Worker and resistance communities, prayerful reflection and liturgy, three nonviolent actions, and a spirited talent show.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">The Massacre of the Holy Innocents by </span><a href="http://www.wga.hu/bio/d/duccio/buoninse/biograph.html" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Duccio di Buoninsegna</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">, 1311</span> </span></i></td></tr>
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</tbody></table><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On December 28, the feast commemorating the slaughter of the holy innocents in Bethlehem ordered by King Herod, the community held an early morning witness outside the Pentagon metro entrance. Displaying a small mock drone warplane, eleven people staged a "die-in" to represent children and numerous others who have been murdered by U.S. Drone attacks in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and elsewhere. They were arrested and charged with failure to obey a lawful order and released several hours later with a February 17 court date. Following the arrests, as hundreds of military and civilian workers streamed into the Pentagon, the remainder of the community held a prayer service in the fenced-off area outside the Pentagon metro known as the "free speech" or "protest zone."</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: right;"></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On December 29, the community held a noon-time witness in front of the White House. Using the "mic-check" form of speaking that is practiced by the Occupy Movement, the witness included a reading of the massacre of the holy innocents (Mt. 2: 13-18), an account of how U.S. Drone warplanes are murdering innocents today, a "die-in" using a mock drone warplane, an offering of peace, justice and nonviolence resolutions for the New Year, and a creative spirit-led dance with people singing "Down By the Riverside." This same action was repeated again on December 30 at the White House with one addition. Toward the end of the witness, streamers with statements of how Drones can be transformed to serve life were placed on the mock drone warplane by adults and children. The retreat concluded with a closing circle at the anti-nuclear/anti-war vigil site across from the White House that was started by the late William Thomas and where Conception has vigiled for the last thirty years.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let us continue to pray with and for each other in this New Year as we conspire to create the Beloved Community. For with God and each other all things are possible!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Those arrested at the Pentagon were:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bill Frankel-Streit, Little Flower Catholic Worker in Virginia</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Amber Mason, Dorothy Day Catholic Worker</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kevin Mason, Dorothy Day Catholic Worker</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kathy Boylan, Dorothy Day Catholic Worker</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Clare Grady, Ithaca Catholic Worker</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Marie Grady-DeMott, Ithaca Catholic Worker</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Steve Woolford, Silk Hope (N.C.) Catholic Worker</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Liz McAlister, Jonah House</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sr. Margaret McKenna, New Jerusalem Community</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rosemary Thompson, Baltimore peace activist</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Joan Wages, Peace activist from Central Virginia</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">_________</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vK9ABO8Hx1Q/TonI3yDcpQI/AAAAAAAAAMI/bwcHIQpHe_o/s1600/Art+Laffin+w+Drone+sign.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; color: #0000d6; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vK9ABO8Hx1Q/TonI3yDcpQI/AAAAAAAAAMI/bwcHIQpHe_o/s320/Art+Laffin+w+Drone+sign.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 1px 1px 5px; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(229, 229, 229); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(229, 229, 229); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(229, 229, 229); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(229, 229, 229); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; border-width: initial; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 1px 1px 5px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 5px; position: relative;" width="222" /></a></div><pre style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><tt><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Art Laffin <<a href="mailto:artlaffin@hotmail.com" saprocessedanchor="true" style="color: #0000d6; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">artlaffin@hotmail.com</a>></span></span></tt></pre><pre style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dorothy Day CW House</span></pre><pre style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">503 Rock Creek Church Road, NW</span></pre><pre style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Washington, D.C. 20010</span></pre><pre style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><tt><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Phone: 202.882.9649 or 202.829.7625</span></span></tt></pre><pre style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://dccatholicworker.wordpress.com/" style="color: #0000d6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">http://dccatholicworker.wordpress.com/</a></pre><pre style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"></pre><pre style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"></pre><pre style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><tt><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></o:p></span></tt></pre><pre style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></o:p></span></pre><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5498139182705071426.post-30629161947299415862011-12-29T07:16:00.000-08:002012-01-04T07:29:08.914-08:00Catholic Workers Occupy Northwood Military HQ<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8g2mPMoamKA/TwRwA5TSdmI/AAAAAAAAAnw/FtKUupSvqdI/s1600/occupy+northwood.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="425" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8g2mPMoamKA/TwRwA5TSdmI/AAAAAAAAAnw/FtKUupSvqdI/s640/occupy+northwood.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">EASTBURY, HERTFORDSHIRE, UK--Sixteen Catholic Workers closed and occupied the Main Entrance of Northwood Military Headquarters. Scott and Maria Albrecht, Henrietta Cullinan, John Lynes and Rachel Wood pitched tents, knelt and prayed in front of the main gate for 2 hour while others vigiled holding signs. One tent had the words, “The Prince of Peace pitched his tent among us” John 1:14. A sign said, “War is not a Solution” which is a direct message from the Young Afghan Peace Volunteers and another Pvt. Bradley Manning’s Quote, “Exposing the true nature of 21st Century asymmetrical Warfare”. A banner stating, “Occupy Northwood HQ not Afghanistan” was hung on the fence. The gate remained closed for the duration of the occupation. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Catholic Worker group had gathered to mark the Feast of Holy Innocents; when Catholics remember the children murdered by king Herod in his search for the infant Jesus. Catholic Workers make the connection with the powerful who continue to kill the innocents today in war, specifically Afghanistan. Northwood HQ is the command and control center for British forces in Afghanistan, all joint forces and NATO operations abroad. Northwood HQ has recently experienced a £1.2 billion building project; these funds could have otherwise benefited the community. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The five occupiers were: Maria Albrecht (50), Scott Albrecht (49) from the Catholic Worker Farm, Hertfordshire, Henrietta Cullinan (50) from the Catholic Worker in Hackney, John Lynes (83) Quaker from Hastings and Rachel Wood (28) from the Catholic Worker group Sheffield. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A group statement said, “At a time when government cuts are affecting innocent children, pensioners, teachers, the sick and refugees the last thing we need to be doing is to continue spending billions on warfare. Human lives are the deepest cost. The government complains about a few tents occupying a small square outside St. Paul’s cathedral while we’ve sent thousands of soldiers to occupy other people’s countries and destroy their lives. This government needs to get its priorities right”. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Catholic Worker Farm</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="mailto:thecatholicworkerfarm@yahoo.co.uk"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">thecatholicworkerfarm@yahoo.co.uk</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.thecatholicworkerfarm.org/"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">www.thecatholicworkerfarm.org</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">_______</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Source:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/12/490585.html"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/12/490585.html</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5498139182705071426.post-37174602357737886832011-12-27T06:39:00.000-08:002012-01-04T07:16:37.513-08:00Children of the "New" Afghanistan<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>A Thirst That Won’t be Quenched</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>by Ken Hannaford-Ricardi</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Ken Hannaford-Ricardi</i> </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">KABUL--It’s early evening near Pole Sorkh (po-lay sork) Square in western Kabul. Although it’s barely 6:00, winter’s cold bare feet have already started their walk across our apartment. Ali, Abdulai, Roz Mohammend, and Faiz have joined Maya and me on the floor of a small room that later will double as a bedroom for a quiet evening of reading and studying. Like most of the others, I’ve cocooned myself in a thick quilt and I’ve begun reading Ha Jin’s novel of the Korean War, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1400075793/counterpunchmaga">War Trash</a>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not five minutes into the Prologue, I sensed Faiz edging his way over to me. His voice quiet, almost a whisper, slips out into the room; “Will you study with me?” Over the next fifteen minutes, we worked our way through three short lessons in a workbook written for first graders. Each consists of a simple, one page story followed by a series of questions based on the text. They are extraordinarily simple; they seem almost humiliating for a twenty year old young man. As we study, nineteen-year-old Roz Mohammed shyly carried his blanket and English language dictionary to our corner and settled in. Every so often, he’d shyly interrupt Faiz as he read and say, “Teacher, what does this word mean?”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Across the room, Maya and Ali worked on the meanings of basic words culled from a middle school dictionary. Ali studied intently, pronouncing each word carefully, as if it were an egg that might easily be broken. “Basket. Bully. Bundle,” he would say, repeating each word until he got it right.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A half hour after we began, still only a few sentences into Ha Jin’s prologue, I looked across at Maya and asked, “Where in America can you find anything like this? A cold room, nothing but quilts and a kettle for tea on the floor, and four boys asking us question after question about a language they’re trying to learn.” In truth, this type of thing happens all the time in our small apartment. The five young Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers who live here with their friend and mentor, Hakim, never go anywhere without a workbook or dictionary. After breakfast, one pulls a sheet of paper from his jacket pocket and begins to study. Waiting for a ride, another asks, “What does this mean?”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Across the hall from us live four university students. One is studying electricity; one aspires to be a pharmacist. Two days after our arrival, one of them, a young man named Said, knocked on our door and asked if one of us would like to help them learn English. Maya and I settled on meeting them in their apartment at 7 pm that night. The first class had three students; the second, five; now there are six. We work from copied pages and a white board. Each student actively participates.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Each of these young men, all symbols of the “new Afghanistan,” possesses a thirst that won’t be quenched. In our conversational practice, we talk of how they will shape their country in the years ahead. According to some figures, 68 percent of Afghanistan’s thirty one million people are under eighteen years old. No matter what the old guard wants to believe, the future of Afghanistan belongs to the young. We can only hope they won’t be co-opted by the temptations dangled before them by western “leadership.” We can only hope they’ll grab the reins of power and gallop off in a new direction, one of peace and reconciliation.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If the world you and I inhabit really wants to help these young people, and I doubt very much it does, it will do all it can to slake their thirst for knowledge. It will provide all the help they ask for, and nothing more. It will respect their intelligence and desire to find their own way. These students deserve our respect. They know, no matter what we say, they don’t have it now. It’s about time they do.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Ken Hannaford-Ricardi is a long-time Catholic Worker from Worcester, Massachusetts. This is his second visit to Afghanistan. He can be reached at <a href="mailto:keninafghanistan@gmail.com">keninafghanistan@gmail.com</a></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">________</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Source:</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://wagingnonviolence.org/2011/12/a-thirst-that-wont-be-quenched/"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://wagingnonviolence.org/2011/12/a-thirst-that-wont-be-quenched/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5498139182705071426.post-9819569607971165302011-12-27T06:24:00.000-08:002012-01-04T06:39:51.589-08:00For Catholic Worker, Life-giving Work Is a Form of Prayer<div class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">by Sr. Camille D'Arienzo</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Julia Occhiogrosso, 50, was the sixth of seven children born to Frank and Gloria Occhiogrosso. Her twin sister, Christa, followed her by 3 minutes.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xO5kbPaJXgY/TwRjTLmsedI/AAAAAAAAAnY/kj_pHYJcGCI/s1600/Julie+Occhiogrosso.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xO5kbPaJXgY/TwRjTLmsedI/AAAAAAAAAnY/kj_pHYJcGCI/s1600/Julie+Occhiogrosso.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Julia Occhiogrosso</span> </span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Her parents, respected leaders in their local parish of St. Jerome in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, sent their children to its elementary school. And as owners and agents of Ideal World Travel, they could arrange trips for anyone to go anywhere in the world, taking particular delight in sending tourists to the Holy Land.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They could not have guessed that three of their daughters would journey across the country to live among the destitute served by Catholic Worker communities in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. These are lands made holy by those who devote themselves to serving society's homeless and hungry men, women and children.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Julia, what values did your parents instill in you?</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My parents valued integrity. They led a life guided by Christian principles. They modeled hard work and contributed to the local community. They had a caring relationship with each other and commitment to the family. They provided solid ground, consistency and a loving, affectionate home.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>How did your siblings influence you?</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During my years at Edward R. Murrow High School, my eldest sister, Rosemary, was studying to be a nurse and working as a volunteer with the United Farmworkers in Delano, Calif. I was aware of Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers movement because my two older siblings, Regina and Michael, were active with their local boycott in Brooklyn. I was 13 when I joined them on my first picket line.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Did anyone exert special influence on you?</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rosemary, through her letters describing her work with the poor in California. Her words, "We must never forget the poor," stayed inside me. While Regina and Michael had liberal political perspectives that certainly affected my formation, Rosemary was motivated by her Catholic faith. While Rosemary was in Delano, members of the L.A. Catholic Worker recruited her to administer their free clinic on Skid Row. In 1979, she joined the LACW community.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>What brought you there?</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The summer my twin and I graduated from high school, our parents gave us airline tickets to visit Rosemary. Rather than opting for Disneyland and other tourist attractions, I was drawn to working in the soup kitchen. Little did my parents expect us to come home with a desire to join the Catholic Worker. Following that first summer, I returned to New York to attend SUNY Cortland. Throughout the year, I stayed in contact with Catherine Morris, an LACW leader. The next summer, Christa and I returned as volunteers.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Did some particular experience strengthen your resolve?</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I remember tagging along with Mary Smith, a nurse in the community. We went door to door in the run-down Skid Row hotels. Mary spoke Spanish, informing the families about a summer project for children. We walked tenuously through darkened hallways, avoiding broken glass. The air reeked of urine. Peeking out from behind their moms were little children with dazed eyes. They seemed to wonder, "What can you do for me?" My heart knew in those moments that I was being invited to be with the poor. In 1982, I dropped out of SUNY, and Christa left the New York School of Visual Arts. We lived and worked at the LACW until 1986.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Christa then left to pursue her degree as an art therapist. Rosemary moved on and I was commissioned to open the LACW's first sister house in Las Vegas, not far from the Nevada Nuclear Test Site, which we opposed.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>How did you get started?</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">LACW volunteer Rick Chun spent six months with me. We hit the streets serving ice water to people in the streets. We asked what would best serve their needs. They wanted coffee and breakfast for the day laborers. This was the start of the morning soup line.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Did others join you?</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the first five years, different people came for six months to a few years. The lack of a consistent, long-term community was taking a toll on me. Just as I thought I needed a break, Gary Cavalier, whom I'd known at the LACW, joined me. We shared similar values. Gary brought insight, energy and creativity to the LVCW. His background in printing and publishing helped improve our newsletter, <i>Manna</i>. We were married in 1994.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>How did that change your life?</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because I wanted a family, we adopted two boys. We moved out of the hospitality house with Gary commuting to run the projects. When the boys started school, I was able to spend more time at the Worker. We soon were running a grassroots interfaith program for homeless families, along with the Catholic Worker house.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Did the boys bring about any change in your commitments?</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 1996, we moved closer to a Montessori school run by a friend who accepted the boys without charge. When they approached adolescence, Cody and Nick began developing bipolar disorder and were reliving the psychological trauma of early childhood abuse and neglect. By the time they were 12 and 13, we were losing them to the streets. Many years at the Catholic Worker had shown us the pains of mental illness, but now it was in our home.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>What happened next?</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After they spent months in dangerously disturbing acting-out behaviors, I found a place in Colorado that understood what was happening and how to help our family. In the summer of 2010 we were granted a sabbatical leave to move to Colorado for the support and expertise needed to stabilize our sons.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>What happened at the LVCW?</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The work continues. Just when we needed to leave, a couple that had spent a year in L.A. volunteered to take over. Gary commutes to Las Vegas. And day by day we work toward our sons' stability and independence. The older will be 18 in March. We've taken in three more foster sons and plan to return to the LVCW in a few years.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Julia, you've taken on some large challenges. Has any particular Scripture passage sustained you?</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Different passages speak to me differently in different moments. The parable of loaves and fishes and Matthew 25, "Whatsoever you do to the least of these you do unto me," have special meaning for me. The paradoxes and metaphors found in Scripture show up often in my thoughts and they influence my writing.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>What is your image of God?</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I envision God incarnated in the dynamic of human relationships. I embrace my image of God when I'm able to revere both the wounds and sacredness in myself and others. In human relationships, we're given the privilege to engage in the give-and-take of a love that endures suffering, sacrifice and commitment, as well as a love that comforts, rejoices and hopes.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>What about your faith is most meaningful to you?</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Faithfulness to Jesus' message of radical love and forgiveness provides infinite possibilities toward personal and social transformation.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Who most influenced your belief system?</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, co-founders of the Catholic Worker Movement. Other influences include Jeff Dietrich and Catherine Morris, who were my first mentors with the Catholic Worker and remain loyal friends.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Please explain.</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was in my 20s when I first joined the L.A. Catholic Worker community. It was a very exciting time for me. The work with the poor and nonviolent peace protests and living in community all felt right for me. But it was not until a couple years into it that I became interested in understanding the history, vision and principles that sustained the Catholic Worker lifestyle. Dorothy, Peter and all the early members of the Catholic Worker gave expression to a contemporary understanding of the Christian life that still inspires my journey.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Where did you feel most at home?</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Surrounded by the love, friendship and support of my community and family.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Why?</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The heart of the Catholic Worker mission revolves around the practice of the corporal Works of Mercy, and I have known the treasures and disappointments of attempting to follow this practice faithfully. It is this type of human engagement that continues to be a path of personal challenge, introspection and spiritual growth. For me, the practice of the Works of Mercy provides the opportunity to experience the power of God's love incarnate.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>How do you bring your faith to the workplace?</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here in Colorado, I work with some of the most severely abused and neglected children in our society. Their need for healing requires much patience and understanding. They exhibit behaviors that would push the kindest of hearts to abandon them -- this is indeed part of their pathology. Jesus' witness of relentless persistence to the outcast "undeserving poor" is an enduring model for me. My faith in the presence of the Divine in even the most volatile and aggressive ones sustains me in this work.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>How do you pray?</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In many ways. I feel close to our Creator when I walk down a beautiful country road. In the same way, I know God's wonder and holiness in liturgical rites and communal prayer. Prayerful moments can come to me as I comfort a crying child or look in to the eyes of a man as I serve him a bowl of soup. Creative, life-giving work is a form of prayer for me.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>What in contemporary Catholicism encourages or distresses you?</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What distresses me about Catholicism is the misuse of power and the hierarchical structures that in many cases are antithetical to the Gospel model of love and service. What encourages me are the many, many ordinary people of faith who are guided and inspired by the powerful social teachings of the church.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>What causes you sorrow?</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am filled with sorrow about injustice to the most vulnerable members of our society. Human suffering and destruction to creation causes me great pain.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>What causes you joy?</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am filled with joy from friendships, community and holy work. The gift of beauty, especially from creation, fills me with joy.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">_______</span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Source</i>:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://ncronline.org/blogs/conversations-sr-camille/catholic-worker-life-giving-work-form-prayer"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://ncronline.org/blogs/conversations-sr-camille/catholic-worker-life-giving-work-form-prayer</span></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5498139182705071426.post-91929221695982258452011-12-25T06:19:00.000-08:002012-01-04T06:24:32.950-08:00Kathy Kelly Speaks about War on Terror<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>America’s longest war should come to an end</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>by Lewis W. Diuguid</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before New Year’s Eve, people of conscience and people who refuse to accept war as a solution should go to the Central Library downtown.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LyGaFp2kuK0/TwRgy_NQZMI/AAAAAAAAAnM/HSXx51CSgZE/s1600/Kathy+Kelly+mic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="319" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LyGaFp2kuK0/TwRgy_NQZMI/AAAAAAAAAnM/HSXx51CSgZE/s320/Kathy+Kelly+mic.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Until Dec. 31, they’ll find the “Windows and Mirrors: Reflections on the War in Afghanistan” murals on display. The gigantic art illustrates the bloodshed and costs of America’s longest war and helps inspire creative solutions.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kathy Kelly, who coordinates Voices for Creative Nonviolence, spoke about the same concerns this month at the library beneath the murals and at Holy Family Catholic Worker House. “If people knew what was happening in direct consequence of our war of choice, if people knew they would say no,” Kelly said. “This is not how we want to be.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s why the war in Afghanistan must end just as this nation was relieved by the war’s conclusion this month in Iraq.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kelly is no stranger to Kansas City, having been jailed in the 1980s for planting corn on missile silo grounds. She has visited Afghanistan four times with others interested in peace to learn about the effects of the war on everyday Afghans and neighboring Pakistanis. She shared those stories in connection with the American Friends Service Committee library exhibit.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One mural depicts scenes of U.S. drones, silhouetted children scattering, bloodshed and the unmanned planes flying off in a mechanical detachment from the trauma they caused on innocent civilians. Kelly, a three-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee, is a petite, nonthreatening, 58-year-old Chicago native. She carried no weapons in Afghanistan, wore no armor and was not embedded with the U.S. military.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Like Mohandas Gandhi, her presence and voice bring peace to war-torn areas. Kelly pushed peace in Iraq before and during that war. She’s at it again in Afghanistan. She told stories of kids gathering firewood being slaughtered by drones.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In another instance, women going to market in three vehicles were attacked by drones. Two of the vehicles were destroyed.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Information that the vehicles may have contained women and children was overridden in the interest of U.S. troop safety. What’s clear is the information from drones and other technology exceeds military intelligence’s ability to digest it and act accordingly.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“My friends, war is always counterproductive and futile,” Kelly said. “The military is accelerating our decline.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When it comes to drones, President Barack Obama is worse than President George W. Bush. According to one report, by March 3, 2011, Obama had ordered 180 drone strikes compared with Bush’s 42.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kelly met several individuals who had no idea what 9-11 was or any knowledge of a terrorist attack in the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001, which provoked the 10-year-old, $2 billion a week war in their country.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Americans must constantly combat what President Dwight Eisenhower correctly called the military industrial complex, which uses U.S. lawmakers and profits from endless wars. People need to see the devastating effect fighting has on innocent civilians.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The downtown library exhibit focuses on that in the traumatized expression of a girl in a scarf in a mural titled “The Children of Afghanistan.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The horror is in a mural of a woman with a prosthetic leg titled “What’s Lost.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kelly said a man who showed her photos of members of his family who had been killed in the war asked, “Do you think that we like to live this way?”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kelly urged the audience to get involved to end the war and get the United States to rebuild that nation, which for 30 years has suffered from warfare. “People have the capacity to end wars by raising their voices,” she said.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The silence is consent, and no one can afford to sit by and be silent anymore.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Source:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.kansascity.com/2011/12/25/3335705/americas-longest-war-should-come.html"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.kansascity.com/2011/12/25/3335705/americas-longest-war-should-come.html</span></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5498139182705071426.post-3859941560416873772011-12-21T14:32:00.000-08:002011-12-21T14:32:37.036-08:00Fool for Christ: The Story of Dorothy Day, with actress Sarah Melici<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>by Rosalie Riegle</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4gKm-wXQSh0/TvJeBKsFgZI/AAAAAAAAAm0/mfD39REbioE/s1600/fool+for+christ+dvd+jacket.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4gKm-wXQSh0/TvJeBKsFgZI/AAAAAAAAAm0/mfD39REbioE/s400/fool+for+christ+dvd+jacket.jpg" width="285" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Fool for Christ</i> premiered at Maryhouse in New York in February of 1998. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When Dan Berrigan saw the play for the first time, he wrote, "<i>Fool for Christ</i> is worthy of the original Dorothy.” </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In this one-woman drama, Melici masterfully plays Dorothy as well as eleven other characters important to her life, including Forster Batterham, the father of her daughter. As a costume, she wears a simple replica of the prison uniform from Dorothy’s last arrest, when she was jailed with the farm workers in Delano, California, supporting Cesar Chavez and the United Farmworkers union campaign.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sarah Melici toured the country with this wonderful play about Dorothy’s life, performing at colleges and parishes and Catholic Worker houses, sometimes being called back for repeat performances. Our Catholic Worker house in Saginaw, Michigan brought her both to Saginaw Valley State University and to the Diocesan Center, and she stayed at our house, where the guests all loved her.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-onkI5TK_sUs/TvJeOaJaNKI/AAAAAAAAAnA/VSzCXwBAyTo/s1600/Sarah+Melici.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-onkI5TK_sUs/TvJeOaJaNKI/AAAAAAAAAnA/VSzCXwBAyTo/s320/Sarah+Melici.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Sarah Melici</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unfortunately, Sarah is unable to tour with the play at the moment, but we are blessed that a beautiful video of her play is available. So even if you can't bring Sarah in person to your community, you can still bring this professionally done performance (not just a taping of the play but a video Sarah commissioned). </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you buy the DVD, you can view it as a community, show it to explain Dorothy to your parish and your friends, even use it as a fund-raiser as many houses did with the original play. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As Dan Berrigan says, "In this monologue--passionate, funny, and heartfelt--Dorothy Day lives!" </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To order, click on <a href="http://foolforchrist.com/dvd.html">http://foolforchrist.com/dvd.html</a>. Mention Catholic Worker On-line Journal and take a 20% discount when you buy two or more DVDs. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5498139182705071426.post-4586914887951580312011-12-21T11:15:00.000-08:002011-12-22T04:10:57.844-08:00Belgian Catholic Workers Join Wake at Border Detention Center<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-f3kS0iM0cUI/TvIv-knV2uI/AAAAAAAAAkA/IN1Z8_vijCU/s1600/belgian+cw+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="313" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-f3kS0iM0cUI/TvIv-knV2uI/AAAAAAAAAkA/IN1Z8_vijCU/s400/belgian+cw+3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On Saturday the December 10, 2011, the International Day of Human Rights, Catholic Workers in Belgium organized a "wake" mourning the detention of refugees and “illegalized” immigrants.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Belgium has six deportation centers (a type of border prison), and number seven is being built. Eight thousand people pass through these centers each year in Belgium alone. Some people are held for a few weeks, others for several months or even longer. In different individual cases Belgium has been convicted by the European Court of Human Rights violations for illegal detention of refugees. Still, the construction of the new center just goes ahead.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3C5s0mb2fGA/TvIv8R36C8I/AAAAAAAAAj4/q10d7XELnwE/s1600/belgian+cw+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3C5s0mb2fGA/TvIv8R36C8I/AAAAAAAAAj4/q10d7XELnwE/s400/belgian+cw+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was an inter-religious wake, with 45 participants from different communities including Buddhist, Catholic, Protestant and Muslim. At the wake each community brought prayer, song, biblical reading, meditation or a witness, according to particular tradition.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The wake had a good media response and was on local and national television.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fr Johannes Ghent CW <a href="mailto:johan@catholicworker.be">johan@catholicworker.be</a>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://thechristianradical.blogspot.com/2007/12/news-from-belgium-catholic-worker.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://thechristianradical.blogspot.com/2007/12/news-from-belgium-catholic-worker.html</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5498139182705071426.post-84720234399114520172011-12-21T11:05:00.000-08:002011-12-21T11:05:53.286-08:00Community Newsletters<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JWxGL2IFXJI/TvItDL-DEBI/AAAAAAAAAjg/wFgVp9urJXM/s1600/Catholic+Worker+paper+1935.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JWxGL2IFXJI/TvItDL-DEBI/AAAAAAAAAjg/wFgVp9urJXM/s1600/Catholic+Worker+paper+1935.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Page 1 of </i>The Catholic Worker<i> issued July/August, 1955.</i></span></td></tr>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"...For those who are huddling in shelters trying to escape the rain...For those who are walking the streets in the all but futile search for work...For those who think that there is no hope for the future, no recognition of their plight--this little paper is addressed...."</i></span></blockquote><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>The Catholic Worker</i>, May 1, 1933 </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And, with those words, the Catholic Worker movement began on May 1, 1933.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before the homeless shelters, the soup kitchens, or the farms, the first act taken by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin was to publish and distribute a newspaper named </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Catholic Worker</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It sold for a penny a copy.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The paper is still published today—at the same price—by Catholic Workers in New York City.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The editors of that paper choose to keep it only available in hard copy form, so you cannot read it online.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To receive it, write the editors at: The Catholic Worker, 36 East First Street, New York, NY 10003, United States. Phone: 212-777-9617.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The price for a mailed subscription is $.25 cents.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Larger donations, of course, are gratefully accepted.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In keeping with that tradition, many Catholic Worker communities publish their own community newsletters. Some are not online, but several are. <i>Catholic Worker Journal</i> has a section for these publications at this link.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.catholicworkerjournal.com/cwcommunitynewsletters.html"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.catholicworkerjournal.com/cwcommunitynewsletters.html</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If we don't have your newsletter, please email it to us, and we’ll be delighted to add it.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Recent newsletters we’ve been sent are:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Vancouver Catholic Worker</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://vancouvercatholicworker.org/FTWDecember2011.pdf"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://vancouvercatholicworker.org/FTWDecember2011.pdf</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Strangers and Guests Catholic Worker, Maloy, Iowa</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.catholicworkerjournal.com/sower.dec.2011.pdf"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.catholicworkerjournal.com/sower.dec.2011.pdf</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><a href="" name="<p>Dan_Wilson,_a_live-in_volunteer_at_th"></a>Cherith Brook Catholic Worker in Kansas City, MO.</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/72758121/Cherith-Brook-CW-Advent-2011"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.scribd.com/doc/72758121/Cherith-Brook-CW-Advent-2011</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">or <a href="http://cherithbrookcw.blogspot.com/2011/11/cherith-brook-advent-2011-newspaper.html">http://cherithbrookcw.blogspot.com/2011/11/cherith-brook-advent-2011-newspaper.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Omaha Catholic Worker</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.omahacatholicworker.com/Omaha.CW.newsletter.12.2011.pdf"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.omahacatholicworker.com/Omaha.CW.newsletter.12.2011.pdf</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>LA Catholic Worker, <i>The Catholic Agitator</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://lacatholicworker.org/agitator/CatholicAgitator-2011-12.pdf"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://lacatholicworker.org/agitator/CatholicAgitator-2011-12.pdf</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Tacoma, WA, Catholic Worker</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.catholicworkerjournal.com/Tacoma.Nov.2011.pdf"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.catholicworkerjournal.com/Tacoma.Nov.2011.pdf</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Dubuque, IA, Catholic Worker</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.catholicworkerjournal.com/DubuqueNewsletter.pdf"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.catholicworkerjournal.com/DubuqueNewsletter.pdf</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5498139182705071426.post-78826638204751689682011-12-21T10:11:00.000-08:002011-12-22T04:01:27.680-08:00Dorothy Day and Radical Journalism<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>by Jim Forest</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I recently found a book, <i>Art for The Masses: A Radical Magazine and its Graphics 1911-1917,</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> that I want to recommend to those with either an interest in radical journalism or in Dorothy Day. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KPnhN46Wb_Y/TvIgGDyAYfI/AAAAAAAAAjY/WAAaFQYF4qE/s1600/D+Day+selling+The+Call+1917.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="245" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KPnhN46Wb_Y/TvIgGDyAYfI/AAAAAAAAAjY/WAAaFQYF4qE/s320/D+Day+selling+The+Call+1917.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: italic; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Dorothy Day, center, and two friends selling the </span><a href="http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAcall.htm" style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">New York Call</a><span style="font-style: italic; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> in 1917.</span><i> </i><br />
<i>Day left </i>The New York Call<i> to work on </i>The Masses<i>.</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The book features much of the best art published in <i>The Masses</i>, one of America's most remarkable journals. Dorothy Day worked with <i>The Masses</i> in the months before it was closed by the US government in 1917, all its files and back issues confiscated, and the editors arrested and charged with sedition. The "crime" was opposition to US entry into World War I. Dorothy wasn't arrested because her name was not on the masthead when the warrants were written, and so she was able to get out the last issue. The publisher is Temple University Press. Used copies of both the hardcover and paperback edition are easy to find at used book sites.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The book is based on an exhibition organized by the Yale University Art Gallery in 1984. Used copies of both the hardcover and paperback editions are easy to find of used book sites. It offers not only a great deal of the journal's best artwork but also makes for fascinating reading.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mtcH3ZVnlxY/TvIfyVHa67I/AAAAAAAAAjQ/OiB20xgQ-zI/s1600/art+of+the+masses.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mtcH3ZVnlxY/TvIfyVHa67I/AAAAAAAAAjQ/OiB20xgQ-zI/s320/art+of+the+masses.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The book's cover.</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimforest/6510178243/in/photostream" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimforest/6510178243/in/photostream</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A look at the journal: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimforest/4816363012/" target="_blank">http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimforest/4816363012/</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wikipedia entry: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Masses" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Masses</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jim Forest <<a href="mailto:jhforest@gmail.com">jhforest@gmail.com</a>></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jim and Nancy Forest</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kanisstraat 5 / 1811 GJ Alkmaar / The Netherlands</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5498139182705071426.post-59999153860371626962011-12-21T10:01:00.000-08:002011-12-21T10:01:07.424-08:00Video of Jim Forest Speaking at Maryknoll<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/HVj93gVL5To?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another YouTube video has surfaced online of Jim Forest’s October appearance at the Maryknoll Speaker Series. A long-time Catholic Worker and friend of Dorothy Day, Forest was invited to talk about the life of Dorothy Day. Forest is the author of <i>All Is Grace</i>, a definitive biography of Dorothy Day published by Orbis Books. Other well-known books by Forest include <i>The Road to Emmaus: Pilgrimage as a Way of Life</i> and <i>Praying with Icons</i>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For more information about Jim:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jim Forest <<a href="mailto:jhforest@gmail.com">jhforest@gmail.com</a>></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jim and Nancy Forest</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kanisstraat 5 / 1811 GJ Alkmaar / The Netherlands</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.jimandnancyforest.com/"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.jimandnancyforest.com/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5498139182705071426.post-78863503244759252352011-12-21T06:21:00.000-08:002011-12-21T06:21:09.772-08:00City Honors Catholic Worker Hospitality House<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxRiXOrJZUUwhUm9yXMb8pDpdLqhPezuJ09Wnx19OKo81hf0lHnNOnDPW_XCIcKS7KsrhKiXYbSmh5UXjwE3Q' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">SAN BRUNO, CA--The City Council recognized the San Bruno <a href="http://sanbruno.patch.com/listings/catholic-worker-hospitality-house">Catholic Worker Hospitality House</a> with a written proclamation on November 3, formally thanking the staff for their hard work and dedication to the community. Vice Mayor Michael Salazar and Mary Nunnery presented the proclamation on the shelter grounds, located at <a href="http://sanbruno.patch.com/listings/st-brunos-catholic-church">St. Bruno's Catholic Church</a>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The founders of the Catholic Worker Hospitality House, Peter Stiehler and his wife Kate Chatfield, opened the center in 1996 and have been accommodating guests and serving meals since then. At present, the house is home for eight guests and a place to eat breakfast for the homeless every Tuesday through Friday.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After the city officials thanked Stiehler, Peter also said he was thankful to city for supporting the shelter.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"The people of San Bruno have been so supportive of all of our work over the years," Stiehler said. "No one wants to have a homeless shelter or soup kitchen in their town because (they) don't want folks who need to use such places. But San Bruno responds with the heart. We're able to do this and have been able to do it for 15 years because of the generosity of folks in San Bruno."</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Source:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://sanbruno.patch.com/articles/san-bruno-city-council-recognizes-catholic-worker-hospitality-house#video-8344265"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://sanbruno.patch.com/articles/san-bruno-city-council-recognizes-catholic-worker-hospitality-house#video-8344265</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5498139182705071426.post-37646238793598042692011-12-14T11:20:00.000-08:002011-12-21T12:29:16.226-08:00Write a Prisoner<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>by Leonard Eiger</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>“I was in prison, and…”</i></span></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Holiday Greetings People of Peace. And, what a year it's been! For those of us in the Anti-Nuclear and Anti-War Resistance Movement it has been a year of continued struggle against an ever growing (and out-of-control) Military-Industrial Complex. From drones to nuclear weapons and more, dedicated peacemakers have steadfastly resisted the dominant culture of war.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8WkER4Bm58Q/TvI_KHj4oNI/AAAAAAAAAkQ/wyojL6pxlDw/s1600/picasso+prisoner+of+conscience.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8WkER4Bm58Q/TvI_KHj4oNI/AAAAAAAAAkQ/wyojL6pxlDw/s400/picasso+prisoner+of+conscience.jpg" width="298" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At places like Fort Benning, Y-12, Kansas City, STRATCOM, Hancock Field, Downing Street and Jeju Island, resisters stood their ground taking a stand for justice and peace. They spoke out against a host of immoral and illegal actions by their governments. And for their actions many were arrested, tried and put in prison.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Acting on conscience, they have become prisoners of conscience. Some serve a few days or weeks, while others serve months or years. Helen Woodson was recently released after serving nearly 27 years for the Silo Pruning Hooks Plowshares action!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All are jailed unjustly; it would be inconvenient for governments and the corporations they serve to face the truth and let real justice be served.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They may be out of sight, but they are not forgotten. Consider spreading a little extra Holiday cheer this Christmas. Send a message of support to one (or more) of these prisoners. Include some news from the outside. I frequently print articles from the progressive press - Common Dreams is a great source - and include them with my letters.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can find addresses for prisoners of conscience at the Nuclear Resister's Inside & Out page: <a href="http://www.nukeresister.org/inside-out/" target="_blank">http://www.nukeresister.org/inside-out/</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Nuclear Resister also keeps us up-to-date on what's happening in the anti-nuclear and anti-war resistance movement in the U.S. and around the world: <a href="http://www.nukeresister.org/" target="_blank">http://www.nukeresister.org/</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Finally, a BIG SHOUT-OUT to all who support resisters - from those who support them during actions, to legal teams, to prison support teams - on their journeys. We're all in this together.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Read Advent reflections from these prisoners of conscience.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
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</span></o:p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-f4xa6kNVbao/TvJAV4_AK7I/AAAAAAAAAko/IuyMbr3Bars/s1600/Leonard+Eiger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-f4xa6kNVbao/TvJAV4_AK7I/AAAAAAAAAko/IuyMbr3Bars/s200/Leonard+Eiger.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Leonard Eiger <</span><a href="mailto:subversivepeacemaking@gmail.com" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">subversivepeacemaking@gmail.com</a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Puget Sound Nuclear Weapon Free Zone (Coordinator) <a href="http://www.psnukefree.org/" target="_blank">www.psnukefree.org</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action (Media & Outreach) <a href="http://www.gzcenter.org/" target="_blank">www.gzcenter.org</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Disarm Now Plowshares (Media & Outreach)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://disarmnowplowshares.wordpress.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://disarmnowplowshares.wordpress.com</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Email: <a href="mailto:subversivepeacemaking@gmail.com">subversivepeacemaking@gmail.com</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Blog: <a href="http://nuclearabolitionist.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://nuclearabolitionist.blogspot.com</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Blog: <a href="http://subversivepeacemaking.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://subversivepeacemaking.blogspot.com</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> ______________</span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>[Ed. Note: Our incarcerated brothers and sisters not involved in peace and justice also need letters. You can find inmates by contacting prisons in your state. Write a Prisoner is an on-line resource that connects inmates with pen-pals. Their web-site is <a href="http://www.writeaprisoner.com/" target="_blank">here</a>.]</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5498139182705071426.post-24591865732530711392011-12-10T11:08:00.000-08:002011-12-21T11:11:12.145-08:00Women find help at Catholic Worker, St. Margaret's house<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #274e13; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>Residents applaud positivity, safety</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">SOUTH BEND, IN--When the woman, homeless and wandering the streets, turned up at the door last Christmas Eve, there was room at the Catholic Worker House. Carmen had been there before, in 2008, and when the disability checks that had helped her move out stopped coming, and the friend where she was staying was evicted, she found a bed on the third floor of the house near downtown South Bend.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“This is my second time around,” says Carmen, who has moved to a first-floor bedroom to save her knees from the stairs. She spends her nights in the Catholic Worker House and most of her days at St. Margaret’s House with other women in similar circumstances.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nyXWRUGSFDI/TvIvKZzKwpI/AAAAAAAAAjo/d8JEvPJjeL8/s1600/Jesus.Women.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nyXWRUGSFDI/TvIvKZzKwpI/AAAAAAAAAjo/d8JEvPJjeL8/s400/Jesus.Women.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The House ministries provide complementary day-and-night services to women. At least three participants in the St. Margaret’s House day program, which opens at 8 a.m., have found lodging at the Catholic Worker House, where residents must be out between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. “St. Margaret’s House is a wonderful place to go,” Carmen says, adding that the service offers food, clothing and supplies as well as helpful classes on such topics as budgeting and stress.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“I don’t visit anybody unless they’re positive,” she said. “St.Margaret’s is a safe place for me.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wanda, who lost three jobs and her house about five years ago, was on the street when she first heard about St. Margaret’s House in May.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“People kept saying ‘you need to go there and take a shower, get something to eat; it’s a nice place and the people are nice,’ ” she recalls. “I said ‘I’m going to go,’ and I did. They were right.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wanda was the keynote speaker at the St. Margaret’s House Fashioning Our Lives event last month, where Carmen was a model. Wanda’s story includes a predatory mortgage loan that ballooned while she lost her full-time job and two part-time restaurant jobs.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“After I lost my house, I had gone from people to people until I ran out of spaces to go,” she says. “I was on the street for about six weeks, sleeping in the park and stuff,” until a friend let her move into a building with no heat or water.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She moved into the Catholic Worker House this month.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“It’s truly a community,” Wanda says. “They welcome you into their home. They live there too. They trust us. I’m warm, I’m happy, I’m fed, I feel good. It’s fabulous, truthfully.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Source:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://articles.southbendtribune.com/2011-12-10/news/30503625_1_wanda-carmen-margaret-s-house"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://articles.southbendtribune.com/2011-12-10/news/30503625_1_wanda-carmen-margaret-s-house</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5498139182705071426.post-63619614434543771822011-12-08T11:15:00.000-08:002011-12-21T11:20:52.104-08:00Catholic Worker community has served Winona's homeless and those in need for almost 20 years<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-W8AiLaYiGl0/TvIw4kjFwHI/AAAAAAAAAkI/R0Jn7ac4HY0/s1600/winona+photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="313" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-W8AiLaYiGl0/TvIw4kjFwHI/AAAAAAAAAkI/R0Jn7ac4HY0/s400/winona+photo.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Dan Wilson, a live-in volunteer, plays cribbage with Sue Wallow at Bethany House. </span> </i></span></td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">WINONA, MN--All they ask is your first name. Every day, the Winona Catholic Worker community breathes life into the words of the Gospel, offering home, help and a hot meal to whoever comes to the door.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Knock and it will be opened," the Gospel reads. No questions asked.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"There are no forms to fill out," said Laurie Watson, a live-in community member at Bethany House. "We don't check IDs or ask questions, except ‘What is your first name?'"</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Winona Catholic Workers have been opening doors to people in need since the Dan Corcoran House opened in 1992 at 802 W. Broadway. The house was named in honor of the Rev. Dan Corcoran, a chaplain at Winona State University's Catholic Newman Center who inspired a generation of students with his commitment to living the message of Jesus, according to Mary Farrell, one of the founding members of the Winona Catholic Worker community. The two-story house, that had long been student housing, offered shelter and hospitality to women and families in need of a place to stay. Four years later, when a house just down the block came up for sale, the community was able to open Bethany House, 832 W. Broadway, to offer hospitality to single men.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's the only non-referred emergency shelter in Winona County, Watson said, "and there's a real need."</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That need has many faces, and speaks in a diversity of voices.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There's Bill, who on a recent evening spoke of how he spent the wee hours of Black Friday with the crowds in a Walmart parking lot. He wasn't there to shop. He was trying to catch a couple hours' sleep in his broken-down van before resuming his search for a job the next day.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There's Dan, who had hot chow and a bunk while on deployment in Iraq, but neither waiting for him when he came home.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There's Stacy, who needed a place to land while she got her financial and emotional feet back under her. Her stay at Dan Corcoran gave her the time she needed to find her niche in the larger community.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"People who come here are in crisis," said Molly Greening, live-in volunteer at Dan Corcoran. "They literally need to take time to breathe."</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"We need to meet them where they are. Help them feel secure. Feel at home."</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Greening speaks of providing a "ministry of presence" to the people who share the home. "Just being there," she said-to listen, to comfort, to play a game of cards or run an errand in an unfamiliar city-is as important as meeting physical needs for food, clothing and shelter.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Openness to the whole person and the recognition of every individual as a person of equal worth and value is at the heart of the Catholic Worker movement, Watson said. It's demonstrated as community members live in the same house, eat the same food, and for the most part have the same income as the guests living temporarily among them.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Voluntary poverty puts workers on equal footing with guests, Watson said, allowing them to see the world from a perspective closer to those they serve.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A simple, welcoming routine</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In practice, voluntary poverty means the six live-in community members and their guests depend on donations and their own enterprise to meet daily needs.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Winona Catholic Worker provides beds for up to five live-in guests at Bethany House, and beds for up to 14 at Dan Corcoran. They offer open hospitality Monday through Friday from 4-7 p.m. at Bethany House, a time when anyone is welcome to come in and relax with the community, take a shower, do laundry, and enjoy a good hot meal.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Guests are asked to comply with two simple rules at Bethany, Watson said. No drug or alcohol use, and be in the house by 10 p.m. Dan Corcoran has a few additional rules intended to avert potential friction in a larger house. Guests are not asked to sign in and out, attend religious services or perform household chores.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"You don't ask guests to clean your bathroom," said community member Mike Abdoo.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Both houses are paid for, Farrell said, largely through the generosity of the Winona community. Day-to-day needs are met through donations of food, both groceries and food left over from events or prepared by friends. Cash donations cover other expenses and donations of clothing, furniture and services help meet the needs of guests and community members.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Live-in community members purposefully limit work time outside the community to about 15 hours a week, to prevent commitments from interfering with providing hospitality and presence to guests, Watson said.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"There's a joke that Catholic Workers aren't Catholic and they don't work," said community member James Johnson-adding that there is an element of truth lurking in the sentiment.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"To be present to someone you have to be here," Greening said. "It's really as simple as that."</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Catholic with a small ‘c'</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Dorothy Day (one of the founders of the Catholic Worker movement) was Catholic, so we're Catholic Workers," Johnson joked.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The reality is that while the movement has a definite Christian and Catholic flavor, expressed in the traditional emphasis on the importance of performing traditional Works of Mercy and service to the poor, Catholic Worker volunteers and their supporters are more likely to be non-Catholic than members of the Catholic Church, Johnson said.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"We are definitely not ‘that homeless shelter run by the Catholic Church,'" Greening said.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are no formal ties between the institutional Catholic Church and the Catholic Worker movement, or the local Catholic Worker community, Watson said. Nor is Catholic Worker affiliated with Catholic Charities.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Catholic Worker communities are also independent of government programs and assistance, Watson said. Not being involved with government programs means communities are able to offer hospitality as they see the need, rather than abiding by government standards and limitations, she said. Independence from government extends to refusing to file for tax-exempt status, meaning donations to the Catholic Worker community are not tax-deductible.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Catholic Worker communities not only stand apart from the government, they are often critical of it. Social action is deeply ingrained in the Catholic Worker tradition, and members of Catholic Worker communities are supported and encouraged to join in protesting injustice. Community member Matt Byrne said the way of life reminds workers every day of the need to fundamentally change elements of society.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"These houses exist," he said, "because we live in a society that forces some people to be homeless."</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For more information on the Winona community, visit <a href="http://www.winonacatholicworker.org/">www.winonacatholicworker.org</a>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Source:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.winonadailynews.com/news/local/article_d387df3c-23aa-11e1-a3e7-001871e3ce6c.html"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.winonadailynews.com/news/local/article_d387df3c-23aa-11e1-a3e7-001871e3ce6c.html</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5498139182705071426.post-4583782237790036262011-12-06T11:21:00.000-08:002011-12-06T11:21:15.636-08:00New Book by LA Catholic Worker Jeff Dietrich<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1QBhuA3IQVQ/Tt5qb6zQadI/AAAAAAAAAiI/uJDjMhEQ5Fg/s1600/Jeff+Dietrich+book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1QBhuA3IQVQ/Tt5qb6zQadI/AAAAAAAAAiI/uJDjMhEQ5Fg/s400/Jeff+Dietrich+book.jpg" width="247" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Broken and Shared: Food, Dignity, and the Poor on Los Angeles Skid Row </b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">by Jeff Dietrich</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The essays that make up Broken and Shared were originally published bi-monthly over a forty year period in the newspaper of the Los Angeles Catholic Worker, The Catholic Agitator. Collected together for the first time in this book, these essays constitute Jeff Dietrich’s witness to poverty on Los Angeles’ Skid Row.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The vast scope of Jeff Dietrich’s essays introduces the reader to a world like no other. These essays combine the stories of poor women and men with a record of the author’s civil disobedience, with a chronicle of the city’s attitude of depraved indifference when it comes to the treatment of its poor, with a day-to-day history of the rapidly changing landscape that is downtown Los Angeles. The arguments and analyses in this book are predicated on singular and radical readings of the Biblical texts in counterpoint with a varied and rich array of philosophical, literary, and critical ideas.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Through the lens of Jeff Dietrich’s perspective and rooted in his life of self-imposed poverty, this book is both a prescription for change and an inspiration for how we might find ways to live more meaningful lives because we know the importance of caring for those who have nothing to offer but themselves.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Critics say:</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>“The world looks brighter for rarities like Jeff Dietrich.”</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">—Wole Soyinka, Nobel Laureate and President’s Marymount Professor in Residence, Loyola Marymount University</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>“Jeff’s life-giving text held me enchanted, page after page, hours on end. I was at the mercy of magister… a verbal magician, who is also, gift beyond price, a friend.”</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">—Daniel Berrigan, S.J., Activist and Poet</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>“Jeff writes with self-deprecating humor and extraordinary insight, confronting his fears, and confirming his faith.”</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">—Martin Sheen, Activist and Actor</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>“This is a one of a kind primer on the life of this courageous man, his community and the newspaper he forged.”</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">—Joanne Kennedy, Managing Editor, <i>The Catholic Worker</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>“Each issue of the Agitator contains a new surprise of ways in which anger, ennobled by grace can be sweet.”</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">—Ivan Illich, Philosopher and Social Critic</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>“You and the LA Catholic Worker bring light in this dark time for justice and peace.”</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">—Rabbi Leonard L. Beerman, Founder of Leo Baeck Temple</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>“Jeff Dietrich’s work is both authentic and important.”</i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">—Jacques Ellul, Philosopher and Theologian</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0k9p2VXSBv4/Tt5qh08AuDI/AAAAAAAAAiQ/DtmgwBGrYFI/s1600/Jeff+Dietrch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0k9p2VXSBv4/Tt5qh08AuDI/AAAAAAAAAiQ/DtmgwBGrYFI/s320/Jeff+Dietrch.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p>JEFF DIETRICH was born in Newport News, Virginia. When he was nine years old his parents moved to Southern California where he was raised and educated. After college and in order to avoid the draft, he spent six months traveling in Europe and North Africa. For the last forty years, he has lived in community at the Los Angeles Catholic Worker in solidarity with the poor. Jeff Dietrich is an activist, whose numerous actions of civil disobedience have landed him in jail more than forty times; he is a cook and a kitchen worker, whose efforts have helped provide more than three million meals to the homeless on Los Angeles’ Skid Row; and he is a writer, whose eye-witness accounts of the suffering and deprivation of the poor are imbedded in his relentless and vehement exposure of the political and social system that helps to maintain their poverty.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Information for ordering the book:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://lacatholicworker.org/2011/11/27/jeffs-book"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://lacatholicworker.org/2011/11/27/jeffs-book</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5498139182705071426.post-9674478919891600252011-12-05T05:27:00.000-08:002011-12-06T05:28:20.179-08:00Vigil in UK for Julian Assange<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">LONDON--An anti-war solidarity vigil was held outside the High Court/Royal Courts of Justice, The Strand, London, on Monday Dec 5th against the extradition of Julian Assange.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The vigil was organized by London Catholic Worker and Veterans for Peace to keep the focus on the real issues--the truth about the wars as evidenced by the WikiLeaks disclosures Bradley Manning is accused of leaking. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nBfVKnE62eE/Tt4YL11e43I/AAAAAAAAAfo/jg5cDlbRb8s/s1600/free+assange+banner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nBfVKnE62eE/Tt4YL11e43I/AAAAAAAAAfo/jg5cDlbRb8s/s400/free+assange+banner.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ben Griffin of Veterans for Peace UK spoke about the way the state treats those who dare to speak out and tell the truth about the wars. Ben is himself subject to a High Court gagging order in relation to his experiences in the army. Ben was in the SAS and served in both Iraq and Afghanistan before refusing to go back to war and leaving the army. Prior to the injunction, Ben had spoken publicly about British involvement and complicity in the extraordinary rendition of non-combatants from Iraq and Afghanistan, who were handed over by British troops to the Americans in full knowledge of what would happen to them.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today, Ben referred to the importance of the WikiLeaks disclosures for soldiers talking about their experiences of the wars, since these revelations provide evidence which confirms stories that the state could otherwise dismiss as unsubstantiated rumor. Ben spoke about the length of time Julian Assange has been fighting this case and has been held under virtual house arrest (nearly one year). He also mentioned Bradley Manning, held for 18 months without trial, for nine of those months in conditions of torture, and Michael Lyons, the British Navy medic jailed for seven months for refusing to take up arms and opposing the war in Afghanistan, whose appeal against this charge and sentence was dismissed by judges after a mere couple of minutes of supposed deliberation. Ben pointed out that anyone who speaks out against the state and its wrongs is likely to be treated in such ways.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another speaker today referred to the frequent use made by authorities through history of fabricated rape allegations to discredit those who oppose the state or are seen as some kind of threat; this was also referred to by Women Against Rape in a letter to the press almost a year ago, as Assange was beginning his battle against extradition to Sweden.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Source:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/12/489835.html?c=on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/12/489835.html?c=on</span></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0