Catholic Workers Statement to Catholic Bishops-Calling for an Immediate End to the U.S. War on Iraq!

international | anti-war / imperialism | press release

Thursday October 26, 2006 08:03

by Dorothy's Kidz

"Comfort the Afflicted, Afflict the Comfortable!" Dorothy Day

The past weekend saw 300 Catholic Workers, from 50 CW house across the U.S. gather in Iowa. They were also joined by CW's from Germany & Holland. They released the following statement. Two of those present will travel to Ireland & join the anti-war demonstration at Shannon Airport this Sat. Oct 28th.

CATHOLIC WORKERS APPEAL TO BISHOPS TO CALL FOR AN IMMEDIATE END TO THE
U.S.WAR IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN AND FOR THE ERADICATION OF THE
MILITARY COMMISIONS ACT

At the conclusion of National Catholic Worker Gathering, held from
October 19-22 in Panora, Iowa, Catholic Workers from across the U.S.
issued a statement appealing to the U.S. Catholic Bishops to break
their silence and to call for an immediate end to the U.S. War in Iraq
and Afghanistan. They also called on the Bishops to call for the
eradication of the recently passed Military Commissions Act which
allows for the indefinite detention for "enemy combatants", the ending
of habeas corpus right for these prisoners, and the use of abusive
interrogation methods which clearly constitute torture.

Over 300 Catholic Workers from over fifty houses, including from
Germany and Holland, attended the Catholic Worker Gathering. The
Catholic Worker was founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin in 1933,
and the late John Cardinal O'Connor initiated a process in the
catholic Church for her sainthood.

Declaring that torture and war are sins, the group called on the U.S.
Catholic Bishops to do the following:

• call for an end to the U.S. practice of torture.
• call for an immediate end to the U.S. war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
• offer counsel to and support for conscientious objectors.
• call for the closing of Guantanamo and all secret military prisons
and torture centers.
• call on all Catholics and people of faith to engage in prayer,
fasting and acts of nonviolent resistance to stop torture and to end
the war.

The group also called on Catholics and other people of goodwill to
join them for a nonviolent action in Washington, DC on January 11,
2007, the 5th anniversary of the first prisoners arriving at
Guantanamo, to call for its closing.

Below is the entire text of two statements the group released-- one is
a short statement and the other a longer version of that statement.

#####30#####

Catholic Worker Statement issued to the U.S. Catholic Bishop's on the
Military Commissions Act and the War in Iraq and Afghanistan

We Catholic Workers are outraged at the recent passage of the Military
Commissions Act which subjects non-citizens, including legal residents
of the US and foreign citizens living in their own countries, to
summary arrest and indefinite detention with no hope of appeal. The
Act allows abusive interrogation methods which clearly violates the
Geneva Conventions, strips prisoners of habeas corpus rights, and
provides immunity to the torturers.

We believe that torture is a sin.

We believe that war is a sin.

We call on the church leadership to break its silence and demand the
eradication of the Military Commission's Act. We appeal to the
Bishops to:

• call for an end to the US practice of torture.

• call for an immediate end to the US war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

• offer counsel to and support for conscientious objectors.

• call for the closing of Guantanamo and all secret military prisons
and torture centers.

• call on all Catholics and people of faith to engage in prayer,
fasting and acts of nonviolent resistance to stop torture and to end
the war.

We invite all people of faith and goodwill to join with many of us for
a nonviolent action in Washington, DC on January 11, 2007, the 5th
anniversary of the first prisoners arriving at Guantanamo, to call for
its closing.

CATHOLIC WORKER STATEMENT TO U.S. CATHOLIC BISHOPS
(Longer Version)

We are Catholic Workers from across the US and Europe who have come to
Iowa to celebrate special anniversaries of a number of our houses, to
pray and reflect about what God calls us to at this critical moment in
history, and to recommit ourselves to the Catholic Worker vision of
creating a new society in the shell of the old.

In our various communities we have daily contact with the victims of
our society. Thus, we strive to do the works of mercy and to follow
Jesus' command to be nonviolent witnesses for peace and justice. As we
confront the unrelenting violence and assaults on human life and our
endangered earth, we repent for our own complicity in our culture of
violence, and call on our church and all people of faith and goodwill
to do the same. Taking the Sermon on the Mount as our Christian
manifesto, we commit ourselves to upholding the sacredness of all life
wherever it is threatened.

As a world community, we find ourselves in a complex and dangerous
moral crisis. Longstanding cultural compulsions have obscured the
basic teachings of Christ. We have become the wealthiest nation on
earth in the history of humankind and the price we have paid is the
collective loss of our souls. The ongoing efforts of militarization
and exploitation of global resources have pushed us to a level of
accepting the unacceptable. Pre-emptive war and the slaughter of
innocents is being carried out in our names and for profit. A creeping
apathy has allowed room for extreme abuses such as torture and the
destruction of whole social fabrics. We are violating our own
spiritual principles and civil laws to attain excessive creature
comforts while others suffer from unimaginable deprivation and
violence. We are a living a lifestyle that demands war and distracts
from our true calling of loving and caring for one another. Our path
to redemption lies in the repudiation of domination and embracing the
daily need of service to the vulnerable.

The teaching of Saint Paul tells us that when the health of one member
of our community is suffering, the health of the whole body is
lowered. We must make this time of crisis into an opportunity to move
forward and carry on Christ's message without compromise. In the face
of nuclear capabilities we have no other choice. God, the victims, and
timeless prophetic voices call on us, the Church, the body of Christ,
to repent from the sins of war, torture, and killing, from the making
of widows and orphans, and from the fruitless works of darkness
resulting in this last century being the bloodiest on record.

We as Christians recognize that the Christ, whom we worship, was
himself a victim of torture. We are called to end his ongoing
crucifixion which has been made manifest in our nations policies. This
is particularly relevant in the latest Military Commissions Act of
2006. It is with burning sorrow that we look around at the world in
which we live at the suffering, war, torture, and killing of our
brothers and sisters, and realize that the response of both ourselves
and our Church has been wholly inadequate. We cry out to be part of a
Church that prays and works for peace, loves our enemies, and embraces
the redemptive power of forgiveness. We cry out for a church that
speaks without fear of consequences, including loss of revenues.

We understand that we live in a time of great fear and peril. We need
to remind ourselves that we are not to fear those that can kill the
body, but instead to fear those that can kill the soul. Our domestic
and foreign policies have left us a nation without a soul.

We call on our Church to be a prophetic voice, a sanctuary, and a
source of encouragement to those who want to work together in
community towards peace and justice. To this we recommend:

•Prayer, fasting, vigiling and nonviolent civil resistance to end the
military occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan.

•That all soldiers refuse to participate in these wars

•That the Church actively support and encourage all conscientious
objectors

•That all U.S. military and private contractors to refuse to engage in
torture

•The closing of Guantanamo and other secret U.S. military prisons

•The eradication of the Military Commissions Act 2006

•Redirect our resources from war making and exploitation to meeting
human needs and saving our planet

•An equitable redistribution of resources by simplifying our
materialistic lifestyle

•All people of faith and goodwill join us for a nonviolent action in
Washington, DC on January 11, 2007, the 5th anniversary of the first
prisoners arriving at Guantanamo, to call for its closing.

As we approach this season of Advent and Christmas, let us be people
of Light. "The Light shines in the darkness and the darkness does not
overcome it" (John 1:5).

_________________________________________________________________

save preference

Comments (13 of 13)

CW Report from England 021-22

by Ciaron - Dublin Catholic Worker

Thu Oct 26, 2006 10:01

087 918 4552

Meanwhile in London, on Saturday 021, Catholic Workers held a stall at the annual Anarchist Bookfair in Holloway. On Sunday, 15 CW's gathered for reflection on the Pit Stop Ploughshares action/trial/acquittal and further nonviolent resistance to the war.

The latest wave of Catholic Worker activity in England is roughly ten years old following the acquittal of the "Seeds of Hope" Ploughshares in Liverpool and the establlsihment of a CW community with exiled East Timorese.(see "Remembering Forgetting", Otford Press, Australia). Many who gathered Sunday had met during or after that period. We come from a variety of backgrounds British Marines, Wombles, a priest, AA, Greenbelt scene, a Maths PhD working in a homeless shelter, London Simon Community, U.S. Air Force etc

The presence of long time christian athiest Peter Lumsdaine connected us to an earlier CW history inn England. Peter walked against nuclear weapons with Karl Meyer & others from San Francisco to Moscow in 1964 and later returned to U.S. to explore Peter Maurin's CW rural vision near Dorothy Day's Tivoli farm in New York. On retruning to England in the late 60's, he set up a CW house of hospitality in Notting HIll. He was eventually evicted when the house was taken over by a heavy metal band! he is a consistent presence every Sunday on a soapbox at Hyde Park, should you be passing by!

There is presently a Catholic Worker comunity operating from an apartment on the Isle of Dogs and offering hospitality to homeless assylum seekers, these folks hope to move to a larger premisies in Hackney. We had gathered in a recently opened CW house in a rural setting north of London (part of the house dates from the 14th. century!). The community consists of two families including 5 kidz. The Oxford Catholic Worker, founded over ten years ago, also conitnues its work with assylum seekrs and nonviolent resistance to the war.

Althiough predomiantly a North American movement (est 1933), Catholic Worker communities also contiue in Hamburg, Dortnund, Amsterdam , Gent, Dublin, Australia, Aotearoa, Canada, Mexico, Colombia.

LINK-Photos & Report *Catholic Workers Among 16 arrested at White House

by Jonah

Thu Oct 26, 2006 14:10

Washington DC, USA

http://www.jonahhouse.org/WHoct06.htm

galore

by hypocrites

Thu Oct 26, 2006 15:45

The catholic church is very good at lecturing but not so good at anything else.

perhaps you need to sort out your own house before trying to sort others.

One of the biggest landowners on earth is....

yeh thats right..

Why does the Catholic church put it's own interests before the safety of Children?

Because it's worked for them for the thousand years since they forbade marriage of priests? After all, the purpose of the ban was to prevent priests bequeathing property to heirs which otherwise would go to the church, not to prevent them from having sex. The pope that enacted the ban had mistresses. I suspect he would be shocked to know his utterly economic decision has resulted in 1000 years of pederasty

The Marriage ban

by Marie

Thu Oct 26, 2006 16:15

Sure you cannot make a priest break the marriage ban, he has to do that himself.
It's like bringing a famished horse to water- and what of the nuns?

Most Catholic Workers , despite the unfortunate title ,would be more anarchistic
than they admit and probably ignore the dogmatics of Rome, like the rest of us.

Military Commissions Act 2006

by Justin Morahan - Peace People

Thu Oct 26, 2006 19:14

Thanks you for highlighting so much that is wrong and for standing up to be counted

A note on the Military Commissions Act 2006 mentioned in the article:

Stung by the victory of Salim Ahmed Hamdan in the case of Salim Ahmed Hamdan, Petitioner v.Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, et al, George W Bush has signed into law the infamous Military Commissions Act on 17 October 2006

On July 13, 2004 Salim Ahmed Hamdan, who had been imprisoned in Guantanamo, was charged with "Conspiracy for joining an enterprise of persons who shared a common criminal purpose and conspired with Osama bin Laden and various other members of the al Qaeda organisation to commit several war crimes like attacking civilians, attacking civilian objects, murder by an unprivileged belligerent, destruction of property by an unprivileged belligerent and terrorism". Trial Watch

The District Court had granted habeas corpus relief to Mr Hamdan but the District of Columbia Circuit Court reversed this decision.

On June 29, 2006, the Supreme Court had issued a 5-3 decision holding that it had jurisdiction, that the federal government did not have authority to set up these particular military commissions, and that the military commissions were illegal under both the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the Geneva Convention.Supreme Court judgement

In response to this shock defeat for the Bush administration came the Military Commissions Act 2006, passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate and signed by George W Bush on 17 October last. Among other things the Act denies habeas corpus to alien unlawful enemy combatants, allows for an amount of hearsay evidence, put the onus of proving mental inability on the defence.

Amnesty International says: (The new law will) "permit the executive to convene military commissions to try "alien unlawful enemy combatants", as determined by the executive under a dangerously broad definition, in trials that would provide foreign nationals so labelled with a lower standard of justice than US citizens accused of the same crimes. This would violate the prohibition on the discriminatory application of fair trial rights." Amnesty International

The almost absolute power of the President and Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld to decide on what is allowed or not allowed, runs throughout the Act

Gems:
"As provided by the Constitution and by this section, the President has the authority for the United States to interpret the meaning and application of the Geneva Conventions and to promulgate higher standards and administrative regulations for violations of treaty obligations which are not grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions" (Sec 6.3A)

"No person may invoke the Geneva Conventions or any protocols thereto in any habeas corpus or other civil action or proceeding to which the United States, or a current or former officer, employee, member of the Armed Forces, or other agent of the United States is a party as a source of rights in any court of the United States or its States or territories."

and it makes you wonder why you are a pacifist don't it?

by unpeaceful

Thu Oct 26, 2006 19:26

Its all well and good and hunky dory to be pacifist in a world wherein the
lawless are destroying our planet and spreading hatred like a disease.
personally I wd not be adverse to using any means of defence against
this shit. only wonder is why the gombeens in the dail-lily livered that
they are are part of it-now doesn't it?

To Unpeaceful

Thu Oct 26, 2006 19:51

And then - all become "eyeless in Gaza"

Defence

Thu Oct 26, 2006 21:15

Is it wrong to defend oneself against aggression?

The Church , established and Catholic has not acted in this War.

There has been no outright condemnation, indeed the Pope regularly meets
with Cherie and Tony. and a picture paints a thousand words.

where is the proactive anti-war lobby in Ireland?

They go to church and give out that they will lose jobs if the renditions stops. Collusion
through silence is collusion/collaboration in war. The Irish people were a neutral people
but now they allow , indeed cheer on the US/UK beligerence in this country through silence
and through leaders who are amoral and wrong.

Has the Irish Catholic Church taken a position from the pulpit in the condemnation
of the pornography of violence which we daily witness? A moral leadership which
condemns war is absent and that is why there is no mass movement against the
war. We welcome and rationalise beligerence in the name of Trade.

The church/catholicism is about morality. The state is about leadership.
There is a significant defecit in both in this country- must we await a
pronouncement from The Pope to know right from wrong as a people?

We are witness to cataclysmic historical wrongs, in Dharfur, In Iraq, In Afghanistan,
In Gaza. We are witness to untold violence to the earth. There is morality in what
our children are exposed to and their is no leadership in this state.

Reply to Georgie and Hypocrite

by A

Fri Oct 27, 2006 09:08

You have not addressed the post in your comment. Can we assume that you support the U.S. war on Iraq and are enraged by anyone from any tradition who dares to speak out against it. OR do we assume that you are privileged first world white boys that have learnt to live with the war. that this post by the CW's is merely an opportunity for you to fine tune and express your prejudices against Catholics in general.

It seems that the post is a challenge by the radical Catholic Workers to those who claim their broader tradition to address the U.S. war in Iraq and Afghanistan. if only every socialist, punk, social democrat, republican in Ireland who oppose Irish involvemen in this war did the same then we might have an anti-war movement here.

See you at Shannon Saturday

A Report on CW Gathering in the U.S.

by DD

Fri Oct 27, 2006 09:35

The Catholic Worker gathering, held at the rural Iowa Catholic Youth
Camp, was hosted by the Des Moines Catholic Worker community, which was
celebrating its own 30th anniversary.

In welcoming the group, Bishop Joseph L. Charron of Des Moines, said
Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement, was able to
strike a balance in her life between her social action and her contemplation.
"Each day for her included practicing spiritual devotions. Through
prayer, she was inspired to encourage others to live as Christ taught.
Likewise, it was prayer that supported her through the challenges she faced," he
said.

Bishop Charron said Dorothy Day spoke about her love of God, and how
important it is that love be spread to others. He said she talked
about how acts of destruction run counter to a life-giving God and the
Eucharist, which sustains life.
"My dear Catholic Worker friends, 30 years later, we are still
challenged with protecting and promoting human life while encouraging people to
recognize God in every human being," Bishop Charron said. "In 1946
Dorothy Day began a column called 'On Pilgrimage'. I believe that we continue
to be on a pilgrimage. We are called by God to speak for the most vulnerable
and to respect the human dignity of all."

Keynote speaker Kathy Kelly, of Voices for Creative Nonviolence in
Chicago (formerly known as Voices in the Wilderness), marveled at how the
Catholic Worker movement continues to draw young people.
"Somehow this movement continues to attract young people and a lot of
others don't," she said. "One of the best things of Catholic Worker is the tolerance," she
added. "There's such a great variety of people and communities."

Frank Cordaro, a member of the Des Moines Catholic Worker movement,
said Catholic Worker houses are vibrant houses known for their works of
mercy and their willingness to articulate Catholic social teaching.
A number of attendees have served jail time for acts of civil disobedience.
Cordaro said Day used to say, "We're here to comfort the afflicted
and afflict the comfortable," which, he said, speaks to "our own Catholic
Christian challenge of the Gospel."

Charlotte and Dawn Willenborg, of Sacred Heart Parish in Sioux City,
came to the gathering because Dawn Willenborg is considering whether she
wants to get a job or volunteer, and she wanted to get a feel for what the
Catholic Worker movement is about.
Mike Munson, of Winona, Minn., is a Catholic Worker at a shelter for
single men. He said, "I'm here because it's important for the movement
to talk with other folks who are interested in the same issues. It's
important to build community and talk about important issues facing society."

>10/25/2006 1:49 PM ET

Link: http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=21762

editor note: please add web addresses of source text cited or else it may be hidden

Mr A

by hypocrite

Fri Oct 27, 2006 10:40

You have not addressed the post in your comment. Can we assume that you support the U.S. war on Iraq and are enraged by anyone from any tradition who dares to speak out against it. OR do we assume that you are privileged first world white boys that have learnt to live with the war. that this post by the CW's is merely an opportunity for you to fine tune and express your prejudices against Catholics in general.

WHY assume--you have allready judged, well done

My point was simple, the catholic church are hypocrites, do you disagree?

they hide and shelter massive child abusers, this is fact! they have done nothing to stop any of the recent wars in fact the pope inflamed it with his reciting of 14th century horseshit

the are the wealthiest landowners religouswise by a long long shot, the assets of the catholic church worldwide are massive and hence why rome is now a corporation, buying selling
buying selling
the point was simple, they should sort out their own sordid house before they run around telling others what is rightoues

i think thats a fair enough call

the work

by xian

Fri Oct 27, 2006 17:41

I don't think that the Catholic Church is a 'lost cause' or totally corrupt, though there is huge room for improvement; indeed, it can only be changed from within. Many of us are disenchanted with the hierarchy of most large organisations, religious or secular, yet still find that our faith is effective to live our lives and help other people to find some peace, & I don't mean by preaching to them, but by following the Gospel tenets that have sustained us. People of faith can't be judged simplistically any more than atheists can - just understand people by what they do & try to do.

2 catholic Workers Arrested at "No More Fallujahs" Peace Camp Opposite Parliament in London

by London Catholic Worker

Thu Nov 02, 2006 12:30

London, England

Eight members of the London Catholic Worker group took part in a protest
the continuing UK / US occupation of Iraq last weekend. Two were arrested.
They were part of the 'No More Fallujah's Weekend of Action' ,organised for
the second anniversary of the attack on the city of Fallujah. The Catholic
Worker group had helped to organise the protest, backed by over 50 peace
groups around the country. 150 people took part in the weekend of action.

Two members of the Catholic Worker group, Steve Barnes and Martin Newell
stayed overnight in Parliament Square as part of an 'unauthorised' 24 hour 'Peace
Camp', and were arrested and later released for refusing to give their names to
police under the Serious Organised Crime and Policing Act (SOCPA) banning
demonstrations within 1km of Parliament.

The others, Maria and Scott Albrecht, Simone Kenny, Angela Broome,
Zelda Jeffers and Nik Marten took part in a prayer and protest vigil at the
NATO HQ in Northwood, Hertfordshire. Zelda Jeffers also joined part
of the peace camp. The vigil at Northwood was attended by 40 people
on Saturday 28th October, and 100 people took part in the Peace Camp
from Sunday 29th - Monday 30th October.

Martin Newell said "This peace camp was conceived as a small act of
solidarity with the thousands of refugees who fled Fallujah because of the
massive bombardment it suffered two years ago, and who were forced to
live in a deliberately created 'tent city'. We refused to co-operate with the
SOCPA law, created as a direct result of this 'war on terror' and 'war of
terror'. By doing this and risking arrest we hoped to dramatise and enact
the basic conflict between a Gospel of love for enemies, of peace and
justice, and a system based on vengeance, violence and oppression:
between the call of Jesus to follow the 'way of the cross', and a system
which always seems to victimise the innocent. "

Campaigners Maya Evans and Milan Rai read out the names of
those who have died in Fallujah. Ms Evans, who was the first person to be
prosecuted under the SOCPA, said: "The occupation has killed tens of
thousands of Iraqis, helped to push
Iraq into a civil war, and is acting as a recruiting sergeant for extremists
across the Muslim world, endangering both Iraqis and ourselves.
"Moreover 78% of Iraqis believe the occupation is causing more conflict than it
prevents.
"It's time to end Britain's participation in this disastrous and immoral occupation."

The protest received significant media coverage, including in The
Evening Standard, ITV News (Sunday) and BBC London
(Monday) and the BBC website [see below].
[see below for full list we are aware of].

For more information, phone Steve Barnes or Martin Newell at
Dorothy Day Catholic Worker on 020 7531 9895.

----------------------------------------------------------------

LINKS TO PHOTOS:
Here's a piece from the BBC website
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6097802.stm

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Catholic Workers Statement to Catholic Bishops-Calling for an Immediate End to the U.S. War on Iraq!

Comments (13 of 13)