CATHOLIC WORKER 75th
ANNIVERSARY STATEMENT
[Full text
version]
We are Catholic Workers from communities throughout the U.S. and Europe who
have come to Worcester, Massachusetts to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the
Catholic Worker. At this critical point in history, as we face unending war,
including U.S. plans to attack Iran, ecological destruction and economic
collapse, we call on our church and nation to join us in repenting our affronts
to God.
The U.S.
has become the wealthiest nation on earth at the price of the collective loss
of our souls through our acceptance of the sins of war, torture, racism,
discrimination, killing, nuclearism and
environmental destruction - - all in the name of profit. We live a
lifestyle that demands war and distracts from our true calling of loving and
caring for one another.
We urge our church to
heed the nonviolent example of Dorothy Day and the critique of modern war by
Vatican II. Taking God's command 'Thou shalt not kill' and the Sermon on
the Mount as our Christian manifesto, we commit ourselves to upholding the
sacredness of all life wherever it is threatened. We recommit ourselves to the
Catholic Worker vision of creating a new society in the shell of the old.
Saint Paul tells us that when one member of our community is
suffering, the health of the whole body is affected. In our various communities
we have daily contact with the victims of our society, including homeless
veterans and our undocumented sisters and brothers. Many of us have been
arrested and jailed for nonviolent acts of resistance to state-sanctioned
injustice and killing. We strive to do the works of mercy and to follow Jesus'
command to be nonviolent witnesses for peace and justice.
We once again implore the leadership of the Catholic Church in the United
States, now and without evasion, to break its silence and to wield the
authority provided by the nonviolent gospel of Jesus Christ, by calling the
entire nation to repent for the war crimes we have committed in the so-called
War on Terror.
We yearn to be part
of a church that prays and works for peace, loves our neighbors and enemies
alike, and embraces the redemptive power of forgiveness. We cry out for a
church that speaks without fear of consequences, including loss of revenue. We
implore our church leadership to follow the example of Jesus and unequivocally
renounce the sins of our empire's warmaking, the
possession and use of weapons of mass destruction, oppression,
scapegoating and aspirations of global domination.
When our body issued
its last national plea in 2006, the response was profoundly disappointing and
no less than tragic. Rather than a clear pronouncement condemning the illegal
and immoral nature of our current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as the
evil wrought by torture and other crimes against humanity, the U.S. Catholic
Bishops merely stated that "our nation's military forces should remain in
Iraq only as long as their presence contributes to a responsible
transition."
The insufficiency of
this response has been demonstrated, not only by the continuation of these wars
in the face of a clear public desire to end the war in Iraq, but also by the
reality of US covert actions aimed at destabilizing Iran and the apparently
imminent military attack on that nation.
Out of our shared and abiding love, we remind the Bishops that we continue to wait for their clear call to our nation to end these threats and provocations that carry no other outcome than an ever-widening sea of agony and death. In this prayer we invoke the spirit and witness of Blessed Franz Jagerstatter who exemplified Christ's instruction to peacemakers that, as children of God, we may be required to give up our lives rather than participate in evil.
In the name of God,
who calls us to love and not to kill, we appeal to the church and all people of
good will to:
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Call for prayer, fasting, vigils and nonviolent civil resistance to immediately
end the U.S. military occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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Advise all soldiers to refuse to participate in these wars.
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Denounce and actively resist U.S. plans to attack Iran.
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Embrace the nonviolent witness of Blessed Franz Jagerstatter and actively
support and encourage all conscientious objectors.
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Urge Congress and the military to offer appropriate care and support to
returning soldiers.
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Call for an immediate end to the use of torture.
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Call for the closing of Guantanamo and other secret U.S. military prisons.
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Call for the redirection of our resources from war making and exploitation to
meeting human needs and preserving life on Earth.
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Call for an equitable redistribution of resources and simplification of our
materialistic lifestyle.
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Call for disarmament and the abolition of all weapons of mass destruction.
We call on our church
to be a prophetic voice, a sanctuary, and a source of encouragement to those
who want to work in community toward peace, justice and
reconciliation.
Affirmed in
assembly
Catholic Worker 75th
Anniversary Gathering
Our Lady of Mount
Carmel / Saint Anne Parish Center,
Worcester,
Massachusetts USA
July 11, 2008