The Arrested Development of a Minor

By Patrick O'Neill
pmtoneill@aol.com (Patrick O'Neill is co-founder of Garner's Fr. Charlie Mulholland Catholic Worker House.)

Suffice it to say not many fathers consider it good parenting to get handcuffed with their children and carted off to jail. However, that's what happened April 9 when my 12-year old daughter Moira and I were taken into custody for trespass during a protest at the Johnston County Airport, the site where strong evidence suggests that Aero Contractors maintains jets used in the practice of extraordinary rendition, or torture by proxy.

In addition to the trespass charge levied against the group of nine activists, I was hit with the charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

As I told Johnston County Assistant District Attorney Ann Kirby, I prefer to see my actions as contributing to the salvation of a minor.

While some of our friends have applauded Moira for her youthful conviction and courage, many others have questioned the wisdom of allowing a child to cross the line, so to speak, and risk arrest and a possible criminal record. After all, they say, seventh-graders shouldn't be skipping school to participate in civil disobedience. In 2005, I was also arrested at Aero with my then 17-year-old daughter, Bernadette.

I am somewhat amused at being charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor. After all, is it delinquent for a bright child, who always gets high marks for citizenship at Exploris Middle School and was raised to believe in peace and justice, to take a stand for the things she has now come to believe on her own?

During an April 25 meeting with a Juvenile Court counselor, my wife, Mary Rider, said Moira did a splendid job of answering the counselor's questions about extraordinary rendition and her reasons for attending the protest. Rather than refer Moira's case for further court action, he closed it.

WHILE THERE IS CLEAR political motivation for allowing my daughter to protest, the greater call for our family comes from our Catholic identity, a faith grounded in the teachings of a Savior who calls on his followers to "pick up your cross and follow me." Martyrdom is recognized as "the seed of the Church," but for most Christians of privilege, the basic tenets of Christianity have become merely theoretical.

Most Christians cannot imagine a situation in which they might have to suffer some discomfort for their faith, no less face martyrdom. While we live in a culture obsessed with security and safety, parents often do little to assure their children live faithfully. Instead, children are often allowed to play with violent toys and violent video games; television and Internet access are often unrestricted, and going to the mall is far more important than going to church. None of this behavior, however, would legally qualify as contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Instead of feeding the hungry, we overeat; instead of clothing the naked, we shop incessantly; instead of welcoming the stranger, we shut ourselves off from the poor by living in segregated subdivisions; instead of loving our enemies, we allow military recruiters into our children's schools.

TO BE BLESSED WITH CHILDREN is perhaps God's greatest gift to humanity. At Moira's baptism, my wife and I accepted the awesome responsibility to raise our daughter to be a follower of the Prince of Peace, a duty we do not take lightly. At the height of the civil rights movement, many African-Americans made the bold and controversial decision to take their children to the front lines during protest marches, a dangerous tactic that ended up being transformative for those children and our nation. Today, our nation is locked into a seemingly endless war on terror. We are being stripped of our civil liberties. Our government holds thousands of "detainees" without due process all over the world, and many have been tortured. If my child wants to oppose such extraordinary violence and oppression, I will stand with her.

(Patrick O'Neill is co-founder of Garner's Fr. Charlie Mulholland Catholic Worker House.) --