Nuclear-Free Future Award Given to Three Imprisoned Dominicans

By Diane Zerfas, OP

MUNICH - The Public Prosecutor was on record at the trial stating: "As men we can respect …[their] convictions, but what we cannot allow is that the State, through a false sentimentalism, tolerates such things. The State must take no account of personalities who, although they cannot be placed in the same category as criminals, nevertheless represent a continual danger to the very existence of the State."

No, this is not a transcript from the trial of Jackie Hudson OP, Ardeth Platte OP and Carol Gilbert OP in Colorado in 2003. It is a quote from the trial of Rupert Mayer SJ in Munich, Germany in 1937. Fr. Mayer's crime was in speaking out against Hitler and he paid for preaching his Truth with time in prison and a concentration camp. Fr. Mayer was beatified in 1987 and is called the Apostle of Munich. The city of Munich prays often at his shrine just off the bustling city center and takes seriously their responsibility to the world to speak the truth about injustice and the consequences of blindly obeying the State.

In 1992 a group of scientists and activists gathered in Salzburg, Austria to study and compare notes on the environmental and the human cost of uranium mining, nuclear power and atomic bombs. Scientific reports and human stories from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, from Chernobyl, from mine workers and indigenous peoples acknowledged the long-term problems of dealing with substances with a radioactive half-life of 250,000 years. Corbin Harney is the 2003 recipient of the Nuclear-Free Future Award for Solutions for founding a non-profit organization dedicated to breaking the nuclear chain. A Western Shoshone living in the Nevada nuclear test site and storage dump wrote, "{There is }… a toxic peril for the next 12,000 generations." Thus the cost of maintaining and monitoring nuclear waste will be passed on to our children's children's children. In the spirit of this World Uranium Hearing the Nuclear-Free Future Award was born.

An international group of Nuclear-Free Future organizers and supporters surface names yearly for the awards. A jury panel then selects the recipients in the areas of resistance, education and solutions. Our Sisters, Jackie, Carol and Ardeth, were nominated and selected for the Resistance Award. Then Claus Biegert, the founder of the Nuclear- Free Future Award, contacted Daniel Berrigan S.J., his long-time friend, to find out where to contact the Sisters' home Congregation. Dan gave Claus the number for Jonah House in Baltimore who passed along the information for the Grand Rapids Dominicans. Diane Zerfas OP journeyed to Munich to receive the award in the name of our three Sisters.

The four day award process began with a night at a local media college to view the BBC movie about Mordechai Vanunu, last year's resistance winner. Vanunu is imprisoned in Israel for revealing his country's work to produce atomic bombs. He blew the whistle because he was a scientist supposedly working at a nuclear reactor designed only to produce electricity. The other movie was Claus Biegert's report on Los Alamos, New Mexico and the mixed reactions of the local people there to being the "birthplace" of the atomic bomb. There was a press conference where Diane described the commitment and actions of Jackie, Carol and Ardeth, federal prisoners, #08808-039, #"10856-039 and #10857-039. Diane thanked the organizers on behalf of our Sisters and commented that we were honored to be returning to our Bavarian roots since our community is a branch of the Holy Cross Sisters of Regensberg, only a short journey from Munich. The journalists were particularly upset that international law and the Neuremberg Principles held no jurisdiction in an American court. Souad Naji Al-Azzawi, the education Award recipient and chair of the Baghdad University environmental engineering department, spoke powerfully of her research into the effects of depleted Uranium in Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War. She had studied in Colorado and had a deep appreciation for America's opportunities and a deep sadness for America's use of technology and power against her homeland. The third day was a scientific seminar on renewable energy sources.

The Award Ceremony on the final day was the culmination of this powerful experience. In the Alten Rathaussaal, (the old townhall), a standing-room-only crowd including the Mayor of Munich and the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War gathered on October 12, 2003 to honor those who have worked with outstanding commitment toward creating a world free of nuclear terror. Carl Emory, a German POW of World War II, introduced the award for our Sisters praising their courage, their selfless devotion and their commitment to an inhabitable earth with their vision of a nuclear-free future. He recounted their actions, their trial and their commitment as Dominican nuns, obliging them to strive for the incarnation of Christ in the twenty first century. The award reads: "Carol Gilbert, Jackie Hudson, Ardeth Platte - USA, for working to transform swords into plowshares as an act of conscience out of love for humanity."

Diane accepted the award with these words:

I am Sister Diane Zerfas, the Vicaress of the Grand Rapids Dominicans. With a name like Zerfas I should be able to speak German but I apologize that I do not. Americans are not known for our ability with languages; we are known for Levi Jeans and McDonalds and, for our sins, for developing atomic bombs. We are the first nation to use nuclear bombs in war. We had two bombs and we used all of them. Now we have over 10,000 bombs and if we used all of them we would destroy whoever we had labeled enemy but we would destroy ourselves and the world as well. Who would that serve? So, the Dominican Sisters of Grand Rapids, Michigan are honored to accept this award on behalf of our three Sisters - Jackie Hudson, Ardeth Platte, and Carol Gilbert, who are serving harsh sentences in federal prisons for speaking out for peace, against nuclear armaments. We are blessed to have such peacemakers among us for we know that they will make peace even within prison walls. Jackie, Carol and Ardeth will be heartened to know that their resistance action has touched your hearts. It's a bit like 'preaching to the choir', an American saying for talking to people who agree with you. For you all have the same passion for a nuclear-free future. As long as any plant, as any animal, any child, any planet, any future is in jeopardy of nuclear destruction the three of them will continue to preach truth to power.

If they were standing here today to receive this blessing, they would raise their hands in peace and blessing and share with you a 13th century blessing:

May God Creator bless you, may God Redeemer heal you and
May God the Holy Spirit fill you with peace.

And may God's holy angel watch over us in peace
[Until we meet again someday here or in heaven.]