Ramblings and Reflections Newsletter: October 2005 Sr. Ardeth visited by the Kobasa family:  Claire, Stephen, Ann and Rachel

Dear Friends of Justice and Peace,

As individuals and as a country we are continuing to experience disasters that are painful. We draw on our own tsunami-like event, our floods and winds, our losses and injuries to identify with other families in many parts of the world. We hope through prayer and action to alleviate suffering, to learn more about walking gently on Mother Earth, to take to heart the conservation of gas and oil and to practice using resources sparingly, without waste. We certainly need political leaders who will address global warming and teach the public how to walk in harmony with creation. We need public policy and practices put in place for protection.

A Spirituality of Peacemaking

In the March 2005 edition of Blueprint for Social Justice, printed by Loyola University, New Orleans, our bishop and friend, Tom Gumbleton, summarizes a history of peacemaking that gives solid grounding and missioning for our own journeys. I thank him for his study, writing, life and witness. I recall with heartfelt gratitude Tom's participation in our Faith and Resistance Retreats in Michigan, our crossing lines together at the Nevada Test Site and civil disobedience actions at military sites, the White House, etc. in our rejection of war and weapons of mass destruction. The following excerpts and concepts are taken from Tom's writing, drawn from Catholic Social Teaching and Gospel passages:

WARFARE
A shift in warfare began during WWII with the firebombing of Tokyo, nearly 300,000 people killed, innocent civilians. Then the Hiroshima and Nagasaki horror resulted in the death of a hundred thousand in 9 seconds, tens of thousands died the slow death with radiation exposure…a couple million deaths in Vietnam…150,000 Iraqi civilians in the first Persian Gulf War and sanctions causing numbers up to one and a half million people, perhaps half being children, as a result of insufficient medicine and food, etc. Warfare changed from militaries fighting militaries to a warfare killing non-combatant civilians. John Keegan, historian, calls this “total war”.

CATHOLIC SOCIAL THOUGHT

1. Pope John XXIII who wrote “Pacem in Terris” in 1963 gave his legacy of love to the world in his pleas to end war. He moved the Church from the so-called “theology of justified violence or just-war” to the atomic era: “ it is irrational any longer to think of a war as an apt means to vindicate violated rights.”
2. In 1965 the document “On the Church in the Modern World” of the Second Vatican Council ruled out the use of any weapons of mass destruction. Total destruction of entire cities, or civilian areas is a crime against God and human kind.
3. Pope Paul VI at the U.N. in a passionate plea called out, “Never again war, No, never again war!” Paul in a 1976 Peace Day Statement recalling Hiroshima and Nagasaki identified the bombings as “butchery of untold magnitude.”
4. Pope John Paul II stated, “ I now repeat, violence is a lie because it goes against the truth of our faith…Believe in peace, forgiveness and love for they are of Christ.” “Never again war. No, never again war which destroys the lives of innocent people; throws into upheaval the lives of those who do the killing and always leaves behind a trail of hatred and resentment.”
5. Pope Benedict XVI follows this strong opposition to war and killing in statements of his own against the present war in Iraq.

Rev. John Dear, S.J. captures the essence of Bishop Gumbleton's message of the spirituality of peacemaking: “The Church is supposed to be the peacemaking community of followers of the nonviolent Jesus. Its task is to walk in his footsteps, to do his work, to implement his teachings, and to take up his cross in the struggle for justice . Those Gospel teachings are clear: love your neighbor, be as compassionate as God, serve the poor , hunger and thirst for justice, put down the sword, take up the cross in the struggle for justice, become peacemakers and love your enemies.”

I have hope: Gratitude to Arundhati Roy, spokesperson for the Jury of Conscience, who presented the declaration from the World Tribunal on Iraq held in Istanbul in June. The testimony and analysis speaks profound truth. I have more hope because of the Tucson Raging Grannies, Cindy Sheehan and many military families, conscientious objectors, Code Pink, Veterans for Peace, Women in Black, Pax Christi, SOA Watch, Voices in the Wilderness, Citizens for Peace in Space, Home for Peace and Justice, August 6-9 witnesses, September 24 demonstrators, Catholic Workers resistance, Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, Life Communities, Jonah House and groups of peacemakers in every state of the Union faithfully dropping banners and offering leaflets while vigiling and witnessing for an end to war, violence, torture, killing. These millions of people understand peacemaking and justice as constitutive in their beliefs and I believe that they (all of you who are part of them) make the world better and better.

Danbury Libraries:

Your book gifts have been a blessing for all of us at Danbury. This month we received:

1. Maya Angelou Poems.
2. Teaching a Stone to Talk by Annie Dillard
3. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café by Fannie Flag
4. The Women and Men Poems by Nikki Giovanni
5. Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
6. Losing Moses on the Freeway by Chris Hedges
7. Cheap Psychological Tricks for Patients by Perry Buffington
8. When Lizzie Was Afraid of Trying New Things
9. Taking Care of Me (So I Can Take Care of My Children)
10. Visit with Mommy
11. When Your Parent is In Jail

These last 5 books are from Active Parenting Publishers. All are deeply appreciated and are being read by the women here.

What is Love: Out of the mouths of babes:

“ Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.” Danny – age 7

“If you want to learn to love better, you start with a friend who you hate.” Nikka – age 6

“Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it every day.” Noelle – age 7

“Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.” Elaine – age 5

With this newsletter we give another month in behalf of peace out of love. We enter the new month aware of the struggle of each family affected by Katrina and each family injured by their losses midst violence.

With love and gratitude,

Ardeth Platte, OP  # 10857-039
Federal Correction Institution
33 ½ Pembroke Station
Danbury, CT 06811