Janice Sevre-Duszynska, RCWP, Witness to Justice, Shares Story of Liturgy and Civil Disobedience at SOA Vigil/Photos

With Jesuit Bill Brennan and supporters
on Monday morning after court hearing
and reading of public statement in court

With Jesuit Bill Brennan on Ft. Benning Rd.
before the Sunday Vigil

With Fr. Jerry celebrating liturgy

On Ft. Benning Road Janice holds banner
depicting ordained women in the early church

On Fort Benning Road: November 19-21, 2010 I got in from Ft. Benning at 10 p.m. last night. It was a joy to be with friends from all over the country to shut down the U.S. Army School of the Americas and vigil in remembrance of the dead. The Spirit's movement was palpable.

My friends from Indiana picked me up and we arrived in Columbus, GA on Thursday evening, had supper with other former Prisoners of Conscience, chatted with Roy and SOA Watch staff from D.C. and gave out flyers announcing our Progressive Catholic Coalition Liturgy set for Friday night. Our liturgy was sponsored by CTA, CORPUS, FCM, RCWP-South and WOC.

On Friday morning we handed out more flyers at hotels and headed for the Convention Center where workshops and other events were taking place. We took part in conversation presented by the Latin American Solidarity Coalition: Building a Movement Against U.S. Militarism.

Then I dropped in at the end of the first showing of “Pink Smoke Over the Vatican” which Erin Hanna and Aileen Hayes of WOC were showing. The packed room was filled with hopeful faces. It was evident the movie inspired them.

Afterwards people asked questions. On Friday night at 6 p.m. Jerry Zawada, Franciscan priest of 50 years, and I led a Eucharist Concelebration of the Priesthood of the People.

We were remembering Jean Donovan, Ita Ford, Maura Clarke, Dorothy Kazel and Oscar Romero who were murdered 30 years ago as well as the hundreds of thousands of other innocents killed by those trained at the SOA.

We also recalled Sister Dorothy Stang who worked with the poor settlers in the Amazon Rain Forest and who quoted the Beatitudes from her Bible when her murderers asked what weapon she was carrying.

It is the fifth anniversary of her death. Our inclusive liturgy was filled with moving and poetic grassroots songs led by Charlie King and Karen Brandow. The First Reading was a quote from Ita Ford read by Aileen Hayes. The Second Reading was from Oscar Romero’s last sermon and was first read in Spanish by Karen, then sung by Charlie. The Beatitudes Gospel was read by Kay Akers, WOC woman and RCWP supporter from Los Angeles. Before our liturgy began Jerry spoke of his support for women priests. In his reflection he recalled friends who worked in Central America who were killed by military trained at SOA.

In my reflection I addressed the Spirit of the four churchwomen, Dorothy Stang and Oscar Romero and others and how they may have come to their “Yes” to cross the line to become Kin-dom-makers. We invited all present to share with their partners about the lines they cross for the Kin-dom. Jerry and I danced the polka to the closing song at the end of the Mass: "How Beautiful Upon the Mountain (Are the Steps of Those Who Walk in Peace").

On Saturday Franciscan Louis Vitale, 78, and a woman, 78, crossed onto the Federal property. They were released and will be in court next Monday. Louis's ministry for peace and justice also includes prison ministry as he has been arrested more than 250 times. Our affinity group had met a couple of times to discuss our CD action.

On Saturday afternoon on my way to participate in civil disobedience I came upon Bill Brennan, a 90-year-old Jesuit priest from Milwaukee (and friend of Alice Iaquinta’s) who had come to our Friday night liturgy.

He expressed a desire to participate in the action and asked for my help to get there as he was in a portable wheelchair-walker. I told him we were prepared to face city and state charges which would mean an unspecified time in jail and a fine which might reach $1,000 or more. I wanted him to be clear about the consequences of our action. He agreed. As we made our way off of Ft. Benning Road and to the meeting place of our affinity group, I saw police with hundreds of plastic handcuffs on the side of the road.

When we met our group, someone took my place to hold the banner as I helped Bill make it to our action. It was a difficult walk for him over a bumpy road and he was out of breath. Then I put on my Hispanic stole in solidarity with our Latin American sisters and brothers.

Some in our affinity group held banners as we momentarily blocked traffic on Victory Drive which leads to Ft. Benning and the SOA.

We called out to the people in their cars telling them about the SOA and why it needs to be shut down.

Bill and I sang “Ubi caritas,” “Shepherd Me Oh God” and Peace, Shalom, Shalom” as the police gathered up members of our group, processed them and took them away in squad cars.

Bill and I were next. A very kind police sergeant processed us. When I asked him when he was taking us to the jail, he told us we would have to appear in municipal court on Monday morning and handed us a summons.

I told him I wanted – we wanted -- to be in jail with the rest of our group. He told me we had the same charges but he couldn’t fit Bill’s walking/riding device in the squad car.

Later, we realized it was probably because of Bill’s age and fragility. Then a woman with a film camera interviewed Bill who was dressed in black and was recognizable as a priest.

At that time I realized that maybe I was supposed to have met Bill again on Ft. Benning Rd. Bill was unable to make the walk back so we signaled the taxi that was at the stoplight.

He drove us to Ft. Benning Rd. where another bus was waiting for Bill.

When I got to Ft. Benning Rd., I saw Atty. Bill Quigley and told him what had happened. He said to be at the Muscogee County Court with Bill Brennan on Sunday at 2 p.m. Some of us, including a couple of legal advisors were walking on the road and said the police were arresting people at random, including some who were walking to their cars. When the woman, Charity Ryerson (a second year law student at Georgetown) turned around, they arrested her.

The police yelled at us to keep moving. I found my ride and we rode to the Convention Center for Bishop Tom Gumbleton’s Mass. Since I had a few minutes, I caught the end of the second showing of “Pink Smoke.” It was so crowded that people sat in the aisles. They cheered during the movie. As it ended, I saw that Jules Hart, the movie’s film-maker, was standing next to me. She expressed her delight with the people’s response.

After Mass I met a priest from Latin America. His translator had been to our liturgy and wanted this priest to meet with me. When I returned to the hotel I gathered my belongings from my friends’ room (who were going to hold them when I was in jail).

On Sunday morning we gathered at Ft. Benning for the vigil, remembering the 900 people, many who were infants and children, who were slaughtered in the El Mozote massacre and more recent killings. I solemnly carried the RCWP banner with another friend of Alice’s. Many people nodded and took photos.

Shortly after we placed our crosses on the fence, two young men scaled it and crossed the line onto federal property. We all cheered and chanted: “Shut it down!” That afternoon we were in the court room as the 22 who had been held in jail overnight were brought out.

The judged appeared angry as he listened to the testimony of the police and the defendants as well as to the questioning by SOA Watch lawyers. Videos were brought in which the judge wanted to watch and we recessed. A couple of men from New York bought pizzas and we sat outside the courtroom building under a Columbus, GA full moon and ate and shared stories as people moved out of the courtroom for a break. One of the 22 defendants was a black barber who had walked out of the barber shop to take a photo of the police arresting people in the parking lot. He, too, was arrested.

The police told the judge they had made a mistake in arresting him. Still, the judge did not dismiss his three charges. I talked with his wife in the bathroom and she was crying. I was made aware by another attorney of the racism that still exists in Columbus.

We also learned that there were up to five undercover agents in our affinity group. One police woman revealed this information in court and sat next to a police man who we also recognized. We felt the police went overboard and wasted taxpayers’ money on our nonviolent actions.

Later that night the judge found 21 of the defendants guilty of all three charges, including the black barber. Bonds up to $5,500 were set by the judge for each SOA Watch defendant.

These were outrageously high. Support groups worked into the wee hours of the morning to raise thousands of dollars to get people bailed out on bond. My roommate returned to the motel after midnight and she was one of the first to be bonded. She had to reschedule her airline flight and make other arrangements immediately. On Monday morning my friends and I were up by 6:30 to check out and be at court by 9 a.m. Supporters gathered.

Jesuit Bill Brennan and I had a judge who told the courtroom that he understood our movement. Years ago as an attorney he had defended the first group that Roy Bourgeois gathered together at Ft. Benning back in 1990.

I asked if we could make a statement and it was granted. Bill was fined $50 for the two stage charges; I was fined $500...the difference being our age. We were both put on six months probation.
I told Atty. Bill Quigley about the kindness of the police sergeant who processed us and he had it entered into the court record. I brought out my envelope with the $500 that I had brought along to put toward any fines.

Afterwards Bill Quigley said this was a positive note to a previous negative day in court on Sunday. SOA Watch support people were joyful.

Hendrik Voss from SOA Watch arranged for an interview by an NBC affiliate and reporter from the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer. During each of the interviews Jesuit Bill Brennan mentioned that we were both priests.

What was important about our case according to attorneys was that it could set a precedent for the 21 SOA Watch defendants who will eventually have to appear in state court with the same charges.

As Kay said Monday morning, “The three days here felt like we had lived twenty glorious years.” =