"An Imagined Dialogue Between Pope Benedict and Bridget Mary"

Press Release: from the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests http://www.associationofromancatholicwomenpriests.org/


Dec. 4, 2011

Contact: Janice Sevre-Duszynska, 859-684-4247,
rhythmsofthedance@msn.com

Bridget Mary Meehan, 703-505-0004,
sofiabmm@aol.com

In his just-released book, Light of the World: "The Pope, the Church and the Sign of the Times," Pope Benedict XVI says ordaining women is not the church's choice to make. See: http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1004890.htm

In her just-released book: "Living Gospel Equality Now, Loving in the Heart of God - A Roman Catholic Women Priest Story," Bridget Mary Meehan shares her journey to priesthood as a Roman Catholic woman.
See: http://www.virtualbookworm.com/bookstore/product/woman_priest.html

The following "press release" is an imagined dialogue between the Pope and Bridget Mary.

Pope Benedict: It's Jesus' fault. He didn't ordain women priests. Why blame me for everything?

Bridget Mary: Don't blame Jesus! He didn't ordain anyone -- male or female.

Pope Benedict: He had only male Apostles.

Bridget Mary: Come on, my brother. Jesus set the pace. He called women to be disciples and apostles. Mary of Magdala is called the "Apostle to the Apostles." She was the person closest to Jesus. Talk about a job description for an apostle! As the Risen Christ, he chose her to "go and tell" the male apostles the good news of the Resurrection. So God is not impotent before women! Neither is our church! Jesus provided an example for you to follow.

Pope Benedict: The church has no authority to ordain women.

Bridget Mary: There you go again...contradicting papal scholarship on Scripture. In 1976, the Vatican's own Pontifical Biblical Commission concluded that there is nothing in Scripture to prohibit women's ordination. For twelve hundred years, women were ordained in Christianity as deacons, priests and bishops! Did you page through Dorothy Irvin's calendars that were sent to you, the Cardinals and U.S. bishops? Archaeologist/theologian Dorothy Irvin studied atTubingen U. when you were there. She's found plenty of evidence in frescoes, tombstones, catacombs and mosaics that women were leaders of our church. It's all over Rome and the Mediterranean world. For Goodness sake, take a walk with your camera to St. Priscilla's Catacomb.

Pope Benedict: There were no priestesses in the community of Jesus Christ!

Bridget Mary: Benedict, Benedict. Open up your eyes to what's happening. Women priests are a sign of the times! People welcome us with open arms! You've lost the young who believe in gender equality. We are your spiritual equals. Made in the image of God. Empowered by a Spirit who doesn't quit...

Pope Benedict: Why can't you be quiet! I excommunicated the first group of your women priests in 2002, those Danube Seven. Yes, we even sent them the official Vatican excommunication parchment. I've given instructions to bishops to excommunicate you wherever you women get ordained! And anyone who comes to your ordinations! Priests who support you! Wasn't it enough for me to issue delicta graviora? You and your women priests are in the same category of serious sin as pedophile priests!

Bridget Mary: And you didn't excommunicate them! Pope Benedict, male church leaders before you excommunicated women whistleblowers: St. Joan of Arc, Mother Theodore Guerin, Mother Mary MacKillop. Today they're saints.
I'm sending you two books: Living Gospel Equality Now and
Come By Here (http://www.amazon.com/Come-Here-Judith-B-Lee/dp/1451274866/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291426558&sr=1-1-fkmr0)
by woman priest Judy Lee who ministers and lives with the poor.
We continue to pray. You had a change of heart on condoms. We're praying for your change of heart on women priests.

Your sister priest (and bishop) in Christ,
Bridget Mary Meehan, RCWP

P.S. One day we hope to dialogue in person. Meanwhile, yours is the gift that keeps giving...Thanks.

New Book by Bridget Mary Meehan, RCWP: Living Gospel Equality Now: Loving in the Heart of God: A Roman Catholic Woman Priest Story

My new book, Living Gospel Equality Now,
Loving in the Heart of God-
A Roman Catholic Woman Priest Story

The direct link to the book is
http://www.virtualbookworm.com/bookstore/product/woman_priest.html

Thanks for your support. It is with great joy that I share treasured memories, stories of family, friends, community and the growth of the Roman Catholic Women Priests Movement in this book --in spite of Vatican opposition-- which in many ways, has actually been a contributing factor to greater support.

In addition to stories, my book has a variety of prayer experiences, photos, and inclusive liturgies. May all who read it be blessed and may our dream of a renewed priesthood in a community of equals flourish!

Today I read an article that stated that Pope Benedict said that the church had no power to ordain women. Nonsense, Jesus did not ordain anyone --male or female. Benedict's interview contrdicts the Vatican's own scripture scholarship. In 1976, the Pontifical Biblical Association concluded that there was nothing in scripture to prohibit women's ordination. According to scripture women were among Jesus' closest disciples and Mary of Magdala was chosen by the Risen Christ to "go and tell" (the job description of an apostle) the male apostles the good news of the Resurrection. So God is not impotent before women! Neither is our church!

Therefore, Jesus provided an example for the pope to follow. In addition, for twelve hundred years, women were ordained in Christianity as deacons, priests and bishops! So, indeed, Pope Benedict is ignoring both scripture and tradition by this statement below. The full equality of a woman is indeed a sign of our times that will not go away. Therefore, it is time for the institutional church, including Pope Benedict, to follow Jesus example of Gospel equality and partnership and treat women as equals in all areas of the church's life, including ordination. This is what Roman Catholic Women Priests are doing. This is one of my motiviations in writing my new book: Living Gospel Equality Now- Loving in the Heart of God- A Roman Catholic Woman Priest Story.

Bridget Mary Meehan, RCWP
703-505-0004
sofiabmm@aol.com

Pope says ordaining women is not the church's choice to make
By Rita FitchCatholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- "In his latest book, Pope Benedict XVI reaffirmed that the church has "no authority" to ordain women as priests and rejected the idea that the rule was formed only because the church originated in a patriarchal society.The pope said that man did not produce the form of the church, and does not have the power to change it. Christ gave the form of the priesthood when he chose his male Apostles, he said in the book-interview, "Light of the World: The Pope, the Church and the Signs of the Times "

"Catholic AIDS Workers: Pope Echoing Us On Condoms"

http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2010-12-01-Africacondoms01_ST_N.htm

by Michelle Faul (Associated Press)

JOHANNESBURG (AP)

"...But parish priest Rev. Didier Lemaire showed no embarrassment when asked about the stash of 600 condoms, set conveniently on an examination couch so one could grab a few on the way out the door. Lemaire said Pope Benedict XVI's groundbreaking statement about the selective use of condoms only cements what Catholic AIDS workers have said for years."

"What the pope is saying, many priests have been saying for a long time," said Lemaire. He said eschewing condoms when people have AIDS goes against the commandment "Thou shalt not kill."

"Pope Benedict's comments have far-reaching implications for Africa, the continent with the highest numbers of AIDS victims — and the fastest-growing number of Catholic converts. But it is more important because the Catholic Church is the biggest private provider of AIDS care in the world, providing antiretroviral treatment, home-care visits and counseling to one in four of the world's 33.3 million AIDS patients, according to the Catholic charity Caritas International. In 2008, members of the Catholic HIV and AIDS network spent 180 million euros (about $235 million) on assistance, it said. "

New Blog by Diane Dougherty/ RCWP coming to Atlanta!

http://dianedoughertysblog.blogspot.com/

Enjoy this beautiful blog by Diane Dougherty on Roman Catholic Women Priests!

Homily – 1st Sunday of Advent – Cycle A – 28 November 2010 by Roberta M. Meehan, RCWP

Isaiah 2:1-5
Psalm 122:1-9
Romans 13:11-14
Matthew 24:37-44

Advent Reflections

We miss the point about Advent. We really do.

Let us look briefly at these First Sunday of Advent readings and then let us look at some serious points about how we should be reflecting on Advent.

The reading from Isaiah tells us to be happy! The words excitedly encourage us to climb the Lord’s Mountain and to walk in the Light of the Lord! Who said anything about “drab advent” there?

The response on the psalm is “Rejoice in the House of the Lord.” We know that so often the whole liturgical theme can be found in the psalm. Here it is! Rejoice!!

In Romans we hear two interesting phrases, “Awake from sleep” and “Throw off darkness.”

And in Matthew we hear we are supposed to stay awake because we do not know when the Son of Man is coming.

Notice how all of these readings are exciting! They are happy! They are upward looking! Why, oh why, do we look at Advent with this glum pretense of mourning??? We should be excited and happy – just as the readings exhort us to be! This is not a season of solemnity; it is a season of rejoicing!

I remember the first time I wrote about Advent. I was heading for Chicago. Here is a quote from what I wrote back then.

“Rushing madly – trying to get to Chicago. Advent! Advent! Advent! Hang on, Chicago! I’m coming! Really. And as I wrote that ramble, I stopped and paused and thought about the words before me. Advent, of course, is loosely translated as a coming. And we all know the coming in question is the coming of the Christ Child on Christmas Day. That part is relatively easy for us.”

I can still feel that Advent excitement. I still know what I meant as I dashed to the airport to spread that metal bird’s wings toward the Windy City.

But, what does this coming – or this preparation – mean to us in this Advent of 2010? How can we be an Advent People when we are faced and raced with the five week holiday season? And isn’t it a non-stop holiday? For those of us in education, we know that the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is an academic wasteland! We know that this is true regardless of the level – kindergarten through graduate school.

If asked what this Advent Season means, most people will make a brief statement about how we are getting ready for Christmas and then they will start saying something about what Christ should be to or in the world. Maybe they will even start talking about putting Christ back into Christmas!

Most of us avoid what Advent means to us personally as a part of the Church calendar. We may mouth the words – but we forget the meaning. Maybe we don’t really forget the meaning; maybe we simply don’t have a solid grasp of what that meaning is.

Sometimes clergy (of various denominations) try to impose a guilt trip on people who are getting ready for Christmas too early. How silly!!!!! This is that “put Christ back into Christmas” theme. But, Christ is in Christmas. And we’re having a party!

Christmas is a great party! Of course it is! Sure, we can go back into the pagan origins of the feast and we can make pious statements about the first official ecclesial celebration of Christmas in 359 (or was that 353?). But, what does it prove? Absolutely nothing!

Regardless of how the feast of Christmas came about, the thing is that for almost 1700 years people have been celebrating the birth of Christ! And for almost that long, people have – in one way or another – been preparing for this great birthday party!

Yes, He is coming! And this is our time of preparation! But, party preparations are not all somber and sad! When was the last time anyone got ready for a great party by donning sackcloth and ashes? No way! We are preparing for a party! A salvation party! Let us celebrate!

If we are planning a wonderful party, don’t we play music? If we are planning a wonderful party, don’t we laugh with our friends? If we are planning a wonderful party, don’t we decorate our homes and put out festive things so the guests will be welcome? Of course we do!

And, I believe that that is what our Advent should be about! Yes, we are getting ready for the birthday of our Savior. And we are getting ready for it in fine style because we already know he will arrive safe and sound. Oh, we will not be able to see Jesus in person at our tables and around our Christmas trees. But, he is coming! And Advent is the time that we are preparing for that coming.

Oh, wait! Maybe we do see Him! Maybe the Christ, whose birth we await on Christmas day, is seen in every person who stops by during this Advent season! Maybe the Christ is seen in every person who sits at our tables. Maybe the Christ is seen in every family member who is or was or will be a part of that circle of people we love and rejoice with! Maybe the birthday presents we have for that Christ are the presents we wrap for each other! After all, we see our party guest of honor in every person we wish “Season’s Greetings” to. Don’t we?

The third Sunday of Advent is Gaudete Sunday – and Gaudete means rejoice (because it’s half over!). Oh, I think we should rejoice the whole time!!! All of Advent should be Gaudete! Not because Advent is half over at any given point. But, rather because we are reminded so clearly of the coming of our Savior in every person we see, in every decoration we put up, in every meal we prepare, in every visit we make, in every present we wrap.

This is a wonderful season! Gaudete!!!! Let us rejoice! We’re going to have a wonderful party – and we are now having a wonderful time preparing for that party! Play the music! Deck the halls! Sing and laugh and be in Christ’s love with one another!

Oh yes, Chicago, Phoenix, New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, and on and on! Rejoice, Chicago, Phoenix, New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, and on and on! I am coming to be a part of the wonderful party preparations! Jesus – thanks for being – and thanks for this opportunity to rejoice with each other as we see the Christ in every person we meet – and we are getting ready for a great party! Let us have a wonderful time preparing for our Christmas party – as Jesus reminds us once more that we are the People of God!

-- Roberta M. Meehan

An Open Letter to Catholics: We and our (male) Bishops Are Failing Our Sisters in Africa

Faithful wives are needlessly being infected by their HIV-positive husbands as a result of the Vatican ignoring established Catholic principles of pastoral moral theology in addressing the HIV/AIDS Pandemic in Africa.

In sub-Saharan Africa, which has a Catholic population of over 158 million, 1.9 million Africans were newly-infected in 2008 with HIV largely as a result of heterosexual relations. Women represented 60% of those suffering from HIV & AIDS. This is 150% of the rate of infection among adult males. The year before, more than 1.6 million, mostly women and their children infected with HIV in the womb, during childbirth or thru breast feeding, died from AIDS. AIDS orphans at the end of 2007 totaled 11.6 million. An estimated 22.4 million adults and children were living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa in 2008.

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) cares for one-quarter of all HIV/AIDS victims regardless of their religious affiliation but is powerless to help prevent HIV and the suffering and deaths from AIDS because the Vatican has yet to demonstrate the compassion of Christ for these innocent women by allowing CRS to provide condoms to HIV-positive husbands who are unwilling to forego sexual relations with their spouses. Thus CRS is guaranteed an inexhaustible supply of women suffering and dying from AIDS to care for – a morally indefensible scenario. Sadly, availability to the millions of at-risk women of an effective microbicide to prevent transmission of HIV during sex is years off and antiretroviral medicine to prevent HIV from developing into AIDS must be taken lifelong.

HIV prevention programs typically promote ABC – (1) Abstinence before marriage. (2) Be Faithful in Marriage and (3) Condoms if A & B are not feasible. The Vatican supports A & B and rejects C when using condoms where one partner is HIV-positive is clearly PRO-LIFE.\

Unfortunately, African women are victims of their male-dominated cultures. A married woman living in sub- Saharan Africa in all likelihood is already monogamous. It is her husband who is likely to have HIV. Yet refusing a husband’s sexual overtures risks ostracism, violence, and destitution for herself and her children. Women are physiologically more susceptible to becoming infected with HIV than men.

The African national conferences of Catholic bishops and the United States Conference Catholic Bishops (USCCB) have failed to stand up to the Vatican on this life and death issue. Thus these women, Catholic and non-Catholic, under the care of CRS, are also the victims of our male-dominated Catholic Church.

On the other hand, representatives of several national conferences of bishops of non-African nations and a number of individual cardinals and bishops, relying on established principles of pastoral moral theology, viz. double effect, the right to self-defense and lesser evil, have urged the use of condoms to save lives. Here is what some of these Catholic prelates have publicly stated:

In 2006, Mario Conti, Archbishop of Glasgow, pledged his support for the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers' recent decision to conduct and release a study on condom use to fight AIDS and contended that using condoms to stop transmission of the disease from one spouse to another is "common sense”. (Sadly, that study was aborted and since then several million more women have been infected)

In 2006 Bishop Antonio Moreira, vice president of the Portuguese Episcopal conference, said "In a context of marriage where one or both are infected, the use of a condom is a clear case of a lesser evil."

Bishop Gilles Cote of the Diocese in Papua New Guinea, speaking to the Vatican’s ban on contraception, said, “We also have a law—you should not kill…so there is a moral responsibility that those with a partner who is infected are protected.”

One of less than a handful of bishops in Africa who have spoken out in favor of condom use is white South African Bishop Kevin Dowling who in 2005 said he considers using condoms to be "a pro-life option in the widest sense." "For me, the issue is simply this: How do you preserve and protect life? Under church doctrine, that is "not only allowable, it's a moral imperative,"

Mexican Bishop Felipe Arizmendi in January 2005 argued that condoms may be appropriate for those who cannot abstain. "They should use whatever is necessary in order not to infect others and not to infect themselves. There is no other alternative."

Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragán, a Mexican who heads the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers, said he finds the use of condoms acceptable when abstinence is not an option. He said "If an infected husband wants to have sex with his wife who isn't infected, then she must defend herself by whatever means necessary. This position is consistent with the tenets of Catholic moral theology, which teaches that acts of self-defense can extend to killing in order to not be killed”.

Cardinal Georges Cottier, theologian of the pontifical household in February 2005 stated that while condoms cannot be condoned as a contraceptive, "the use of condoms in some situations can be considered morally legitimate to prevent the spread of HIV. That is where the commandment 'thou shalt not kill' is valid."

The German Bishops Conference in 1997 noted “We must make people understand that sexual intercourse has its legitimate place within the space of lasting partnership that is protected by faithfulness and confidence. In the face of the effective life threat that results from HIV/AIDS, everything needs to be done to avoid an infection.”

Following Pope Benedict’s controversial statements regarding condoms during his visit to Africa in 2009, three Portuguese bishops took issue with Pope Benedict’s comments. Military Bishop Januário Torgal Mendes Ferreira said that “to ban condom use was equivalent to consenting to the death of many people,” adding that the Pope’s advisors should give him “more learned advice.” Bishop Manuel José Macário do Nascimento Clemente of Porto said that the use of condoms by persons with AIDS is “not only recommendable” but also “can be ethically obligatory.” Bishop Ilídio Pinto Leandro of Viseu said that those “who cannot avoid having sexual relations are morally obliged to avoid passing on the disease by using a condom.”

The World Health Organization has stated "The correct and consistent use of good quality condoms confers a level of protection as high as 85 to 95 percent against HIV transmission. Male and female condoms, when properly kept, stored, handled, and used, are the only scientifically proven barrier products currently available against HIV and other STDs". The USCCB, by not urging the Vatican to ease up its hard line on condoms, has failed to demonstrate pastoral compassion for these women.

WHAT MUST WE DO TO SHOW SOLIDARITY WITH THESE INNOCENT VICTIMS

We must strongly urge the USCCB to join the other national conferences of bishops who have had the courage to stand up for the victims of HIV and AIDS notwithstanding the morally-unsupportable position of the Vatican against the use of condoms in battle against AIDS. Christ in his brief time on earth preached what is now characterized as “the preferential option for the poor” and urged his disciples and those who would follow to emulate his compassion for the poor. What more fundamental preferential option for the poor could there be than saving of the lives of these innocent women? We as true Christians need to speak up in loud and certain terms to our U.S. Catholic Bishops. They need to understand that following their cover-up of the clergy sexual abuse of children, their failure to insist that the Vatican be guided by the Church’s pastoral principles of moral theology to protect these innocent women makes them complicit in the horrendous HIV/AIDS holocaust in Africa and calls into question their moral capacity to lead their flocks.

We urge all who profess to be Catholic to phone, fax or e-mail Bishop Dewane at the diocesan chancery and urge him to prevail on his fellow bishops in the USCCB (1) to authorize Catholic Relief Services to provide condoms to couples where one spouse is HIV-positive and to instruct them that their proper and consistent use is a moral imperative and (2) to insist that the Vatican be guided by established principles of Catholic pastoral moral theology and relax its prohibition on the use of condoms where one spouse is HIV-positive. Request that he publish in the next issue of the diocesan newspaper his commitment to actively lobby his fellow bishops for support of this initiative. Then deposit this flyer in the collection plate plus your next regular Sunday offering. Your pastor should be pleased that you care about these innocent women and were moved to speak to the Bishop about their plight.

CONTINUE TO CONTACT BISHOP DEWANE until his commitment appears in the diocesan newspaper.

Bishop Dewane’s contact information : Most Rev. Frank J. Dewane, 1000 Pinebrook Rd. Venice, FL 34285

Phone: (941) 484 9543 Fax: (941) 484 1121; Email: information@dioceseofvenice.org

The Pope on Condoms & AIDS

The Pope on Condoms & AIDS

by Bill Schuch

Here is some background for fellow Catholics who know not what to make of the Pope's recent comments on using condoms to prevent HIV transmission.

The HIV/AIDS pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa began on Pope John Paul II's watch. Sadly, John Paul II and Benedict XVI have ignored the plight of monogamous women at the mercy of their HIV-positive spouses and partners by forbidding Catholic Relief Services (CRS) to provide condoms to such couples with instructions as to their consistent proper use if the infected male demands sex.

Millions of African women have died of AIDS over the last several decades - the bitter harvest of the birth control encyclical which was issued over the objections of 90 percent of the cardinals, bishops, theologians, medical professionals and lay experts on the papal commission studying birth control.

Preaching abstinence and fidelity did not help them - they were already faithful to their partners. Yet refusing a husband's sexual overtures risked ostracism, violence, and destitution for them and their children.

Since1989 and citing long-standing principles of Catholic moral theology, 7 national conferences of Catholic Bishops and 25 cardinals and bishops have publicly urged the use of condoms to protect monogamous African women from their HIV-positive husbands and partners.

Will Benedict finally show some real compassion for these innocent women by authorizing Catholic relief agencies to provide condoms and guidance to these couples? Otherwise these agencies will be guaranteed an inexhaustible supply of dying women for which to care. Not a very Christ-like scenario.

Holiness is....by Sister Anne

Holiness is a state of my mind, heart and soul

where throughout life

I become so empty of myself

that I become subsumed by the Divine Love;

on fire,

completely energized

in constant union

with the One Who formed me from the cosmic dust.

Holiness -

The union of a soul with God such that the soul

is immersed totally in God’s presence

is filled to overflowing with joy, love, compassion for others

is as a drop in the fathomless Being

is able to center easily on God during daily duties and activities

is able to ponder at ever deepening levels the Divine will and wishes

is able to be empty of selfish desires and distractions

is able to see through God’s eyes

is able to touch with God’s hands

is able to hug with the immensity of God’s grace

Holiness is to be utterly consumed by God

Holiness is when my Beloved God and I are one;

It is when I am always giving God to others

Holiness is when I am in endless contemplation and union with the Love of my life,

Deeply imbedded in the Divine Presence

Holiness is to be transparent,

such that those seeing me

speaking with me

sitting with me

being with me can experience the presence of God

the ineffable Beauty

the infinite Energy of life

the immeasurable Goodness

the irrepressible Love

the sheer majesty of God

Holiness is when I melt into the arms of my Creator

'A Large Proportion of Catholic Clerics and Trainee Priests Are Homosexual'

'A Large Proportion of Catholic Clerics and Trainee Priests Are Homosexual'

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,730520-2,00.html

Janice Sevre-Duszynska, RCWP and Fr. Jerry Zawada preside at Progressive Catholic Coalition Liturgy at SOA Watch

Janice Sevre-Duszynska, RCWP and Fr. Jerry Zawada,
a Franciscan priest preside at Progressive
Catholic Coalition Liturgy at SOA Watch at Ft. Benning, GA.

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.” =