St. Clare and St. Francis of Assisi: Role Models for Pope Francis and Women in an Egalitarian Church

Feast Day of St Clare of Assisi: August 11th.

St. Clare and St. Francis were close spiritual companions whose agenda of reform gifted the church with a new form of religious life and a renewal of Gospel living.
As St. Clare resisted the Vatican definition of religious life in the 13^th century and became the first woman to write an egalitarian Rule of Life approved by the Church, so feminist theologians and  women priests today are charting a new path toward Gospel equality in an inclusive church.
  Let’s hope that Pope Francis listens to the signs of the times and follows Saint Francis's and Saint Clare’s example of Gospel partnership in a reformed, egalitarian church where justice is a reality for women and men in all ecclesial ministries and church governance including women priests. Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP, www.arcwp.org

 

Key US Sister: Vatican's LCWR Order 'Unacceptable'/Leadership Conference of Women Religious Should not Give Control over to Bishops

"A year and a half after the Vatican ordered the main representative group of U.S. Catholic sisters to place itself under the control of three U.S. bishops, many sister-leaders still consider complete compliance with the order "unacceptable," the head of the largest order of sisters in the Western Hemisphere said Thursday.

Many members of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) do not think they can give complete control of their group over to the bishops, Mercy Sr. Pat McDermott told NCR Aug. 1.
"The points of direction for the future, I think are unacceptable -- that the bishops would be looking at our materials, our publications, giving direction to the assembly," said McDermott, who as president of the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas leads about 4,000 sisters serving in the U.S. and 11 other countries.
"That's not a conference that most leaders want to belong to."
McDermott's comments come as LCWR, which represents about 80 percent of the 57,000 U.S. sisters, is preparing for its annual assembly, to be held this year from Aug. 13-16 in Orlando, Fla. About 900 women religious are expected to attend...."

http://ncronline.org/news/people/key-us-sister-vaticans-lcwr-order-unacceptable

"Grading Pope Francis' First Four Months" Sr. Maureen Fiedler/ What Grade Would You Give Him?

When the question finally came at the end of the interview, I said simply, "On style and tone and emphasis [on social justice], an A+. But on substance and all else, an 'incomplete.' "   http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/grading-pope-francis-first-four-months
..."If he is indeed a reformer or a revolutionary, we have yet to see it. Coming still are his appointments to the Curia (or reform of the curial structure) and the appointments of bishops in the United States and elsewhere. He has yet to seriously tackle the fallout from the sex abuse crisis, especially with the bishops who did nothing to stop it.
And of course, Pope Francis' understanding of issues facing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and the role of women in the church has a long way to go. (I suggested on CBS that his contention that "the church has an inadequate theology of women" is certainly a true statement for the male hierarchy, and I might assign him some "homework": Begin reading the enormous body of feminist theology that has been enriching the church for decades. "

"On St. Clare Feast Catholics Support Sisters, Pray for Authentic Dialogue" /Time for the full equality of women in the Catholic Church

 

WASHINGTON D.C. - Next week, hundreds of Catholic nuns are expected to gather in Orlando, FL for the annual meeting of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR).

On August 11, 2013 in solidarity with U.S. women religious, thousands of Catholics will join in prayer http://nunjustice.org/download/ on the Feast of St. Clare.

 

"The pope intentionally chose St. Francis of Assisi as his namesake, and he has shown himself to be open to dialogue" stated Erin Saiz Hanna, spokesperson for the Nun Justice Project. "St. Francis of Assisi's sacred friendship with St. Clare is well documented. St. Francis worked collaboratively alongside his sisters rather than against them. We pray Pope Francis, and Archbishop Sartain, will not only speak but listen and authentically dialogue with the sisters as St. Francis did with St. Clare."

 

LCWR, an umbrella group representing 80% of the 57,000 nuns in the United States, remains under scrutiny from the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF). In the spring of 2012 the CDF issued a statement accusing LCWR of promoting "radical feminist themes" and "corporate dissent," causing outrage among Catholics around the globe.

LCWR responded that the CDF statement was based on "unsubstantiated accusations' and the result of a "flawed process that lacked transparency." Last August, the organization's president, Sr. Pat Farrell, announced that "open and honest dialogue" would be LCWR's next step with Archbishop Sartain who had been appointed to oversee the mandate.

Last summer, nearly 70,000 Catholics signed a Change.org petition and hundreds organized vigils to rally around the sisters.

"Catholics around the country have been inspired by the faith and work of the sisters and will continue to support them; we urge Pope Francis to recognize their commitment and contributions and dismiss the mandate," said Jim FitzGerald, spokesperson for the Nun Justice Project.

Bridget Mary's Response:

 As St. Clare and St. Francis collaborated as companions and ministers of the Gospel, it is my hope that Pope Francis will open a new path for nunjustice and  for the full equality for women in the church.  The entire church owes the nuns a debt of gratitude for centuries of generous service to  those on the margins of church and society. May the hierarchy treat their Sisters as beloved companions and spiritual equals in ministry to God's people.

Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP, www.arcwp.org

 

 

Is God laughing or crying?

http://godlaughingorcrying.blogspot.com/

"What is a Theology of Women?"/Questions from a Ewe

http://questionsfromaewe.blogspot.ca/

..."Finally, I cannot end without commenting on Frank's statement regarding women's ordination. He said the church has spoken and said no. Frank, read your catechism; the church is the people of God. They, and thus the church, overwhelmingly say they want women priests. The hierarchy has spoken and that is a small, shrinking faction of the church. At last count, the entire clergy numbered around 413,000 out of 1.2 Billion Catholics worldwide. That is less than three one hundredths of a percent.

But even though this small faction of the church monotonously repeats falsehoods and sexist statements to preserve its sexist stronghold of power, Frank's statement is comical by the sheer fact that in the same interview he offered a 180 degree different viewpoint than Pope Bennie's views on homosexual priests. Frank, you know what Mary told me when you said that. Frank's just using an old trick of flattery to try to keep women doing most of the work in the church while he and his pals take most of the credit.

So, what would the church be without women? It wouldn't be like the apostolic college without Mary. That exists and thrives. Nor would it be like a day without sunshine. The church without women would quite simply be non-existent. Men cannot bear children. So, a church without women would be extinct. How long will women continue to enable a small, male minority of the church to dictate and define who God calls them to be? "

Posted by Questions from a Ewe at 9:04 AM 1 comment:

 

 

 

U.S. Archbishop Sartain, Vatican Appointed Overseer of Leadership Conference of Women Religious Will Attend Assenbly

 Joshua J. McElwee | Aug. 2, 2013

 http://ncronline.org/news/vatican/vatican-appointed-overseer-attend-lcwr-gathering

"The U.S. archbishop who was given expansive oversight by the Vatican of American sisters will attend their annual gathering in mid-August and will speak of his role as their church-mandated overseer.
Unclear, however, is whether Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain will take questions from the approximately 900 women, leaders of the various orders of sisters across the country, who are expected to attend the event.
News of Sartain's presence at the assembly of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) comes amid continuing uncertain times for the group, an umbrella organization of U.S. sisters that the Vatican ordered to revise in April 2012 and gave the archbishop wide authority over its statutes and programs.
One former LCWR president said its members are preparing for this year's assembly with an "ominous feeling."
"We're going into this assembly knowing that there's a cloud over our head and that we are being investigated and they are going to be monitoring us," said Mercy Sr. Theresa Kane, who served as LCWR president from 1979 to 1980.

 

Sartain, Kane said, is "showing up, and he's staying for the entire assembly. It's monitoring. There's a cloud ... and we're living through it."
Leaders of LCWR and the individual institutes of U.S. sisters have expressed pain and confusion over the Vatican's move, made in a "doctrinal assessment" published by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith..."
 

Women Priests Judy Lee and Judy Beaumont: Blessing our Students on their Return to School

http://judyabl.wordpress.com/2013/08/05/blessing-our-students-on-their-return-to-school/

"Pope Francis Comments on Women Suggest Reason for Optimism"

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2013/aug/04/bonnie-erbe-pope-francis-remarks-about-women-for/

...“It is not enough to have altar girls, women readers or women as the president of Caritas” charities, Francis said. “Women in the church are more important than bishops and priests,” just as “Mary is more important than the apostles.”New scholarship during the past two decades has turned on its head church conceptions about proper roles for women in the hierarchy. Scholars are discovering early Christian women had much more power in the church, as apostles and as leaders of home churches — the only type there were under Roman rule, which banned Christianity."Karen King is one such scholar. She is a professor of New Testament studies and the history of ancient Christianity at Harvard Divinity School.
‘’Women held offices and played significant roles in group worship,” King writes. “Paul, for example, greets a deacon named Phoebe (Romans 16:1) and assumes that women are praying and prophesying during worship (I Corinthians 11). As prophets, women’s roles would have included not only ecstatic public speech, but preaching, teaching, leading prayer, and perhaps even performing the Eucharist meal. ... Women’s prominence did not, however, go unchallenged. Every variety of ancient Christianity that advocated the legitimacy of women’s leadership was eventually declared heretical, and evidence of women’s early leadership roles was erased or suppressed.”
To this day, women’s early leadership roles are challenged and denigrated by many members of the church hierarchy.
Do I hope or believe Pope Francis will promote women to positions of real authority? Something tells me even he will not do that. But the fact he’s talking about it at all is hugely significant."
Contact columnist Bonnie Erbe of Scripps Howard News Service at bonnie.scrippshoward@gmail.com.
Bridget Mary Meehan's Response:
I agree that it is significant that women were apostles and leaders in the early church and presided over the Eucharistic meal in house churches. Today that role is reserved for the priest. Now if we open up sacraments to the entire community as celebrants and both women and men are called forth by the community to preside, then we are back to the early church model. This is what Roman Catholic Women Priests Movement is doing in many grassroots communities, but I wonder if it is where Pope Francis wants to go! Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP, www.arcwp.org

"Nurturing Your Inner Mystic" by Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP

"Contemplative" or mystical prayer is popular today for people from different faith traditions and of no faith affliation.
This prayer focuses more on communion with God than on formulas or spontaneous prayer.
There is no right or wrong way to do it.
It is biblical.  Psalm 46:10 "Be still and know that I am God."
In this prayer, we let go of words  and journey to the still point of our being where our deepest self dwells in the Presence of God.
Here we are at home in the Divine Love that embraces, heals, comforts, and empowers us.
Here we let go, open our hands and hearts to being with God.
Resting, Relaxing, Listening, Loving...
In contemplative prayer, the Spirit of God prays within us, within our relationships, within the beauty that surrounds us and within the ordinary moments of living.
It is where we are one with All in God.
As we nurture the mystic within we  become more attentive to the Wonder of Love within and around us enfolding and holding us.
Today, take a little time, even a few minutes to breathe, let go of your agenda and "to do" list. Rest and relax --- simply be with God.
( One "how to" is simply become aware of your breath, let go and let God love you. No need for words or thoughts or "prayers". A simple prayer word or phrase can help you focus on the Presence. Repeat it as needed to keep your focus on being in love with God who dwells within you and is in love with you and with all creation.)
Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP, www.arcwp.org

"Former LCWR Leader: Pope Should Open Door to Women Priests"/ Sister Theresa Kane/ NCR/"Women's Ordination, a Matter of Justice"

http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/former-lcwr-leader-pope-should-open-door-women-priests
Women's ordination, said Kane, "is a matter of justice."
"If there's any inequality there's always injustice, whether it's racial or cultural or religious or gender," she said. "Not only is it a social justice, I've always said it's a form of inequality which is a form of idolatry actually -- that we idolize the ideas, we idolize the traditions, we idolize the way it has been."
Referencing Pope Francis' remarks on the plane that women have a special role in the church akin to that of Mary's as the Queen of the Apostles, Kane said Catholic leaders sometimes put women on a pedestal but don't see them as equals.
"They continue to say Mary was so important, but we pedestalize her and we want to pedestalize women," said Kane. "We either pedestalize women or we condemn them. We never see them as equals, or we never have to look eye to eye and be equal with each other."
Kane said Pope Francis has to open the door to the question of women priests and to "bring the church into the 21st century for the very significant equality of women and men."
Bridget Mary's Response:
Right on, Sister Theresa Kane! Once again, you speak truth to the pope. I was present when you first raised this issue at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in DC when Pope John Paul 11 addressed women religious!

"What Pope Left Out About Women" by Alice Laffey/CNN/Bridget Mary's Response on Women Priests

 http://edition.cnn.com/2013/07/31/opinion/laffey-women-pope/index.html?iid=article_sidebar
"When Pope Francis gave his now-famous, 80-minute interview on the plane back to Rome from Brazil, he was asked, not surprisingly, about the role of women in the Roman Catholic Church. He said that John Paul II had "closed the door" to the possibility of women priests, but he affirmed that the church lacked "a deep theology of women." His comments conveyed a deep respect for women.

Whatever Francis' own virtues, however, the church will continue to be accused of sexual discrimination, especially by many Americans and Europeans, as long as it denies the priesthood to women.

 

No matter what efforts Pope Francis makes with respect to women, if he refuses to move the ordination question forward, many, including Catholics, will consider his efforts toward women as insufficient or even hypocritical.

That John Paul II "closed the door" to women's ordination is undoubtedly true, but the door may not be closed for all time. After John Paul II's pronouncement against the ordination of women, the Catholic Theological Society of America, the country's leading professional society of Roman Catholic theologians, at its June 1997 meeting, endorsed a resolution indicating that there are "serious doubts regarding the nature of the authority of the teaching" that the church lacks the authority to ordain women to the priesthood and that the all-male priesthood is a truth that has been infallibly taught and that the faithful must accept..."
 

Bridget Mary's Response:

Pope John Paul 11 did not consult with the world's theologians and bishops when he proclaimed the definitive teaching banning women's ordination. We must keep in mind that the church is the"people of God, the community of faith" and definitive teaching must reflect the "sensus fidelium", rooted in the example and teaching of Jesus, the church's tradition and the lived experience of the church in our times. Of course, there are "serious doubts regarding the nature of the authority of the teaching" on the ban on women priests. Roman Catholic Women Priests are living a renewed priestly ministry in inclusive, egalitarian communities of faith. This is our "gift", our charism to our contemporary 21st century church.  The full equality of women in the church, including priestly ministry, is the voice of God in our times. Bridget Mary Meehan, http://www.arcwp.org

 

 

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"What Makes Marriage Marriage" from article byThomas Finn/ shared by John Chuchman

For some 1,600 years,

before institutional religion co-opted it,

what made a marriage a true marriage was consent,

from which its three benefits flowed:

Love, Respect, Sacred Union, Children.

Whether a couple could have children was,

like sexual attraction,

nature's call,

not what makes marriage marriage.

Although same-sex couples can have a child by adoption

and nurture the child in a home characterized by mutual affection and respect,

they cannot beget a child of their own.

But, that same situation often is the case for an opposite-sex married couple

who adopt and nurture.

Neither couple can be said to contravene the law of nature by marrying.

Given the percentage of people for and against same-sex marriage,

more than 60 percent of our citizens,

including Catholics,

seem to agree with what our Western predecessors concluded

about what truly constitutes marriage,

whether for an opposite-sex or same-sex couple,

namely,

consent to a life together

of partners infused with affection and respect

constitutes true marriage,

from which social benefits flow.

From an article by Thomas M. Finn, chancellor professor of religion (emeritus) at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va.

"THIRTY YEARS: WHAT WE'VE LEARNED AND WHAT I'VE LEARNED" by Thomas Doyle, J.C. D., C.A. D. C/Sexual Abuse Scandal in the Roman Catholic Church

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Special-message-from-ARCC---THIRTY-YEARS.html?soid=1106306587785&aid=Ljvs8_e1Qlg

"When I first became involved with the Gauthe case in 1984 I still believed in the Church.  I thought the institutional structure I was part of, and the People of God described by the Second Vatican Council, were one and the same.  In spite of already having served three years on the inside at the Vatican Embassy I still had some confidence in bishops and shared the hope with my colleagues at the time, Mike Peterson and Ray Mouton, that once the bishops became aware of how terrible sexual abuse of a child could be and the potential for scandal of epic proportions, they would quickly step up to the plate and do the right thing,
especially by the victims. "

"I was dead wrong.  Any lingering hopes I may have had were demolished by my
experiences in the years that followed.  I had no idea back then of the extent
of the problem but more important, and worse, I had no idea just how duplicitous and destructive the bishops could be. "

A lengthy and thoughtful article by Tom Doyle posted on the website of the Association of the Rights of Catholics in the Church.

For a comprehensive overview of the saga of dealing with clerical sex abuse of minors in the United States see Mortal Sins by Michael D’Antonio.

"Top Ten Ways Bradley Manning Changed the World" by Juan Cole

Published on Portside (http://portside.org

http://www.juancole.com/toward-an-authorized-biography

 Source URL: http://portside.org/2013-08-01/top-ten-ways-bradley-manning-changed-world

Links:[1] http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jrcole/cv.htm

"This is Pope As Rock Star"/ "....if someone is a woman and she searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge"

 

"Pope Francis said, “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has goodwill, who am I to judge?” When will he say, “If someone is a woman and she searches for the Lord and has goodwill, who am I to judge?”

Pat Noonan, Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

"Thanks for Nothing ,Pope Francis" /The Guardian

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jul/31/pope-francis-conservative-views-on-women

"Maverick Catholics hold out hope for female priests" by Dan Rodricks /Baltimore Sun

Ann Penick and Marellen Mayers, two Maryland women who became Catholic priests in a maverick ordination in a Protestant church in Catonsville in 2011, spoke about Pope Francis' comments that women could not be priests. "I was very encouraged by what Pope Francis has said about the poor and the marginalized and by what he said about [gay and lesbian] people," Penick wrote in an email. "However, I was deeply saddened by what he said about the ordination of women." Mayers said she was not surprised, but she expressed hope the pope would "be a good listener" and become open to the idea of a more inclusive priesthood. (unknown, Baltimore Sun / June 5, 2011)

Dan Rodricks

6:56 p.m. EDT, July 31, 2013

Read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-rodricks-0801-20130731,0,4482810.column#ixzz2al9by6cM

..."But while there are a lot of reasons for the exodus from the church, you certainly must include its doctrine of discrimination.
Who wants to be associated with a church that, in the 21st century, discriminates against its own members because of their sex or, in the case of gays and lesbians, their sexual identity?
Of course, women are allowed to be active in the life of the church — they serve as sisters, as Catholic school administrators; they run charitable missions, and they serve as diocesan and parish leaders.
But they don't get to do what men do. They don't get to be ordained and serve parishes as priests.
And what did the pope say on the flight back from Rio? He said the church needed to have a "deeper theology of women," and he spoke with great respect for their contributions to Catholic life.
But he said the door was closed to the priesthood.
So, for all the excitement Pope Francis has stirred, what we have so far — on an issue that has both philosophical and practical meaning for the future of the church — is the status quo.
Of course, there's a simple solution for those of us who have a problem with this: We could just become Episcopal.
But, not surprisingly, I got some pushback on that Wednesday when I presented the idea to Erin Saiz Hanna, executive director of the Women's Ordination Conference in Washington. Hanna and her sisters in the cause would rather fight than switch.
"How can we leave the church if we are the church?" she said. "Pope Francis declared the church had spoken and said no, but that's a false statement. Pope John Paul II may have said no, but we know from Vatican II that the church is not the hierarchy. The church is the people of the God, and the people support the ordination of women.
"While this is an unfortunate glimpse into what we can expect from this papacy in terms of women's ordination, I am not about to throw in the towel quite yet."
Two years ago, I attended the maverick ordination of four women as Catholic priests in a Protestant church in Catonsville. The ceremony, arranged by a group called Roman Catholic Womenpriests, was carried out in defiance of a Vatican decree that promised excommunication for violators. The presiding bishop, a woman, claimed clerical lineage — that is, "apostolic succession" — to a group of women who had been ordained in Europe in 2002 by three male bishops. That, in the minds of the participants, made the ordination legitimate.
Two of the women who took vows that day, Ann Penick and Marellen Mayers, were from Maryland. I contacted them both Wednesday.
"I was very encouraged by what Pope Francis has said about the poor and the marginalized and by what he said about [gay and lesbian] people," Penick wrote in an email. "However, I was deeply saddened by what he said about the ordination of women."
Mayers said she was not surprised, but she expressed hope the pope would "be a good listener" and become open to the idea of a more inclusive priesthood.
Prayer will help, Mayers and Penick said. But it might not be enough.
"The easiest route would be for the church hierarchy to open the doors and let both women and all married men discern their call to the priesthood," said Penick. "But I think, realistically, it's going to have to come from the other direction — we, the people, citizens of the church. A majority of Catholics support the ordination of women and married men [and] recognize that women are also created in God's image."
"This is our church, too," Hanna added. "Pope Francis said the door was closed, but the magical thing about doors is that when mighty wind comes along and slams your door shut, you just walk over and reopen it. That's how doors work, no? So maybe the official door to women's ordination won't open in this papacy, but I am certain it will open in my lifetime."
drodricks@baltsun.com"

 

"Pope Francis is lots of hope, very little change" by Jon O'Brien/Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-faith/wp/2013/08/01/pope-francis-is-lots-of-hope-very-little-change/
..."Francis did state that he won’t judge gay people, but continues to deny them the right to express their love in the same way as do heterosexuals, with perpetual chastity seemingly the only sanctioned option for LGBT faithful. He also forgave the sins of gay clergy, knowing that the church would grind to a halt were he to make sexual orientation a litmus test for prospective priests and nuns.
But when Francis was asked about the role of women in church, and the possibility that one day the church could enjoy the gifts of ordained women, he insisted that door was closed.
The doors and windows in the Vatican have been closed for a very long time. The air is stale. Faithful Catholics pray for real transformation—perhaps through Pope Francis. Wherever change comes from, one thing is clear: the winds of change need to blow through the whole church, especially the Vatican. Those few acres in Rome are the epicenter of a conservative brand of Catholicism promoted by the hierarchy that has little to do with the way everyday Catholics live and believe. The Francis-dictated fashion for plain cassocks over splendid robes notwithstanding, Catholics want a change of heart from the entrenched leadership, a revolution that would earn rank-and-file Catholics’ vote for sainthood."
Jon O’Brien is the president of Catholics for Choice.

"Killing by Remote Control" by Janice Sevre-Duszynska, ARCWP

http://article25news.wordpress.com/2013/07/29/killing-by-remote-control/

Killing by Remote Control

In Uncategorized on 07/29/2013 at 9:53 pm

In June, activists outside CIA headquarters protest drone warfare. Photo by Judith Kelly.
Drones don’t discriminate
By Janice Sevre-Duszynska
Imagine you’re grocery shopping with your children. You go through the checkout, get into your car and as you’re pulling out of the parking lot, you hear a terrifying whir followed by a frightening explosion. A drone operator at a U.S. Air Force base thousands of miles away has pressed the button on a drone “joystick.” At that moment, a Predator or Reaper drone in the sky unleashes a Hellfire missile on a car filled with people.
In your rear-view mirror, you see body parts flying through the air. Little of the car remains, and even less of those who had been inside. On a nearby telephone pole, you catch sight of pieces of human flesh.
If you are a Muslim in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen or Somalia, despite your instinct to survive, you might run to the site of the detonation to see if there were any survivors whom you might be able to help. Such a move might cost your life. The “double tap” tactic has been in use by the Obama administration. First responders to a drone attack are killed by a second attack. Targets include people going to funerals for the victims of an earlier drone attack.
The wrong gang
Medea Benjamin, author of Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control, spoke in Washington, D.C., last month after a visit to Yemen. The founder of CODEPINK and Global Exchange went to Yemen to support an end to drone strikes and to draw attention to President Obama’s promise to release the remaining Yemeni prisoners in Guantanamo. In May the U.S. government announced that four Americans were killed by U.S. drone strikes in Yemen.
To the people of Yemen, drones have become the signature of the United States and the Obama administration, according to Benjamin. She talked about a Yemeni man who lost his brother in a drone strike as he was driving along a road in tribal areas. Today he is caring for his dead brother’s three children.
“Normally, I’d be here to kill an American,” he said. “You’ve killed my brother. I am getting no justice. I know I’ll never get justice through my government, but I’ve heard stories about America and its rule of law and its pinnacle of justice. I am looking for you Americans to bring justice to my dead brother.”
Benjamin said some Yemeni women invited her into a room; once inside the room filled only with women, they lifted their veils and wept. The women said Yemeni families have a love-hate relationship with the United States. Teenagers sometimes get into the wrong gang, one woman told Benjamin.
“Here, it is Al-Qaeda,” the woman told Benjamin. “Their lives are destroyed and their families lives are destroyed by the Yemeni government, the U.S. and Al-Qaeda.”
The woman said any connection to Al-Qaeda – even something as simple as driving a truck to make much-needed money – would mark a person and his family for the rest of their lives.
“Even if they didn’t do anything, they were targeted,” she said. “Once you have the label of Al-Qaeda on you, you can’t get it off you. Once you come out of prison even, you can be targeted. There is so much gratuitous killing.”
She gave an example of a car full of teenagers going to a funeral for people killed by drones. Then a drone struck them.
“What happens is, if you want someone killed, in the tribal rule you could make up a story,” the woman said. “The Yemeni government lies and has us settle its revenges.”
“We can communicate with Al-Qaeda,” another woman told Benjamin. “There’s no way we can communicate with drones.”
The psychological battering from living under drones is intense. Parents keep their children from attending school, and adults are afraid to participate in gatherings for weddings, funerals, neighborhood parties, social or business gatherings.
Living Under Drones: Death, Injury, and Trauma to Civilians from U.S. Drone Practices in Pakistan, published in 2012, is the result of a nine-month study by legal experts from Stanford and New York universities. The report quoted Firoz Ali Khan, a shopkeeper in the town of Miranshah, Pakistan.
“I have been seeing drones since the first one appeared about four to five years ago. … (We see drones) hovering. We don’t know when they will strike. … People are afraid of dying. … Children, women, they are all psychologically affected. They look at the sky to see if there are drones. … (They) make such a noise that everyone is scared,” Khan said.
The 146-page report includes 130 interviews. The authors rejected the notion that drone strikes make the United States safer, saying such thinking is “ambiguous at best.” The study dismissed the U.S. military’s contention that there is little “collateral damage,” concluding that barely 2 percent of the victims are militants. The study called upon the U.S. government to re-evaluate its drone program, saying it is setting precedents for extra-judicial killings outside U.S. and international law.
‘Pursue new campaigns’
“Today drones are used for both lethal and non-lethal purposes” Benjamin’s book says. “Outside the military, unmanned aircraft are being drafted for everything from tracking drug smugglers and monitoring the U.S.-Mexico border to engaging in search operations after earthquakes and spraying pesticides on crops. But the military is the driving force behind drones.”
Last August I was part of a group who participated in the August Desert Witness, sponsored by the peace group Nevada Desert Experience. We gathered in Las Vegas to commemorate the 67th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and to remember the victims of U.S. drone strikes. Our witnessing including die-ins, protesting outside Creech Air Force Base and attending the 39th Association for Unmanned Vehicles Systems International (AUVSI) Drone Convention.
With a media pass from the National Catholic Reporter, I was the only one of our group to get into the convention. Benjamin’s request for a room to discuss her book about drones had been turned down by the AUVSI. She and Franciscan Fr. Louis Vitale, 81, were escorted out by police when they tried to pick up their registrations. About 8,000 people from 40 different countries participated, and I was one of fewer than a dozen women. The convention included workshops and keynotes by members of the military, government and representatives from academia and business as well as 500 exhibitors. The majority of exhibits consisted of drones and related products, including surveillance equipment manufactured for use by the U.S. military and the military in other countries.
“Where does the military stand in terms of coming technology?” asked Lt. Col. Anthony S. Cruz, who works with Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), the U.S. Army’s “Ground Team” experimentation division.
Cruz led the workshop, “Experimentation Support to Robotics Concepts and Capabilities, Developments: Building the Manned/Unmanned Air-Ground Team.” He immediately referred us to the Armed Forces Journal and a recent article, “The Robot General.”
“Guys,” he said, looking directly at me, the only woman in the room, “We’re all working on something the army doesn’t have now: the autonomy.”
Cruz continued:
* “Technology is moving faster than concepts, polices and requirements.
* “Autonomy is essential in realizing full potential for robots.
* “We are working with academia, companies, research, etc.
“Through experimentation we are trying to gain knowledge to reduce risk to soldiers and investments. … This concept is the starting point for the Army Capabilities Integration Center.”
Cruz then showed a map of U.S. Battle Labs. Among the many sites was Fort Benning, which houses the notorious School of the Americas.
“The ability to test systems in actual battle combat, as in Afghanistan and Iraq, won’t be there always,” he said. “(We need to) experiment with soldiers such as Fort Benning as soon as possible. Army needs to pursue new campaigns for manned and unmanned war fighters.
“What do we want robots to do? A robot needs to understand its context of its mission. We want to support robots to do more without direct human direction.”
Like a video game
In 2010 the International Committee for Robotic Arms Control met in Berlin. As Benjamin points out in her book, “The experts expressed serious concerns about the inability of automated robotic systems to discriminate between combatants and civilians, and that these new technologies could make it difficult to determine the moral and legal responsibility for any atrocities committed in war.”
Cruz then posed the questions, “Where will the next conflict take place? Where will unmanned systems be used for future conflicts?”
The screen displayed photos of the Pacific Ocean, jungle terrain and cities.
During the demonstrations I walked from table to table viewing some of the videos. The main subjects were military strategies, reconnaissance and the speed and accuracy of hitting targets.
I looked around the audience. Any of them could become the agents who purchase drones for their country’s military to attack and kill the very people sitting next to them. It was surreal.
Most of the vendor and manufacturer exhibitors were either entirely military-based or partnered with the military and police. The Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps had exhibits. So did weapons manufacturers such as General Atomics (maker of the Reaper and Predator drones), Northrop Grumman (maker of the Gray Eagle, known for its ‘lethal persistence’) and Boeing (maker of the Phantom Eye).
Other exhibitors were military bases such as Yuma Proving Grounds in Arizona and Edwards Air Force Base in California, which are trying to rent space to private companies to test and develop drones; and universities such as the University of North Dakota, touting training programs for drone operators. The keynote addresses focused on the non-military, civilian uses of drones.
During the evening I spoke at length about drones with my friend Fr. Louis, a former pilot in the U.S. Air Force and longtime peace activist.
In Southeast Asia in 2007, the drones themselves would be stationed in areas near combat, Louis said. They were remotely piloted from Creech Air Force Base near Las Vegas. The operation of drones has spread to many locations, yet Creech remains the command center. The size of the base has grown enormously in the past five years.
The drones are operated by a crew of two: The first is a skilled Air Force pilot. The second, called the sensor operator, is a junior airman “who has probably developed a lot of remote skills in video games featuring air combat,” Louis said.
“The advantage of the drone operation, in the eyes of the Air Force, the government and some of the public, is that none of the lives of the crew were at risk from combat,” Louis said. “Also, the claim by the Air Force was that the missions were far more accurate with all of the high-tech control and avoided ‘collateral damage’ (the deaths of innocent people). This has turned out not to be true. There have been a great number of civilian casualties.”
Many of the crews have been affected by post-traumatic stress disorder, according to Louis.
“We are greatly disturbed by the impact that it’s having on our own crew members, especially the young ones, the sensor operators,” he said.
The famed psychiatrist Robert J. Lifton has dubbed this experience “psychological numbness,” Louis said. The crew is unable to internalize the massive destruction to human life and the environment.
“This also is true of those who command these missions and of the American public,” Louis said. “We find it hard to imagine. We are therefore unable to make adequate moral decisions and thus are in severe danger of being involved in war crimes. As it is with our continual expansion of nuclear weapons, we must find ways to exercise our morality and bring an end to this horrible devastation to human lives and the world we live in.”
How long before the whirring sound makes our heads turn?
Janice Sevre-Duszynska is a peace activist and an ordained Roman Catholic Woman Priest.

 

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"No Women Priests?" WOW Responds to Pope Francis

WOMEN'S ORDINATION WORLDWIDE (WOW) PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

'No Women Priests?' WOW Responds to Pope Francis

July 30, 2013

Contact:

• Miriam Duignan, WOW Leadership Circle (United Kingdom) t: 011.44.1923.77946; e: m_duignan@hotmail.com
  
• Therese Koturbash, WOW Communications Coordinator (Canada)
  t: 001.204.648.5720: e: t.m.koturbash@gmail.com
  
• Alicja Baranowska, WOW Communications Task Force (Belgium + Poland)

e: alicja.baranowska@wp.pl

No Women Priests? WOW Responds to Pope Francis

On the question of 'women', WOW is alarmed by remarks made by Pope Francis during an interview with international journalists at the end of World Youth Days 2013. While saying that our Church ‘doesn't yet have a truly deep theology of women’, he also said that, on the question of the ordination of women, ‘the church has spoken and said no. John Paul II, in a definitive formulation, said that door is closed.'

The church has spoken? We remind Pope Francis that the church is made up of millions of women and men who have been officially forbidden by the Vatican from even discussing the question of women's ordination. Pope John Paul II may have spoken but he is not the Church. The ban on women priests may have been a definitive expression of prejudice but it was not an infallible ruling and it does not reflect the will or best interests of the people of the Church. Pope Francis recently called for an elimination of all forms of elitism and said that dialogue is the only way for individuals, families and societies to grow. Yet in trying to close down the question of women’s ordination, Vatican leadership demonstrates how it clings to an elitist vision of an elevated and exclusively male priesthood that stifles growth. In the refusal to dialogue, we are also witnessing a leadership fearful of open examination of the exclusion of women due to the shameful fact that it is based on sexism alone.

No truly deep theology of women in the Church? Pope Francis himself has recognised that ‘women have a special mission in the Church as first witnesses of Christ's resurrection’ and there are hundreds of documents and studies available on women’s’ active involvement in the Church since the very beginning. We encourage Pope Francis to open his eyes to the plentiful theology available rather than focusing his energy on trying to limit women to non speaking support roles.

No women priests? Perhaps, Pope Francis, it is time to show some more courage. It is long since past time that the Vatican officially opens wide the doors to genuine dialogue on the question of women's ordination in our Church.

###

Founded in 1996, Women's Ordination Worldwide(WOW) is an international network of groups whose current mission is to see Catholic women admitted to all ordained ministries in the Church. WOW is founded on the gospel principle of equality and therefore opposes any discrimination. 'There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no long male and female for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28) WOW currently includes representatives from Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, France, Germany Great Britain, Ireland, Malta, Poland, and the United States.

Bradley Manning found not guilty of 'aiding the enemy,' guilty of five espionage charges /Raises Moral Issues of Role of Whistleblower during War/Age of Terrorism

Breaking: Bradley Manning found not guilty of 'aiding the enemy,' guilty of five espionage charges --Manning found guilty of illegally leaking documents; found guilty of five espionage counts --Judge is the jury --Manning faces 154 years in prison --Press barred from courtroom 30 Jul 2013