Posted on 07/24/2003 1:12:14 PM PDT by FourPeas
Nuns say prison won't kill their spirit of protest
Thursday, July 24, 2003By Charles Honey
Press Religion Editor
The Catholic sisters have been in jail before, after breaking into U.S. military bases to pour their own blood on weapons and symbolically hammer against warfare.
But on Friday, three Grand Rapids-based Dominican nuns face sentences in a Denver federal court far harsher than any they ever have received -- raising protests that they are paying an unjustified price because of the U.S. crackdown on terrorism.
Sisters Jackie Hudson, Ardeth Platte and Carol Gilbert are to be sentenced for their protest at a Colorado missile silo. The maximum penalty is 30 years, but prosecutors are recommending between five and eight.
That's still too much, the sisters said in phone interviews from Denver. They call the charges "bogus" and say the government is trying to intimidate others protesting U.S. military policy.
"Even though they know we are all the most non-violent people you will ever meet, what they're trying to do is stop this forever," said Platte, whose previous arrests include breaking into the Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Oscoda with Hudson in 1992.
Their supporters say the government is making an example of the sisters to quell dissent. Several plan to gather at a prayer service at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, at the Dominicans' Marywood headquarters at 2025 E. Fulton St.
"It's colossal overkill for a very minor infraction that was aimed at the common good," said Joe Walker of East Grand Rapids, a Catholic and retired General Motors executive who plans to attend Saturday's prayer vigil.
"I have worked with murderers and rapists that have gotten lesser sentences than this," said Sister Mary Brigid Clingman, a Dominican who worked in the Detroit criminal justice system. "The sentence far outweighs the reality of the crime."
She plans to fly to Denver on Friday, while other sisters will hold a prayer vigil during the nuns' separate sentencings.
Sister Barbara Hansen, who has known the nuns for decades, says it is "overwhelming" to think of them entering prison.
"My heart is very heavy," said Hansen, former prioress of the Grand Rapids Dominicans. "I can't believe this is happening."
Although all three have been jailed before for similar actions, none has served more than 8 months. Hansen worries about the age and health of Platte, 67, and Hudson, 68. But she has faith in their strength and stands by their action against America's weapons of mass destruction.
"Somebody has to speak out, and I am proud of them that they are willing to do so," Hansen said.
Federal prosecutors disagree, saying the sentences reflect the sisters' prior cases and are necessary to deter similar actions. They deny they are imposing harsher penalties for political reasons.
Although he would not comment prior to sentencing, U.S. Attorney John Suthers issued a statement condemning the sisters' "blatant disregard for the laws of the United States."
"No other country on earth provides as many avenues for peaceful and lawful protest as does the United States. But the defendants insist on unlawfully entering onto highly sensitive government installations, damaging government property and interfering with government operations."
The sisters were convicted in April of obstructing national defense and damaging government property. On Oct. 6, they cut through a chain-link fence to reach a Minuteman III missile silo. They painted crosses with their blood on the 110-ton concrete silo lid and hammered on tracks that would carry the lid to firing position.
The sisters, all former teachers and longtime peace activists, say the sentences are baseless for what they insist was a lawful act of civil disobedience under international law. They note they and others have engaged in more than 80 similar acts since 1980 as part of the Plowshares peace movement, with far lesser punishments.
Though they're considering an appeal, they say they are ready to face the consequences of an act compelled by their faith.
"I'll try to be a full-fledged Dominican inside the prison system," Platte said. "I am never afraid. I feel God is with us."
"While you can imprison a body, you certainly can't the mind or the spirit," added Gilbert, 55.
The sisters were in jail in Colorado on the charges for seven months before being released in May pending sentencing. Since their release, they have been saying goodbye to friends, getting rid of their possessions and speaking out against what they say is their government's unlawful threats to use nuclear weapons.
Visiting their Marywood motherhouse last month, the sisters received a blessing from fellow nuns to continue their ministry in prison. They also came "to bring closure to those we will never see again," Platte said then. "We may not live through it. They might not live through it."
They plan to hold a press conference Friday morning, then enter court dressed in black, saying nothing during their sentencing. Relatives and friends will join them, while on Saturday demonstrators plan to gather at other missile sites.
Hudson said she's relying on God and friends to face whatever follows the judge's sentence. The sisters say almost 1,000 letters of support have been sent to the court.
"I feel a physical feeling of strength and peace because of this overwhelming support," Hudson said.
Did I ever tell you about the vicious man-eating nuns I had in the fourth grade?
Sister Ardeth Platte, OP, originally from Michigan, ran through her extensive biography of working for justice. She told of her years on the City of Council of Saginaw, the legal process of citizens working to keep Project ELF out of the state, the state wide referendum in which the populus overwhelmingly opposed the Navy facility's construction, only to be ignored by the Pentagon. Project ELF was built. Ardeth turned to nonviolent resistance and had much better results. First Wirtsmith Air Force Base closed, a campaign to which she and Sr. Carol Gilbert dedicated their time, then K. I. Sawyer, in the upper peninsula of Michigan closed once the two women moved there.
Like I said, Ardeth and Carol really believe they are the sole reason the United States Congress closed down two heavy bombardment wings whose core mission had disappeared. These women are not just spiritually stunted, they have delusions of grandeur.
Also, I know I'm not bringing a whole bunch of shocking info here, but the paxchristi and ploughshare crowd like to talk about B-52s and other "WMDs" but in the early '90s they screwed with USS Gettysburg at Bath Iron Works and took ball peens to an A-10 at a Guard base near Phillie.
Lastly, a friend of a friend who was stationed at Wurtsmith with me has a very amusing photo of himself arresting Ardeth. Wish I had a copy...
SO NOW YOU NEED TO SEE WHAT THEY HAVE PLANNED FOR SATURDAY!!:From the wesite of the Commies (http://www.rmpjc.org/)
Adopt a Missile Silo!
Citizen Weapon Inspection Teams
Saturday, July 26, 2003 at the 49 nuclear missile silos of northeastern Colorado Concerned citizens from across the country will converge in northeastern Colorado to decry the dangerous and illegal nuclear weapons that are poised there on remote-controlled, hair-trigger alert. They draw their inspiration from the Dominican nuns, Sisters Ardeth Platte, Carol Gilbert and Jackie Hudson, who were recently convicted of the crime of symbolically disarming an illegal nuclear missile silo located in Weld County. The sisters begin serving lengthy prison sentences on July 25, and the action is meant to let the government know that they cannot silence these courageous voices of dissent.
“I've never seen myself as an activist, but the nuns have inspired me to take action. Their action and our government's response bring into sharp focus the discrepancy between those values that I think are a core part of our country and where we are headed.”
Just as Neighborhood Crime Watch groups keep an eye on their community, the volunteer Citizen Weapon Inspection Teams have committed to take on personal responsibility for inspecting, exposing and demanding the disarmament of the deadly nuclear missile system that looms in their backyards. These groups are comprised of ordinary citizens who will amplify the sisters’ message regarding the illegal existence and dangers of 49 nuclear missile silos in Colorado.
The Minuteman III nuclear missile silos in northeastern Colorado are part of a nuclear attack system that includes over 500 silos nationwide. Each one of these missiles is 20 to 30 times more powerful than the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima, and they are all on alert in spite of the 1970 Nuclear Non- proliferation Treaty.
The sisters were arrested when they entered the enclosure around one of the Colorado silos, painted crosses in their own blood, and symbolically pounded on the weapons with a small hammer.
The participants call upon the United States government to de-alert these missiles and move toward compliance with International Law and the abolishment of nuclear weapons. At 11:00 am, Citizen Weapons Inspection Teams from a diverse background will perform protests or ceremonies at each of the 49 nuclear missile silos in Colorado. At 12:30 pm, the groups will rendezvous at the Community Center in the small town of Stoneham to participate in the symbolic disarming of a nuclear weapons system that is in direct violation of the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
“It’s important for people of faith to remember and to know and to witness that these weapons are wrong. The nuns have called attention to it and we have to continue to call attention to it. The message can’t be lost because the government decided to put the messengers in jail.”
- Bob Kinsey, chairman of the Rocky Mountain Conference – Peace and Justice Task Force of the United Church of Christ.
One inspired individual has taken the message even farther; he is walking from Gunnison, Colorado to the sisters’ sentencing in Denver, gathering fellow walkers, poems and messages of peace along the way. Peace Poets founder Alan Wartes hopes his journey will inspire others to take a creative and passionate approach not only to resisting war and violence, but also to creating a more just and sustainable world. The Peace Poets will conclude the walk with a public reading on July 24 at 4 pm in front of the Denver City and County Building.
“I am walking to add my voice to the three courageous nuns, whose act of non- violent civil disobedience has drawn more attention to the presence of illegal and immoral weapons of mass destruction in our own backyards than has been seen in many years.”
- Alan Wartes, Peace Poets founder.
Organizations participating in this witnessing against the destructive power of nuclear weaponry include Colorado Code Pink, Citizens for Peace in Space, Peace Poets, Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center, Free Range Theater, The Faithful Witnesses of Iliff School of Theology, Pax Christi, Rocky Mountain Buddhist Peace Fellowship, Vox Feminista, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, the Raging Grannies, Poudre Valley Citizen Weapon Inspectors, Women in Black, the Peace Party Supper Club, DRASTIC, Mothers Acting Up, the Boulder Co-Housing Community, United Church of Christ and a host of others. Footage of the sisters and related disarmament efforts is available from Zero to Sixty Productions, which is producing a documentary on the sisters and their work. Contact Brenda Fox at xxx-xxx-xxxx for information. Advance press packets complete with maps and a menu of actions can be requested by contacting Stephanie Tidwell from the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center at xxx-xxx-xxxx or xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.
The Air Force has been alerted along with the local Sherriffs Deptartments. I hope the Commies cross the fence and get to join the nunns in prison. We would FReep them, but the Air Force has it under controll and we are FReeping Hillary in Denver Saturday. Wish us luck!! All the Best, Trteamer
Send them into their convent under a vow of silence.
Isn't that what nuns are suppose to do?
Good, Sister Mary Brigid! Now you can do the time they should have gotten save for your whiney intervention!
I recently met a "nun" who was dressed in wrinkled, tight shorts and a shirt. She had thunder thighs and a rear that doesn't bear mentioning. And she was not young. I don't know what happened to the Catholic Church lately. Nuns going to prison and homosexual priests. My faith in God, however, remains the same.
In theory they are supposed to be teachers - perhaps it's best that they've abandoned their vocation and taken up activism: at least they're not poisoning toddlers' minds.
Weren't they the ones who ran the Inquisition? Or was that the Jesuits?
Whatever, FWIW, I think the Pope should order these "nuns" into a cloister and put them under a "vow of silence." That, or strip them of their "habits" (it seems most modern "nuns" have abandoned the traditional habit in favor of Hillary's black pants suit) and give them over to the Law.
Or would they not obey the Pope?
I am not Catholic, but I would guess that these creatures are as much an embarrassment to faithful Catholics as lesbian reform women "rabbis" are to Orthodox Jews.
The Spanish Inquisition.
Or was that the Jesuits?
That's the Roman Inquisition - Galileo, etc.
Or would they not obey the Pope?
The fact that they are neither wearing the habit or living the charism of their order (their specialty, so to speak, i.e. teaching) demonstrates that they are already disobeying him flagrantly.
I would guess that these creatures are as much an embarrassment to faithful Catholics as lesbian reform women "rabbis" are to Orthodox Jews.
That sounds about right. You know how you roll your eyes when "Rabbi" Michael Lerner talks about tikkun olam? That's the same counter-naches I get when these doddering biddies start spouting off about "the social Gospel."
I am Catholic, and yes, a little embarrased by it. The leftism and hypocracy of many individuals in church postitions has really caused me to distance myself from a lot of the church, unfortunatly.
Too much time spent on 'piece missions', gun control, democrat backing, and the like. It's not the church I grew up with.(and I'm in my 20's)
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