Prisoners of Conscience: Valiant Women |
Here are some excerpts from their letters from prison: “For 25 years, I sang with a marvelous group of Dominican friends. A song we sang often was: ‘Here I am Lord… I will go Lord, if you lead me, I will hold your people in my heart.’ I hardly knew the path this prayer would take. I would never have dreamed that my 68th, 69th and 70th birthdays and my 50th Jubilee year as a Dominican would be celebrated in prison. After a first career as music teacher/band director, I now lift my baton to non-violent direct action, calling Caesar to accountability. This action in Colorado was a call to stop the crime of threatening to use the most outrageous weapons of mass extinction—an ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile). For those who remember Hiroshima/Nagasaki—each ICBM is 20 times the destructive power of those bombs used in 1945. God's law and man's law classify these weapons as barbaric and non-usable. Their use constitutes a ‘Crime against humanity' and a ‘Crime against Peace.’ The U.S. Space Command celebrated its 21st year of existence on September 22, 2003. Here is an excerpt from a speech by General Lance Lord, Air Force Space Command Commander at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Co. ‘We have lived up to the Air Force mission statement, which was revised in 1992 to read: Defend the U.S. through control and exploitation of air and space… Our focus will remain on our ability to operate from, in and through space with combat ready forces… we must be ready to dominate any potential adversary of tomorrow with full-spectrum war fighting effects’.” Jacqueline Hudson, OP Federal Correctional Institution, Adelanto, Calif. *** “When just laws are broken by governments, nonviolent resistance is duty" "You do not get the power of the vision until you perform it on earth for others to
see.” “I believe that Jesus, Son of God, Prince of Peace, became human, lived nonviolence, a life of love and spoke truth against oppression and all evil . He performed the vision on earth for all to see. He established the Beloved Community. He healed on the Sabbath, chose options on behalf of the poorest, challenged those who hid behind titles, wealth and practices, resisted temptations for abusive power, ego and possessions. He disallowed the Temple to be a marketplace and spoke truth to the leaders, Pharisees and Scribes of his day. He placed his security in the One who sent him, not in the sword of Peter. He gave his life for all, rather than take another's life. The other side of this is that Christmas still initiates light into the darkness and hope. It is worth the waiting and preparation of Advent. It is a balm in the wounds of the world. Where would most of us be without the vision lived by the One whose birth we celebrate. We know the difficulty of his journey to Jerusalem and that ‘Come follow me', means the same for us.” Ardeth Platte, OP, Federal Prison, Danbury, Conn. *** “Ponderings from the Eternal Now” “If a prisoner gets sick, …unless she is running a fever, she gets an appointment to see the Prison Doctor in 2-3 weeks, and is sent to work. Accidents should be scheduled for Friday, because it is the only day X-rays are given. Medicine has to be purchased at the Commissary. One elderly woman told me about her broken leg last winter. She went one week without insulin or food because she could not make the required 1/4 mile walk to the dining room, etc. Perhaps we need to rethink our opposition to the death penalty. Any major illness or accident in the Federal Prison System could be a potential death sentence and has been.” ‘And the Word became Flesh and dwells among us.’ Blessings during this holy season.” Carol Gilbert, OP Federal Prison, Alderson, W. Va. Sister Bernadette Sullivan, SFP |
|
On July 25th, three Dominican Sisters were sentenced to 2
1/2 to 3 1/2 years in Federal Prison for entering a Space Weapons Base in Colorado and symbolically damaging a nuclear missile silo.
