St. Joseph Church
Bristol, Connecticut
Deacon Robert M. Pallotti
Pastoral Minister
Heroes and Martyrs
for Justice and Peace: An Ecumenical Perspective
Adolfo Perez
Esquivel
Pope John Paul II has called for the members of the Roman
Catholic Church to expand the category of martyr to include Christians of other
traditions in a new martyrology for the new millennium. The Holy Father has
also called for greater interreligious dialogue. The following brief biographies are
dedicated to those two objectives of Pope John Paul II.
The most effective form of evangelization and interreligious
dialogue has been the lived witness of those who take God seriously in the world.
It is the example of these heroes and martyrs for peace and justice that remind us
that faith must ultimately express itself in concrete acts of love(James 2:14ff). Such
love shows itself in compassion for others, compassion for society in calling it to its
nobler and sacred task, and compassion for the self that knows itself loved by God.
These people help us to understand that despite our differences as
people we can agree on building a world that directs its energies to the development of
every human person. These people also help us to understand that such a life entails a
cost. As disciples of Jesus Christ we too are called to accept such a cost in the work
for a more just and peaceful world (Mk. 10).
These biographies illustrate that the Holy Spirit works through
those cooperative human agents, and events in history through which God's saving power in
Jesus Christ continues to be present as grace, and anticipated in its fullness in hope
(Romans 8).
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Archbishop Oscar Romero
"Peace is not the product of terror or fear. Peace is
not the silence of cemeteries. Peace is not the silent result of violent repression. Peace
is the generous, tranquil contribution of all to the good of all. Peace is dynamism. Peace
is generosity. It is right and it is duty."
On March 24, 1980 at 6:25 p.m. Roman Catholic Archbishop Oscar
Romero was presiding at the Liturgy. As he prepared the Eucharist, a shot from the back of
the church struck him in the chest, killing him instantly.
Why was an Archbishop killed in this way ? The answer is found in
the way he lived ! Archbishop Romero had become a strong advocate of the rights of the
poor. He embodied what the Puebla Conference in 1979 would call, a preferential
option for the poor. He had become a beacon of hope for the marginalized
of
El Salvadoran society, and a subversive to the powers that be in that
nation. He became a strong and prophetic voice decrying injustice and working for social
change by living out the meaning of the Eucharist.
Oscar Romero was appointed Archbishop of El Salvador in 1977. At
first he was very wary about getting involved in the political life of El Salavador. He
was rather bookish and conservative, not prone to activism. But a series of events
led to a profound inner conversion that led him into the midst of the suffering of the
vast majority of the Salvadoran people.
El Salvador was a national security state, a country where the
military is accountable to no one and the people are defenseless against tyranny and
oppression. Those in power defended the interests of 2% of the families that owned 80% of
the wealth of the country. Any movement for human rights, union organizing, and the like,
were met with state repression and the employment of death squads used to terrorize
the people into submission.
Soon after Oscar Romero became Archbishop his close friend Fr.
Rutillo Grande was assassinated by a paramilitary death squad. This had a dramatic and
profound effect on his life, changing him from a status quo moderate to a fierce activist
against injustice.
Father Grande's assassination resulted in Romero's determination to
redefine the nature of the Church as the defender of the poor and to denounce from the
pulpit the evils of state-supported death squads. As a gesture of solidarity with the
preaching of Fr. Grande, Romero refused to appear in any public ceremonies with Army or
Government personnel. despite disagreement from some of his brother bishops, until the
true nature of his friend's murder was brought to light.
Archbishop Oscar Romero understood that Christian faith , to be
sacramental, has to live what it preaches. For him, wherever human beings were suffering
in any fashion, he as a member of the Church, had to be there ! Romero understood
that charity was not enough, there must be justice ( cf. Six Major Principles of Justice)
!!
Selected Bibliography
Books by Oscar Romero:
The Violence of Love: The Pastoral Wisdom of Archbishop Oscar Romero.
(San Francisco: Harper and Row, New York, 1988).
Voice of the Voiceless: The Four Pastoral Letters and other
Statements. (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, New York, 1985).
The Church Is All of You: Thoughts of Archbishop Oscar Romero.
(Minneapolis:
Winston Press, 1984).
Books about Oscar Romero:
Sobrino, Jon. Archbishop Romero: Memories and Reflections.Maryknoll:
Orbis Books, 1990.
Brockman, James. Romero: A Life. Maryknoll: Orbis Books:
1989.
Brockman, james. The Word Remains: A Life of Oscar Romero.
Maryknoll:
Orbis Books, 1982.
Videos:
Romero directed by Jon Duigan. Vidmark Entertainment, 1989.
For a three session Small Christian Community guide to be
used with Romero (VHS) call Deacon Robert M. Pallotti at 1-860-583-1369, or e-mail
rpallotti@snet.net
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Dag Hammarskjold
Dag Hammarskjold is considered by many to be the epitome of an
activist Secretary-General of the United Nations. He was born on July 29, 1905, in Sweden.
He attended the University of Uppsala between 1926 and 1930. He earned his Master of Arts
degree in political economy and a Bachelor of Law degree. After he received his Doctorate
in political economy at Stockholm University he worked in the national Bank of Sweden.
Hammarskjold was known for his problem solving ability, his skills
in diplomacy and his knowledge of economics and political savvy. He was a strong believer
in Western-style democracy and the concept of collective security.
Hammarskjold in his youth was introduced to a movement within the
Swedish Lutheran Church which brought the teachings of the church to bear on social,
economic and industrial problems of society. This shaped his view of the fundamental
equality of all people, the need for social justice and a cosmopolitan-type
self-understanding as a world citizen.
Hammarskjold was instrumental in raising the status on the U.N. in
the eyes of the American people and most other people of the world. His dedicated style
raised the morale of the secretarial staff in the midst of a grim international period.
Before leaving for his final mission to help resolve the crisis in the Belgian Congo in
1961, he stated:
"We all know that if we feel what we do is
purposeful, not to say essential, for the progress of men and human society in a broader
sense-yes, even if we believe that what we do is essential only for a small group of
people and its future happiness-we are willing to accept hardships and serve gladly for
the value of serving."
The Secretary-General made an important political contribution to
the turbulent era of 1953 to 1961. Hamarskjold developed procedures for international
cooperation that have given the world organization greater permanence and more efficiency.
Some procedures have been diplomatic and others have dealt with ways and mean of improving
social and economic conditions in many parts of the world. he encouraged the growth and
development of the various UN-related agencies as well as organizational innovations such
as the special fund.
During Hammarskjold's eight and one-half years as Secretary General,
he sought to increase the influence of the united Nation's decisions and the moral values
which are stated in the Principles and Purposes of the Charter in International Relations.
One of the major ways in which he did this was by broadening the forms of international
cooperation. He hoped that through such cooperation peoples would learn to relate to each
other in peace with shared ideals and political action.
On the night of September 17, 1961 the plane Hammarskjold was on
went down and crashed in the Rhodesian bushland near the Katanga border. His mission of
peace to the Congo led to his death which many consider not be an accident.
References
Gavashon, Arthur. The Mysterious Death of Dag Hammarskjold. New
York: Walker and Company, 1962.
Zacher, Mark. Dag Hammarskjold's United Nations. New York: Columbia
University Press, 1970.
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Martin Luther
King, Jr.
Martin Luther King,jr. was born on January 15, 1929 in Georgia.
Throughout his brief adult life Dr. King was a leader in the civil rights movement in the
United States. Dr. King was a product of the black church and its history of
suffering in hope. He was a product of a family committed to the Christian faith,
its social and political implications, his education at Crozier Theological Seminary and
Boston University, his visit to India to see M. Ghandi, and the signs of the times.
Martin Luther King, jr. was no stranger to racial discrimination. In
the late 1950's, segregation in schools, lunch counters and other public facilities was
prevalent. Furthermore, African Americans did not have the right to vote and were denied
many economic opportunities enjoyed by others. Raised in a
society engulfed by oppression and humiliation, King believed that he had a social and
moral responsibility to educate the nations about the evils of racism and the violence it
perpetrated on the victims and the perpetrators !
Martin Luther King,jr. received his Ph.D. from Boston University and
soon returned to the South. Rather than accept a post at a University, Dr. King chose to
return to the people of the black Baptist church to begin to formulate how he would bring
the Gospel to bear on the moral and political problem of racial discrimination.
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks boarded a bus in Montgomery,
Alabama, and refused to move to the back of the bus for a white passenger. Her arrest
became a catalyst for mobilizing the civil rights movement under the leadership of Dr.
King. Dr. King was asked to assume the leadership of the SCLC (Southern Christian
Leadership Conference), which became one of the leading civil rights organizations in the
United States. Inspired by the success of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, other
movements began spreading, protesting racial discrimination across the South. These
movements became the heart of Dr. King's non-violent crusade for peace.
Dr. King employed the non-violent methods developed by Mahtama
Ghandi and applied them to the experience of the United States. King advocate non-violent
love, and active non-violent resistance to evil. A summary of his non-violent method can
be found in one of the most famous religious-political documents in history entitled,
"Letter
From A Birmingham Jail, 1963."
King's commitment to non-violence was so firm that even when his
house was bombed he preached "We're going to fight but
not kill." King's commitment to the non-violent method for social
change was unrelenting, even after he was severely criticized by other black leaders.
King's denunciation of the Vietnam War in 1967 led to his estrangement from the Johnson
administration and many drifted away from supporting his methods. Finally in April of 1968
he went to Memphis, Tennessee to support a sanitation worker's strike. On April 4, 1968
Dr. King was assassinated.
Throughout his most extraordinary career, his relationship to Jesus
Christ made possible the courage it took to face the possibility of death that comes from
"speaking
truth to power." Dr. King's life and the civil rights movement in the United
States, cannot be understood without recognizing that it was the religious vision of the
Gospel that was the driving force of both !
The methods of Dr. King need greater study by the Christian
community. His methods for justice-seeking and peacemaking will be essential for the
successful and peaceful resolution of conflict in 21st century. In a world that is
witnessing the spread of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and one that is
witnessing the problems of economic and resources scarcity, the employment of non-violent
methods for change could very well make possible to survival and thrival of
the planet and the human community.
Selected Books by Martin Luther King, Jr.:
Why we Can't Wait, New York: New York, Harper and Row, 1967.
Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story. New York: Harper
and Row, 1958.
Books About Martin Luther King, Jr.:
Colaiaco, James. Martin Luther King, Jr.. New York: Holiday
House, 1989.
The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. Vol. II, Rediscovering
Precious Values, July 1951-November 1955. Berkeley, University of California Press,
1994.
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Mother Teresa
"Love cannot remain by itself-it has no meaning. Love has to be
put into action and that action is service...All works of love are works of peace."
Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gouxha Bojaxhiu to a peasant family in
Macedonia. At and early age she became acutely aware of the problems and struggles
associated with poverty. In the light of the suffering of so many people she committed her
life to trying to alleviate the pain of those she ministered. Mother Teresa saw the face
of Jesus Christ in all those she met, especially the poor and suffering of the world. At
the age of 18 she decided to leave home and join with the Congregation of Loreto nuns
working in Bengal, India.
As was the practice in joining a religious order she choose a new
name, Teresa. The name of Teresa was chosen because Saint Teresa of Lisieux is the patron
saint of missionaries. Saint Teresa was known for her simplicity, patience in face of
opposition and her pleasure in performing the most humble duties. Mother Teresa emulated
this same lifestyle throughout her life and ministry to the poor.
While working for the Loreto sisters, Mother Teresa received what
has been described as her second calling: to leave the convent and help the poor while
living among them. After receiving Papal permission she began wearing the white sari with
three blue stripes--the hallmark of her new order of the Missionaries of Charity.
One of her first projects was to establish an open-air school for
homeless children. Her actions of love inspired many people to follow her and support her
efforts. Mother Teresa spent much of her life among the poorest of the poor in Calcutta,
India. Today, projects by the Missionaries of Charity include homes and schools for
orphaned children, mobile clinics, leprosy centers, food kitchens, and peace centers for
the dying. The success of the Missionaries of Charity has led to their expansion into
other regions of the world. They are financially supported by private donations
that
are not solicited.
In 1979 Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel peace Prize. Robert
McNamara, former president of the World Bank, commented, "Mother Teresa deserves the
Nobel Peace Prize because she promotes peace in the most fundamental manner, be her
confirmation of the inviolability of human dignity."
Mother Teresa died in 1997.
Selected Bibliography
Chawla, Navin. Mother Teresa. London: Sinclair-Stevenson, 1992.
Egan, Eileen. Such a Vision of the Street: Mother Teresa-the Spirit
and the Work. New York: Doubleday, 1985.
Le Joly, Edward. Mother Teresa of Calcutta: A Biography. San
Francisco: Harper and Row, 1985.
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Archbishop Desmond
Tutu
"My vision is of a South Africa that is totally
non-racial...a new South Africa, a free South Africa, where all of us, black and white
together, will walk tall; where all of us, black and white together, will hold hands as we
stride forth on the Freedom March to usher in the new South Africa where people will
matter because they are human beings made in the image of God."
Archbishop Desmond Tutu was one of those major Black leaders,
along with Allen Bossak, the martyred Steven Biko and Chris Hani that helped to end the
South African system of Apartheid. Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu has been described by
some as one of South Africa's most articulate Christians."
Born October 7, 1931 in Klerksdorp, a town in the Western Transvaal,
70 miles west of Johannesberg. Tutu grew up in a nation where racism thrived in the
institutional discrimination of Apartheid--the legal and physical separation of white and
black people in South Africa. Similar the experience of the United States, the legalized
discrimination between the races led to tremendous educational, economic and political
opportunities for whites and little or none for blacks. Under the
segregation laws of apartheid, Tutu was educated at inadequate and grossly inferior all
black Bantu schools. He received his Teacher's Diploma from Pretoria Bantu College in
1953, then a BA degree from the University of South Africa in 1958. After teaching for a
time he felt called to ministry. He received his licentiate in Theology at St. Peter's
Theological College in Rossettenville, Johannesburg, in 1960. He was ordained a priest in
the Anglican tradition in 1961 and then attend King's College, University of London, from
1962-1965. After returning to South Africa, he was a lecturer from 1970-74 at the
Universities of Botswana, Lesotho, and Swaziland. In 1976 he was named Bishop of Lesotho.
In 1984 he was the Nobel Peace Prize laureate for his efforts to end apartheid.
Tutu's leadership, grounded in his relationship to Jesus Christ, in
the anti-apartheid movement was important for placing emphasis on a non-violent path to
change--similar to the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the United States. The
central concerns and motivations for Archbishop Tutu's ministry are best captured in this
quote:
"Many people think that the Church should
be neutral, or that the Church must be neutral. But in a situation of injustice and
oppression such as we have in South Africa, not to choose to oppose, is in fact to have
chosen to side with the powerful, with the exploiter, with the oppressor... The Church in
South Africa must be the prophetic church, which cries out "Thus saith the
Lord", speaking up against injustice and violence, against oppression and
exploitation, against all that dehumanizes God's children and makes them less than what
God intended them to be... For my part, the day will never come when apartheid will be
acceptable. It is an evil system and it is at variance with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
That is why I oppose it and can never compromise with it-not for political reasons but
because I am a Christian."
With the fall of apartheid and the election of Nelson Mandela to the
presidency of South Africa Desmond Tutu's struggle against apartheid ended, but his
dealing with the after effects of the system led him to work for national reconciliation
between the victims and perpetrators of the violence of the apartheid system. He now is
Chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa. The
purpose of this commission is to reveal the truth of the evils of the apartheid system and
to hear the stories of the victims and the perpetrators with the aim of helping to begin
the healing process to make South Africa one nation. Those perpetrators of crimes
against humanity that come to offer testimony are granted immunity from prosecution so
long as they tell the truth. This extraordinary and novel action to bring national
reconciliation has become a beacon of hope for the people of South Africa and the world.
Thanks to the leadership of Archbishop Tutu the Lord's healing power is finding and outlet
in the commission's work--offering hope for his nation and a model of hope for the world.
Selected Bibliography
Huddleston, Trevor. Forward to Desmond Tutu's Voice of One Crying
in the Wilderness, 1982.
Tutu, Desmond. "Stop Killing the Children,"
Washington
Post, November 24, 1996.
Villa Vicencio, Charles. Archbishop Desmond Tutu: From Oslo to
Cape Town. Hammering Swords into Plowshares: Essays in Honor of Archbishop Mpilo
Desmond Tutu, 1987.
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Cesar E. Chavez
One night in the 1880's, a man named Cesario Chavez crossed the
border from Chihuahua, Mexico, to El Paso, Texas. He was fleeing the hardships of his
homeland to make a better life in the United States for his family. Decades later, his
grandson, Cesar Chavez, would make a stand in the fields of California to fight for a
better life for all farm workers.
In 1938, the Chavez family had joined some 300,000 migrant workers
who followed the crops in California. They lived in dingy overcrowded quarters, without
bathrooms, electricity, or running water. Sometimes, they lived in the pickup trucks in
which they traveled. Like the Chavez family, most of them were of Mexican descent.
Going to school wasn't easy for the children of the migrant workers,
since they were always on the move. Cesar and his siblings attended more than thirty
schools. Many times , their teachers were neither friendly nor helpful. The teachers of
migrant children often felt that since these children would soon move on to other farms in
other towns, teaching them wasn't worth the effort.
Cesar Chavez had worked part-time in the fields while he was in
school. After graduation he began to work full-time. he preferred working in the vineyards
because grape pickers generally stayed in the same place for a longer time. He kept
noticing that the labor contractors and the land owners exploited the workers. he tried
reasoning with the farm owners about higher pay and better working conditions. But most of
his fellow workers would not support him for fear of losing their jobs. As a solitary
voice, Chavez had no power to effect change.
One day, after returning from his service in the U.S. Navy during
the Second World War, a man from the local Community Service Organization wanted to
recruit Chavez. He wanted him to join the organization to help inform the migrant workers
of their rights. At first, Chavez was suspicious of the man because he was Anglo,
or
non-Mexican white. Eventually Cesar began to work with this man and began organizing the
migrant workers in the off hours of the evening. As a result he was fired from his job in
the fields.
By 1962, he could no longer stand to see the workers being taken
advantage, watching as they worked long hours for low pay. At the age of 35, he left his
won well paid job to devote all his time top organizing the farm workers into a union. In
each camp, he recruited a few followers. After six months of long hours, 300 members of
the National Farm Workers Union, as the group was first called, met in Fresno, California.
At that first meeting, they approved their flag, a red background with a black eagle in a
white circle in the center.
The union experienced a major confrontation in 1965. The grape
growers didn't listen to the union's demands, and the farmhands wanted to strike. At first
Chavez wanted to avoid the strike, but he was finally convinced that Th. there was no
other way. The workers left the fields, and the unharvested grapes began to rot on the
vines. The growers hired illegal workers and brought in strikebreakers and thugs to beat
up the strikers. The support of religious leaders, public officials and ordinary citizens
for the rights of the workers eventually led to a settlement of the strike. In 1970 more
troubles led to Chavez calling for a boycott of lettuce.
In the 1980's Cesar turned his attention to the threat to workers of
the use of pesticides in the fields were the workers picked grapes. These pesticides were
cited as causing cancers and leading to the deaths of a number of migrant farm workers.
To understand Cesar Chavez and his commitment to justice one must
understand the role of Roman Catholic Church's social teaching. As a Catholic Chavez tried
to live out the call to build justice and peace in the world that is mandated for every
Christian in living out the Gospel of Jesus Christ in light of the signs of the times.
Excerpts from the California Curriculum Project, "Hispanic
Biographies."
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Dietrich
Bonhoeffer
"The church has an unconditional obligation towards the
victims of any social order, even where those victims do not belong to the Christian
community."
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born in Breslau, Germany on February
4, 1906 into an educated and aristocratic family. Dietrich decided early on to be a
minister and a theologian. At the age of seventeen he entered Tubingen University and a
year later Berlin University. Among his teachers was the great neo-orthodox Lutheran
theologian from Switzerland, Karl Barth. Later they were to become friends and anti-Nazi
voices in Nazi Germany (1933-1945).
After a year as a curate in Barcelona and a period at Union
Theological Seminary in New York he became a lecturer in Theology at Berlin University,
then the center of liberal theological thought.
With the rise to power of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party Bonhoeffer
realized that the Germany he had known was changing in ways he felt called for resistance.
In July of 1933 the Nazi in the church, or the "German Christians" as
they called themselves, won the recently instituted church elections and secured for
themselves key positions in the church government. In resistance to the trend toward the
Nazification of the German Protestant Church, a group of concerned pastors met to
establish a church free of this authoritarian rule, confessing Christ, not Adolf Hitler,
as its leader ! The Synod of Barmen in 1934 was the beginning of the "Confessing
Church."
Bonhoeffer started his own seminary for the Confessing Church at
Finkenwalde. It was there that Bonhoeffer engaged his students in discussion concerning
the "Sermon on the Mount" and the Christian call to peacemaking.
As the Nazi reign of terror began in earnest with
"Crystal
Night" and the construction of the death camps in Poland, Bonhoeffer got involved
in a plot to removed Hitler from power. The Gestapo later found out that he was involved
in such activities and he was arrested and sent to Tegal prison in 1943. Later it was
discovered that Bonhoeffer's activities had gotten him involved in a plot to have Hitler
assassinated. The Gestapo eventually sent him to Flossenburg concentration camp. He was
sentenced to be executed along with other members of the conspiracy to kill Hitler.
How could a man of peace come to participate in the conspiracy ? For
Bonhoeffer it was a matter that caused him great anxiety. Yet, he reasoned that it
was necessary to do this to stop the war and the massive killing of the Jewish people in
the death camps.
Throughout his ordeal Bonhoeffer's faith in Jesus Christ compelled
him to challenge the right of evil to exist. His resistance, and his solidarity with the
victims and the suffering reflects his profound communion with the crucified and risen
Lord. This was captured most eloquently by the prison doctor at Flossenburg who was
present at Bonhoeffer's execution.
"Through the half-open door I saw
Pastor Bonhoeffer, still in his prison clothes,
kneeling in fervent prayer to the Lord his God. The devotion and
evident conviction of being heard that I saw in the prayer of this intensely captivating
man moved me to the depths."
On April 9, 1945, one day after Adolf Hitler committed suicide,
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was hanged at Flossenburg concentration camp. On May 7, 1945, Germany
surrendered to the Allied forces.
Bonhoeffer's most famous work as a theologian was entitled,
The
Cost of Discipleship. In his own life he lived out the call of Jesus Christ to
follow him to the cross. Dietrich knew that such a call is one that can summon the
believer into the places of danger and evil to bring the salvific power of the crucified
and risen Christ. Bonhoeffer lived out the cost of discipleship and continues to
exercise a profound imp[act on all those who know something of this extraordinary man and
Christian.
Books by Bonhoeffer
Christ the Center. New York: Harper and Row, 1978.
The Cost of Discipleship. New York: Macmillan, 1963.
Letters and Papers from Prison. New York: Macmillan, 1971.
Life Together. New York: Harper and Row, 1954.
Prayers from Prison. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1979.
Books about Bonhoeffer
Eberhard Bethge. Costly Grace. New York: Harper and Row,
1979.
Larry Rasmussen. Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Reality and Resistance.
Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1972.
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Dorothy Day
In 1926, Dorothy Day, a former socialist, converted to Roman
Catholicism. On May 1, 1933, five months after meeting Peter Maurin, Day founded
The
Catholic Worker, a monthly newspaper dedicated to making known "the expressed
and implied teachings of Christ." It is still published today, as it was in 1933
at one penny a copy, with a circulation of over 100,000. In the years between 1933 and her
death in December 1980, Dorothy Day lived at various Houses of Hospitality and Catholic
Worker farms near New York City, edited the newspaper, wrote five books, and spoke
frequently at colleges, universities, churches and Catholic Worker communities throughout
the United States.
Dorothy Day believed that charity and justice must be kept together.
Charity without justice leads to a legitimization of the status quo that gives rise to the
need for charity and keeps people dependent. Justice without charity, that seeks to change
the structures of injustice, fails to meet immediate needs so that those who suffered from
the system could survive to reach the long run. She saw in each person the presence of
Christ "incognito."
Throughout her work of feeding the hungry and housing the homeless,
tax resistance to war, joining the United Farm Workers and Cesar Chavez 's demonstrations
and strikes for justice she touched the lives and inspired many to understand something of
the Lord. Dorothy Day helped to reaffirm that genuine Christian faith shows itself in the
concrete acts of extending God's loving to others in all aspects of life.
Many have begun to enlist the support of members of the church
to help create sympathy for her canonization to sainthood. But that would be contrary to
the wishes of Dorothy herself. When someone once raised this possibility to her she
stated: "Don't let them make me a saint; I don't want to be dismissed so
easily."
Books about Dorothy Day
Coles, Robert. A Spectacle Unto the World: The Catholic Worker
Movement. New York: Viking, 1973.
Miller, William D. A Harsh and Dreadful love: Dorothy Day and the
Catholic Worker Movement. New York: Liveright, 1973
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The White Rose
During the Nazi period in Germany there were groups that opposed
the Nazi's. Some of these groups originated from the churches, others from such groups as
conservative and socialist groups. One of the most extraordinary opposition groups to
emerge was a group of University students who began and underground newspaper known as ,
The White Rose.
The groups members were considered among the first Germans to offer
a public case against the Nazi party. The groups activities began in May of 1942.
This student group was composed of a core membership that
coordinated activities. The core members were Hans and Sophie Scholl (brother and sister),
Christoph Probst, Alexander Schmorell, and Willi Graf. These students were attending
Munich University from where their activities were conducted.
The students enlisted the help of Philosophy Professor Kurt Huber.
After enlisting his help they were able to print and distribute 10,000 leaflets decrying
the Nazi reign of terror. They mailed many of the leaflets to other cities like Stuttgart,
Berlin, and Salzburg.
The Scholls were captured on February 18, 1943 by the Gestapo
(secret police), while they were distributing leaflets on campus. Along with Probst they
were charged with treason on February 21 and executed by beheading on February 22. The
others members of the group were also caught and killed, including Professor Huber.
Among the most remarkable forms of resistance by students, these
young people were driven by their Catholic and Christian spirituality to resist evil.
Before going to her death, Sophie Scholl spoke with her distraught parents. Her mother
told her to trust in Jesus. Her response was, "Yes, and you too !
Symbolically, this form of student resistance has been taken up by
other groups in our time. The Chinese student protests in 1989 also employed leafleting
and underground operations to begin the gradual process of ending the repressive rule of
the Chinese Communist party.
Reference
Protest, Power and Change: An Encyclopedia of Nonviolent Action from
Act-Up to Woman's Suffrage. Garland Publishing, 1997.
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Franz
Jaggerstatter
In August of 1943 Austrian peasant, Franz Jaggerstatter was executed
for treason because he refused to serve in Hitler's armed forces. Before that fateful day
Jaggerstatter has lived most of his life in a tiny Upper Austrian village of St. Radegund.
He was a devote Roman Catholic and daily communicant.
Long before the Nazi's had come to power he recognized that Nazism
was evil. As a result when he was called up to serve in the armed forces of the Third
Reich he refused on the grounds that the Nazi's were fighting and unjust war. In his own
words:
"I cannot and may not take an oath
in favor of a government that is fighting an unjust war....I cannot turn the
responsibility for my actions over to the Fuhrer....Does anyone really think that this
massive blood-letting can save European Christianity or bring it to a new flowering ?
...Is it not more Christian to offer oneself ass a victim right away rather than first
have to murder others who certainly have a right to live and want to live--just to prolong
one's life a little while ?"
Jaggerstatter had read the Bible often and had come
to the conclusion that no Christian could serve in the armies of Hitler and still be
Christian ! One cannot knowingly participate in evil and still be followers of Jesus
Christ. Before Jaggerstatter chose to reject his call to serve in the armed forces he had
consulted his local priest and Bishop. Both had told him to enlist. But he could not do so
in conscience. Such a man is an example of what it means to follow one's conscience in
faithfulness to Jesus Christ. Such a choice by an individual must be based on the
understanding that sometimes one must stand alone for truth--all leaders are ultimately
forced to do so if they wish to remain leaders, especially in the Christian community.
At the present time there is a movement in Austria to have Franz
Jaggerstatter canonized a saint for his heroic Christian witness. Such a movement helps to
point out a central fact of Christian life--that when open to God's grace, ordinary people
can do extraordinary things.
Jaggerstatter summarized what he believed and how that could meet
the signs of the times in the following manner:
"The situation in which we
Christians of Germany find ourselves today is much more bewildering than that faced by the
Christians of the early centuries at the time of their bloodiest persecution...I am
convinced that it is still best that I speak the truth even though it costs me my life.
For you will not find it written in any of the commandments of God or of the Church that a
man is obliged under pain of sin to take an oath committing him to obey whatever
might be commanded him by his secular ruler. We need no rifles or pistols for our battle,
but instead spiritual weapons--and the foremost of these is prayer."
References
Protest, Power and Change: An Encyclopedia of Nonviolent Action from
ACT-UP to Women's Suffrage.
The Nonviolent Alternative. Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publishing, Thomas Merton
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Adolfo Perez Esquivel
"To create this new society, we must present
outstretched and friendly hands, without hatred and rancor, even as we show great
determination and never waver in the defense of truth and justice. Because we know that we
cannot sow seeds with clenched fists. To sow we must open our hands."
Adolfo Perez Esquival has worked for peace in Latin America
beginning in the 1960's nonviolent movements for peace and justice. On October 13, 1980 he
received the Nobel Peace Prize. Despite the notoriety he received upon being award the
Nobel Prize, very few people had heard of him.
His passion for peace and justice grew over many years of study,
action and most importantly, prayer. His commitment to the nonviolent way of
Jesus was inspired by his Christian faith and his study and admiration for people like
Mahatama Ghandi and Dr. Martin Luther King, jr. In 1976, he was arrested in Ecuador
and expelled from that country during a pilgrimage across the South American continent. He
was later arrested in Argentina in 1977, where he was held for fourteen months without a
trial and was subjected to psychological and physical torture.
His heroic and Christian example was recognized in 1977 when he was
awarded the Pope John XXIII's Peace Memorial. During his imprisonment he grew firmer in
his belief in human rights and worked to establish the Servicio Paz y Justicia, a human
rights organization.
Adolfo summarized his mission in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech
when he said:
"Because of our faith in Christ and
humankind, we must apply our humble efforts to the construction of a more just and humane
world. And I want to declare emphatically: Such a world is possible...We know that peace
is only possible when it is the fruit of justice. True peace is the result of the profound
transformation effected by nonviolence which is, indeed, the power of love."
References
Christ in a Pancho. Orbis Books, 1983
Protest, Power and Change: An Encyclopedia of Nonviolent
Action from ACT-Up to Women's Suffrage.
This list is incomplete. There are many more people that could be
added such as, Thomas Merton, Daniel Berrigan, Phil Berrigan, M. Ghandi and so many
others. A book that justice-seekers and peacemakers may find helpful is, "Justice
Seekers and Peace Makers: Thirty-two Portraits in Courage. Mystic , Ct., Twenty-third
Publications, 1985 by Prof. Michael True. Thanks Mike !
Compiled by Deacon Robert M. Pallotti, D. Min.
Updated 9/16/1998
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