Dear Editor:  As members of the Kings Bay Plowshares (April 14), we welcome and respect the views of those who write (April 21) in opposition to the defacing and destroying of government property. Our efforts to smash idols and beat swords into plowshares are certainly controversial and should be debated.

Since the seven of us spent more than 18 months in prayerful discernment of how we could best respond as Catholics to the reality that human existence could come to an end at any moment if nuclear weapons are deployed, it should be clear that we did not enter into this process recklessly.

And, of course, we stand ready to face the consequences of our actions, which for me will mean the painful separation from my wife, my eight children, and my two grandchildren to be born this summer.

Here’s the rub for me – in St. Mary’s, Ga., where the Trident submarines are based, few citizens seem to be troubled by the fact that their economy and livelihood are predicated on the reality that the weapons of mass destruction in the harbor, if deployed, could literally end the human experiment.

Yet, the tactics of a band of Catholic pacifists are critiqued ad nauseam.

Tridents and weapons of mass destruction are not proper to life. Surely, Jesus, the Prince of Peace, is not pro-nuke. All I’m asking is that Christians, who remain silent in the face of such nuclear madness, also devote some time to figuring out how we can best protect God’s Creation from omnicide and assure a future for our children and grandchildren.

PATRICK O’NEILL

Father Charlie Mulholland

Catholic Worker House, Garner, N.C.