Letters to the Editor

Weapons of Destruction

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.

One thought on “Weapons of Destruction

  1. The Plowshares movement mentioned in a letter {June 16) was my first exposure to radical protest against government practices. I recall how my soul was stirred in the early 1980s by the courage of the Berrigans and many, many others as they advocated resistance to war, and protested our national arsenal of nuclear weaponry. Their actions were deemed extreme, the damage they caused unlawful, and they themselves suffered accusations of disloyalty, anti-patriotism, even treason.
    But their prayerful, dedicated behavior sowed seeds which apparently flourish to this day in the likes of Mr. O’Neill and Rev. Mulholland in Garner, NC; all of us who refuse to accept nuclear madness as life-as-usual are in their debt.
    Jesus would clearly ponder the alternatives. May we all dare to do the same.
    RoseAnne Cleary
    90-60 Union Turnpike
    Glendale, NY 11385
    917.300.7467