Nuclear Heartland and an End to Land-Based Missiles

Speaker: John La Forge

Date: Friday,  March 11, 2016 @ 7:30 p.m.

Place: Dorothy Day Catholic Worker, 503 Rock Creek Church Rd. NW, Washington, D.C. 20010

 

John LaForge is Co-editor with Arianne Peterson of Nuclear Heartland, Revised: Guide to the 450 Land-Based Missiles in the United States, will discuss the new book, its detailed maps of the three nuclear missile fields, recent high-level recommendations for their elimination, anti-nuclear protests that were inspired in part by the original “Nuclear Heartland” and the series of frightening blunders committed by the bored, distracted, and accident-prone “missileers” who still stand ready to launch the uncontrollable weapons on a moment’s notice. As Lt. Gen. James Kowalski said in 2014, it isn’t Russia or China but, “The greatest threat to my force is an accident. The greatest risk to my force is doing something stupid.”

Come hear about what Dr. Helen Caldicott calls “one of the most frightening books I have ever read.”

Please join us!
For more information contact Dorothy Day Catholic Worker: 202-882-9649 

Report of Ash Wednesday White House Witness of Repentance

Dear Friends,

Today, Ash Wednesday, nearly 40 friends from the faith-based peace and justice community in the D.C.-Baltimore area gathered outside the White House for a noon-time Liturgy of Repentance that was organized by the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker. Below is the Opening Reflection that I offered as well as an Order of the Liturgy. Toward the end of the Liturgy, ashes were blessed and distributed among the participants. A different batch of woodstove ashes were then used to mark Pennsylvania Ave., directly in front of the White House, as a sign of repentance for the sins of the nation as well as our commitment to follow the Gospel. 

Special thanks to Dani Clark, Judith Kelly, Scott Wright, Sr. Ardeth Platte, and Fr. Joe Nangle who composed and offered powerful prayers today. And deep appreciation to those who read prayers, to Meade who lead the singing, and to everyone who participated in this Ash Wednesday Liturgy of Repentance.

During this Lent us pray with and for each other, and for our church and world, that we can truly repent and convert our lives to making God’s reign of love, justice and peace a reality.

With great gratitude, 

Art  

Ash Wednesday Prayer Service of Repentance at the White House

When: Ash Wednesday, February 10, 2016 from Noon-1:00 p.m.

Where: White House (north side on Pennsylvania Ave.)

“The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel.” (Mk.1:15)

 

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent. Lent is a time for personal and societal repentance, a time for radical conversion, renewal and transformation. Living under the brutal occupation of the Roman empire, Jesus declared: “The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel.” (Mk.1:15) Living in the U.S. empire, which is responsible for so much needless death and suffering in our world, we need to heed Jesus’ proclamation now more than ever.

 

On Ash Wednesday people from the faith-based peace and justice community in the D.C. area will hold a prayer service in front of the White House to call for repentance and conversion of ourselves, our society and our churches to the Gospel way of justice, nonviolence and a reverence for all life and creation. Seeking to eradicate what Martin Luther King, Jr. called the triple evils of poverty, racism and militarism, we call for an end to corporate domination and systemic exploitation and discrimination; debt forgiveness for poor countries and justice for the poor and all immigrants; an end to torture, indefinite detention and the mass incarceration complex; an end to the death penalty; and the abolition of war and the conversion of our war-based economy to one centered on serving the common good, alleviating poverty and protecting the earth. We commit ourselves to ending all forms of racial hatred and profiling, and demand accountability for those responsible for acts of violence, especially with respect to the killing of so many blacks by white police.

 

During this Lent, we are also mindful of the imperative to be people of mercy, as Pope Francis has declared in this Jubilee Year of Mercy. We, therefore, call on the U.S. to embrace a spirit of mercy and repent for the violence, death and suffering that it has inflicted on other countries, most recently in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Libya. We also call on the U.S. to reject the way of revenge and retaliation as a response to conflict and to find ways to make peace with the Islamic State instead of bombing them. We call, too, on the U.S. to halt all arms sales worldwide and to demand an end to Israel’s illegal occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. And we call for the closure of the nearly 1,000 U.S. military bases worldwide, including new bases being constructed in Jeju Island and Okinawa.

As the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist has now moved the doomsday clock to three minutes to midnight, because climate change and the danger of nuclear war pose an ever-growing threat to civilization and are bringing the world closer to doomsday, we call for urgent action to be taken to end the climate crisis, safeguard the environment and abolish all nuclear weapons. We call, too, for an end to all U.S. military intervention worldwide, for an end to the U.S. militarization of space, and for the elimination of all weapons–from guns to killer drones.

Let us begin Lent together by joining in this important Ash Wednesday witness as we strive together to make God’s reign of love, justice and peace a reality.

Ashes will be blessed and distributed. Please join us.

For more info contact Art Laffin of the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker:artlaffin@hotmail.com.