This is a special invitation to join with the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker, Pax Christi Metro-DC, Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach, Isaiah Project and the Sisters of Mercy—Institute Justice Team in two nonviolent acts of public witness at the White House and the Pentagon to repent for the U.S. nuclear bombings of Japan on August 6 and August 9, 1945 and to call for the abolition of all nuclear weapons in the U.S. and worldwide. See details below. Also we are circulating an “Apology Petition” (see below) regarding the U.S. nuclear bombings of Japan, which we invite you to sign and share with your networks. If you are not able to be in Washington, we encourage you to hold a vigil in your area on August 6th and use this petition.
With great gratitude,
Art Laffin, Scott Wright, Paul Magno, Bob Cooke, Jean Stokan
August 6-9 Peace Actions
Commemorating the U.S. Nuclear Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Seventy-one years ago the U.S. Government did the “unspeakable” and dropped atomic bombs on the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, thus beginning the Nuclear Age. The U.S. has never repented for the use of these weapons of indiscriminate mass murder. Moreover, it has continued to build even deadlier weapons which endanger all of creation. Today the U.S. possesses nearly 7,000 nuclear weapons, many of which are on hair-trigger alert, and proposes to spend $1 trillion over the next 30 years to modernize it’s existing nuclear arsenal.
Please join in two nonviolent actions as we seek to remember the pain, repent the sin, reclaim the future and create a nonviolent disarmed world. At the August 6th White House witness we will be joined by a Hibakusha (A-Bomb survivor) from Japan.
When and Where:
Saturday, August 6 (Anniversary of the U.S. nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and the Feast of the Transfiguration): Nonviolent Witness and Prayer Service of Repentance at White House. 8:00-9:00 AM on north side of White House on Pennsylvania Ave–across from Lafayette Park. (8:15 AM is the exact time that the bomb was dropped in Hiroshima) The Apology Petition will be presented to the Hibakusha during this witness.
Tuesday, August 9 (Anniversary of U.S. nuclear bombing of Nagasaki): Nonviolent witness at the Pentagon. Meet on corner of Army-Navy Drive and Fern St. @ 6:30 a.m. Witness from 7:00 – 8:00 a.m.
Please join us!
For more info contact Dorothy Day Catholic Worker: 202-360-6416,
Apology Petition
Hiroshima and Nagasaki: An Apology
Envision the World Without Nuclear Weapons
August 6 and 9, 2016–71st Anniversary of the U.S. Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is a time of remembering the horror, repenting the sin and reclaiming a future without nuclear weapons. It is a time to recommit ourselves to the work of disarming and dismantling the machinery of mass destruction. Nuclear weapons are sinful and idolatrous. Their research, production, possession, deployment and use are a crime against God and humanity. We decry the fact that the U.S. government plans to commit a trillion dollars to modernize its existing nuclear arsenal over the next thirty years.
On this August 6 and 9, we gather with people of faith and conscience across the globe to mark the anniversary with a daily presence of prayer and action. As citizens of the United States, we invite people to publicly ask God for forgiveness for the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which caused the immediate death of more than 200,000 people, and hundreds of thousands more who died in the aftermath as a result of radiation poisoning. Pope Paul VI, in his 1976 World Day of Peace Message, described the bombings as “a butchery of untold magnitude.”
We apologize to the people of Japan – and to the survivors of the bombing, the hibakusha – for our country’s bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and we ask forgiveness for these atrocities. We repent for the continued proliferation of nuclear weapons at the expense of unmet human needs. Further, we offer repentance for threatening to use nuclear weapons and keeping many of them on a first-strike hair-trigger alert. We firmly resolve, with God’s grace and mercy, to reject the false idols of nuclear weapons, and to embrace the life-affirming work of abolishing these weapons of terror.
Now is the time to pursue non-violent alternatives to war and proclaim a Jubilee Year of Mercy, as both the Scriptures and Pope Francis suggest: to restore justice for the poor; to lay the foundations for peace; and to seek a nuclear-free future for our children. In that spirit, we renew our commitment to the biblical vision of peace, a world without weapons or war, expressed so well by the prophet Isaiah: On that day, “God will rule over all nations and settle disputes for all peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not raise sword against nation; nor will they train for war anymore” (Is 2:4).
(This petition was prepared by Scott Wright and Art Laffin. Groups sponsoring the petition include: Dorothy Day Catholic Worker, Pax Christi Metro-DC, Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach, Isaiah Project, the Sisters of Mercy—Institute Justice Team, Little Friends for Peace, Jonah House and the Hiroshima Nagasaki Peace Committee of the National Capital Area. To sign the petition please go to The Apology Petition. This petition will be presented to the Hibakusha at the August 6th White House witness. Please sign by August 5th. If you are not able to be in Washington, we encourage you to hold a vigil in your area on August 6th and use this petition. For more info contact artlaffin@hotmail.com)
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Dorothy Day Catholic Worker Washington, D.C. 