Text Fwd: Fr Jack McCaslin to join Mark Kenney in Fed Court in Omaha Fri. Fed. 25 for 'line crossing' at STRATCOM Aug 9, 2010

* Text informed by Jerry Ebner and Frank Cordaro on Feb. 15, 2011



Previous postings: 4 Catholic Peace Activist called to Omaha Fed Court
for Aug 9th line crossing at STRATCOM - Mark Kenney due in court Feb
25.....
http://groups.google.com/group/offitt-list-one/browse_thread/thread/27cac8a94b9e32a0

--------
"And any jail sentence given to Fr Jack could be a 'death sentence'
given Fr Jack's fragile health."

What: Omaha Fed Court Appearances of Mark Kenney and Fr Jack McCaslin
Date: Friday, Feb 25, 2011
Time: 2 p.m.
Place: Fed Court House, 111 South 18th Plaza, Omaha, NE


Upon returning home from a rehab hospital after spending a week in the
hospital

http://groups.google.com/group/offitt-list-one/browse_thread/thread/707124a0b4113ec4
Fr Jack McCaslin was informed that you was being summon to the Omaha
Fed. Court House to answer to charges of trespass for his crossing the
property line at Offutt AFB - home of STRATCOM last Aug. 9th.

Fr Jack join three other Catholic peace activists; Mark Kenney, Peg
Gallagher & Charles Wolford who 'cross the line' at STRATCOM on Aug
9, 2010. Fr Jack will be joined by Mark Kenney in Fed Court on Feb. 25
before Fed. Magistrate Judge Thomas D. Thalken. The other two Peg
Gallagher & Charles Wolford are negotiating plea arraignments that
would insure no jail time.


Both Fr Jack and Mark have appeared before Judge Thalken before. Mark
has served a 30 day, 45 day and two six month sentences from prior
Offutt line crossings. Judge Thalken sentenced him to the two six
month sentences. The last time Fr Jack was before Judge Thalken, the
Judge promise to send Fr Jack to jail regardless of his age or health.
We have no reason to expect the judge not to sentence Mark to a six
month jail sentence. And any jail sentence given to Fr Jack could be a
'death sentence' given Fr Jack's fragile health.

We are asking as many people who can to show up in court on Fri. Feb.
25th at 2 p.m. to show support for both Fr Jack and Mark.

***Anyone who plans be in the Omaha Fed Court House must have a photo
ID and can not have a camera or a cell phone that can take pictures in
the Fed building.

If you can't be with Fr Jack or Mark in court we are urging people to
write the Judge at:
Magistrate Judge Thomas D. Thalken
Roman L. Hruska U.S. Courthouse
111 South 18th Plaza, Omaha, NE 68102

For updates or any questions contact:
The Omaha Catholic Worker
Jerry Ebner, Mike Brennan
1104 N. 24th St. Omaha, Nebraska USA 68102
www.no-nukes.org/cwomaha
Email: cwomaha@gmail.com
402- 502- 5887

Text Fwd:Fr Jack McCaslin - Omaha priest, P&J advocate, friend of the poor and CWers diagnosed with cancer - needs your prayers

* Text fwd by Jerry Ebner on Jan. 27, 2011

Fr Jack McCaslin - Omaha priest, P&J advocate, friend of the poor and CWers diagnosed with cancer - needs your prayers

Dear Friends of the Omaha Catholic Worker:
FR. JACK MC CASLIN NEEDS YOUR PRAYERS

Fr. Jack McCaslin is an 82 year old priest from Omaha, NE. He is
veteran of the civil rights movement since 1965, the peace movement
almost forever, and has been a voice for the poor and voiceless in
Nebraska and the halls of D.C. all of his life. He was instrumental in
starting and supporting several Catholic Worker communities in the
Omaha area. He is currently a major supporter and mentor for the folks
at the Omaha CW. He has served jail time for crossing the line at
StratCom, demonstrated at SOA, recently he has been ministering to the
elderly in nursing homes. He's been a strong advocate for reform in
the Catholic Church and a member of Call To Action. He loves being a
priest, administering the sacraments and serving people, especially
the poor. All his life he has been a person who puts the teaching of
the Gospel into action.

Fr Jack last crossed the line at StratCom on Aug 9th last year. See:
http://groups.google.com/group/offitt-list-one/browse_thread/thread/79d2c2aff901ba82/dd48566dc14c3b32?lnk=gst&q=mccaslin#dd48566dc14c3b32

These days he visits death row inmates regularly and lobbies for an
end of the death penalty.

Fr Jack recently learned that he has lung cancer. He is at Bergan
Mercy Hospital Rm # 386 in Omaha NE to determine what kind of
treatment he will receive. He is facing this recent challenge with
courage and a strong faith. We ask you to remember him in your
prayers and know that as you participate in actions for social
justice, he is offering his suffering in solidarity with you.


Letters and cards can be sent to Fr, Jack McCaslin home address at:

7323 Shirley Street # 305,
Omaha, NE 68124


For updates on Fr Jack people can contact:

Omaha Catholic Worker
Jerry Ebner, Mike Brennan
1104 N. 24th St. Omaha, Nebraska USA 68102
www.no-nukes.org/cwomaha
Email: cwomaha@gmail.com
402- 502- 5887

Text Fwd:Jury Reaches Verdict in Disarm Now Plowshares Trial 미 배심원들, [워싱턴 주] 평화 활동가들에 평결

*Text fwd from Leonard Eiger and then Frank Cordaro on Nov. 13, 2010

Jury Reaches Verdict in Disarm Now Plowshares Trial - guilty on all counts. ... sentencing is scheduled for March 28, 2011

News Release
December 13, 2010

For Immediate Release

Jury Reaches Verdict in Disarm Now Plowshares Trial



Tacoma, Washington, Monday, December 13, 2010: The federal criminal
trial of five veteran peace activists that began December 7 ended
today after the jury found them guilty on all counts. The five
defendants, called the Disarm Now Plowshares, challenged the legality
and morality of the US storage and use of thermonuclear missiles by
Trident nuclear submarines at the Kitsap-Bangor Naval Base outside
Bremerton Washington.



In their defense the peace activists argued three points: the nuclear
missiles at Bangor are weapons of mass destruction; those weapons are
both illegal and immoral; and that all citizens have the right and
duty to try to stop international war crimes from being committed by
these weapons of mass destruction.



The five were charged with trespass, felony damage to federal
property, felony injury to property and felony conspiracy to damage
property. Each defendant faces possible sentences of up to ten years
in prison.



On trial were: Anne Montgomery, 83, a Sacred Heart sister from New
York; Bill Bischel, SJ, 81, a Jesuit priest from Tacoma Washington;
Susan Crane, 67, a member of the Jonah House community in Baltimore,
Maryland; Lynne Greenwald, 60, a nurse from Bremerton Washington; and
Steve Kelly, SJ, 60, a Jesuit priest from Oakland California. Bill
Bischel and Lynne Greenwald are active members of the Ground Zero
Center for Nonviolent Action, a community resisting Trident nuclear
weapons since 1977.



The five admitted from the start that they cut through the chain link
fence surrounding the Navy base during the night of the Feast of All
Souls, November 2, 2009. They then walked undetected for hours nearly
four miles inside the base to the Strategic Weapons Facility, Pacific
(SWFPAC). This top security area is where the Plowshares activists say
hundreds of nuclear missiles are stored in bunkers. There they cut
through two more barbed wire fences and went inside. They put up two
big banners which said "Disarm Now Plowshares: Trident Illegal and
Immoral," scattered sunflower seeds, and prayed until they were
arrested at dawn. Once arrested, the five were cuffed and hooded with
sand bags because the marine in charge testified "when we secure
prisoners anywhere in Iraq or Afghanistan we hood them...so we did it
to them."



The eight Trident nuclear submarines home ported at Naval Base
Kitsap-Bangor each carry 24 Trident D-5 nuclear missiles. Each missile
carries up to eight warheads, each one having an explosive yield of up
to 475 kilotons, over 30 times the destructive force of the weapon
dropped on Hiroshima.



Additionally, Bangor is home to SWFPAC where nuclear warheads are
stored ready for deployment. Located just 20 miles west of Seattle,
it is home to the largest single stockpile of nuclear warheads in the
U.S. arsenal, housing more than 2000 nuclear warheads.



According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, the 2,364 nuclear
warheads at Bangor are approximately 24 percent of the entire U.S.
arsenal, more than the combined nuclear warheads than China, France,
Israel, India, North Korea and Pakistan.



The jury heard testimony from peace activists who came from around the
world to challenge the use of Trident nuclear weapons by the U.S.
Angie Zelter, internationally known author and Trident Ploughshares
activist from the UK, testified about the resistance to Trident
weapons in Europe.



Stephen Leeper, Chair of the Peace Culture Foundation in Hiroshima,
told the jury, "the world is facing a critical moment" because of the
existence and proliferation of nuclear weapons. Though prohibited from
testifying about the details of the death, destruction, and genetic
damage to civilians from the US nuclear attack on Hiroshima, he
testified defendants "have a tremendous amount of support in
Hiroshima." When asked if he had encouraged the Disarm Now
Plowshares defendants in any way he said, “Yes, I told them, ‘Yes, do
anything you possibly can to bring this to the consciousness of the
world, because Americans more than any other people in the world are
unconscious of what’s going on.’ ”



Retired US Navy Captain Thomas Rogers, 31 years in the Navy, including
several years as Commander of a nuclear submarine during the Cold War,
said of Trident, "strategic nuclear weapons on submarines... are kept
on alert, deployed, and if ever used, they are released with a coded
message that's authenticated on board the ship, and the commander of
the ship shoots the missiles, delivers the weapons. Which, in my
opinion, in my knowledge, is contrary to the law of armed conflict
which says a commander is responsible for - - is responsible for
following the rules and principles of humanitarian law, and for not
indiscriminately hurting noncombatants and for not causing undue
suffering or environmental damage, and that commanding officer is
powerless, and it's an awful feeling.



The peace activists represented themselves with lawyers as stand by
counsel. Attorneys Anabel Dwyer and Bill Quigley also assisted the
defendants. Dwyer is a Michigan attorney and Board Member of The
Lawyers’ Committee on Nuclear Policy (LCNP), and an expert in
humanitarian law and nuclear weapons. Quigley is the Legal Director
for the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York and Professor at
Loyola New Orleans.



Prosecutors said the government would neither confirm nor deny the
existence of nuclear weapons at the base, and argued that "whether of
not there are nuclear weapons there or not is irrelevant."
Prosecutors successfully objected to and excluded most of the defense
evidence about the horrific effects of nuclear weapons, the illegality
of nuclear weapons under U.S. treaty agreements and humanitarian law,
and the right of citizens to try to stop war crimes by their
government.



The Disarm Now Plowshares defendants tried to present evidence about
the presence of nuclear weapons at Bangor despite repeated objections.
At one point, Sr. Anne Montgomery challenged the prosecutors and the
court, "Why are we so afraid to discuss the fact that there are
nuclear weapons?"



There were many indications that the jury found it difficult to
convict the Disarm Now Plowshares defendants. Jury questions,facial
expressions, body language and post-trial conversations all gave this
impression. One of the jurors said that from what he could tell, no
one was ready to convict right away.



After the verdict was read and the Judge Settle was about to dismiss
the jury, Steve Kelly stood and announced that the defendants would
like to bless the jury. Steve and all of his co-defendants stood with
their hands raised in blessing as he said, "May you go in peace and
have a safe, happy holiday."



Sentencing is scheduled for March 28, 2011 at 9:00 am.
For more information on the trial and the Plowshares peace activists
please see the site for Disarm Now Plowshares
http://disarmnowplowshares.wordpress.com/ or


Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action


http://www.gzcenter.org/index.html

Contact:
Leonard Eiger (425) 445-2190
Media & Outreach Coordinator
Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action
subversivepeacemaking@comcast.net

Text Fwd: Phil Berrigan presente! Oct. 5, 1923 - Dec. 6, 2002 RIP 필 베리간 (1923 ~ 2002), 영원하길!

Jan 26 1982 Phil Berrigan St Paul Epsc. CH DM

1996 - 20th Anivv - Liz and Phil

* Text and photos (with captions)sent by Max Obuszewski and than Frank Cordaro on Dec. 6, 2010

'Today, December 6, 2002, Eight years gone. In loving memory, our dear friend, Philip Berrigan (Oct. 5, 1923 - Dec. 6, 2002).

He is still with us every day as we gather and work for peace, stand in nonviolent resistance to war and the war-makers, and join hands for justice. Phil Berrigan, Presente! For more, visit
http://www.jonahhouse.org/phil.htm' (Max Obuszewski)

Text Fwd: OCW Article in "Catholic Voice" 오마하 카톨릭 워커, '카톨릭 목소리' 신문에 나옴

* Image & caption source: same as the link
'Catholic Workers Jerry Ebner, left, and Michael Brennan are starting a campaign to raise enough money to purchase a new Catholic Worker House in Omaha. The current house at 1104 N. 24th St. in Omaha, pictured, is too small, they said, and a new house would allow them to have more space for homeless men in the area. Lisa Maxson/staff.'

____________________________________________
* Text sent from Jerry Ebner (Omaha Catholic Worker) and Frank Cordaro (Desmoines Catholic Worker) on Dec. 4, 2010

Catholic Voice
Service to Omaha's homeless marks fifth anniversary
: Omaha Catholic Worker is looking for a new location
By LISA MAXSON
Dec. 4, 2010

Since the 1970s, local efforts associated with the national Catholic Worker Movement have been short-lived.

That is until Jerry Ebner established a Worker House at 1104 N. 24th St. in Omaha five years ago, giving homeless men a place to find refuge, friendship and support.

A family-like environment at the house provides a safe place for up to five men, Ebner said.

"We have dinner together, do dishes together and cook like any family should, I think.

"Some people come to us and have been kicked out of an apartment. Some people may, but not all, have drug or alcohol issues. Some may, but not all, have mental health issues," said Ebner, who lives at the house.

But all the guests are expected to spend their days doing whatever is needed for them to live a productive life, such as mental health programs, looking for employment or working, he said.

While Ebner wants the community to remain small, he and Michael Brennan, a live-in volunteer, want to purchase a slightly larger house. They have started a down payment fund and Ebner said he hopes others will support their work financially.

"We're not going to get a lot of rich donors, so my goal is to at least get a good amount in down payment and then we'll end up paying a certain amount each month," Ebner said, noting current rent at the three-bedroom house is $650 a month.

He and Brennan are working with a real estate agent to find a six- to eight-bedroom house in the Midtown Omaha area. The new house must be on a city bus route, preferably with access to all parts of the city, Ebner said.

He said he hopes to reserve one room in the new house for a Creighton University student who would cook for the house in exchange for room and board.

READ MORE

Photo Fwd: Photo Fwd: Father Moon’s ongoing resistance in the Myungdong Cathedral 문정현 신부님, 명동 성당에서 투쟁을 계속하다

* Image & caption source: Hankyoreh, Aug. 16, 2010
'Father Moon Jung-hyun offers a ‘one-person prayer’ calling on the Korean Catholic Church to reflect on its responsibilities, which has become an increasingly closed system, Aug. 16.'　



__________________________________________________________

About Fr. Moon, you may refer to here:

Wednesday, October 21, 2009 2009년 10월 21일
[Bruce Gagnon] FR. MOON & RESISTANCE AT KUNSAN AFB
[브루스 개그논 블로그 번역] 문정현 신부님과 군산 미 공군 기지에 대한 저항