Nuns Convicted in War Protest

MINDY SINK / NY Times 8apr03

COLORADO—Three Roman Catholic nuns were convicted by a federal jury of defacing a Minuteman III missile silo last fall in northeastern Colorado. The nuns, ages 55 to 68, swung hammers and used their blood to paint crosses on the structure as part of a protest against war and the use of nuclear weapons. They were charged with interfering with national defense and causing over $1,000 in property damage. The three will be sentenced on July 25.

Federal Jury Convicts 3 Roman Catholic Nuns of
Defacing a Missile Silo Swinging Hammers and
Painting Crosses with their own Blood

AP 7apr03

Sisters Ardeth Platte, 66, Jackie Hudson, 68, and Carol Gilbert, 55, were arrested for breaking into a Minuteman III missile silo site on Colorado's northeastern plains last Oct. 6. They were charged with interfering with the nation's defense and causing property damage of more than $1,000.

The nuns are peace activists and have said they were compelled to act as war with Iraq moved closer and because the United States has never promised not to use nuclear weapons. Their defense lawyers argued the nuns' action was symbolic and never jeopardized national security.

Jurors deliberated for about two hours Friday and five hours today before delivering the verdict in U.S. District Court.

The three women face a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison when they are sentenced July 25.

Nuns Guilty for Attack on U.S. Missile Silo

AP 8apr03

DENVER—A federal jury convicted three Roman Catholic nuns yesterday of defacing a missile silo by swinging hammers and painting crosses on it with their own blood.

Sisters Ardeth Platte, 66, Jackie Hudson, 68, and Carol Gilbert, 55, were arrested for breaking into a Minuteman III missile silo site on Colorado's northeastern plains Oct. 6. They were charged with interfering with the country's defence and causing property damage of more than $1,000 US.

The nuns are peace activists and have said they were compelled to act as war with Iraq moved closer and because the United States has never promised not to use nuclear weapons. Their defence lawyers argued the nuns' action was symbolic and never jeopardized national security.

"They will discover that we are not guilty under God's law," Gilbert said to jurors after the verdicts were read. Platte made the sign of the cross and said, "Bless the jury."

All three, dressed in bright orange prison jumpsuits, sang a religious song as they left the courtroom. The nuns face up to 30 years in prison, but are unlikely to serve anything like as long.

Modern Day Prophets
"Speak Truth to Power" at Missile Site

Dominican Life

"Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of our God."

Ps. 20:17

by Don Kania, O.P.

Dominican Life Editor

Three Dominican sisters who are considered by many to be modern-day prophets-- Ardeth Platte, O.P., Carol Gilbert, O.P., and Jackie Hudson, O.P. -- cut a chain link fence and entered the N-8 missile silo in northern Colorado on Sunday, Oct. 6, 2002. The Dominican Sisters have been charged with depridation of federal property, 5 years and 250,000 fine. First court date is October 24 at10:30 am in Denver Federal Court.

A SYMBOLIC ACTION

The women painted a cross on the silo using their own blood which they believe to be symbolic in that "it identifies the effects of war and portrays the essential element of life." In an act of disarmament, they also hammered at the silo and the tracks that carry the lid of the silo to its firing position. "The hammers are ordinary household tools which are symbolic of our hope that we as a nation will build what structures that will respond to basic human needs." After completing the action, the three conducted a prayer service between themselves until Air Force personnel arrested them at gunpoint.

"In this disarmament action we hope to enflesh the Scriptures and spirit of our religious and intentional communities: to praise God, to bless all of God's people and creation, to preach truth with love," says Ardeth Platte, O.P. In other words, they hope to enflesh the spirit of Dominican life "to give to others the fruits of their contemplation," and "to speak truth to power," adds Carol Gilbert, O.P.

Platte said that the group also took documents with them, detailing the merger of Space Command and Strategic Command. In the new Air Force, she said, the intercontinental weapons of death now have direct connections to the pre-emptive warfare plans enacted at Peterson, Schriever, Cheyenne Mountain, Buckley, and Offut Air Force Bases.

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

Two of the sisters - Carol Gilbert and Ardeth Platte - are part of the Jonah House Community in Baltimore, Maryland; Jackie Hudson, is a member of Ground Zero for Nonviolent Action in Poulsbo, WA.

Carol Gilbert OP, 54, entered the Grand Rapids MI Dominican Sisters on September 8, 1965. She has been a junior high school teacher, a 20-year Michigan peace activist and more recently a plowshare activist.

Jackie Hudson OP, 67, entered the Grand Rapids Michigan Dominicans on September 8, 1952. She has been a high school band teacher for thirty years before becoming a peace activist in Michigan where she was arrested twice for trespassing and served 6 month sentences for each offense. In this disarmament action she hopes to enflesh the spirit of TRUTH, which is the hallmark of Dominican spirituality.

Ardeth Platte OP, 66, became a Grand Rapids MI Dominican Sister on September 8, 1954. She has been a high school teacher and principal, a City Councilwoman and Mayor Pro Tem in Saginaw, MI, a plowshare activist and nonviolent civil resister to injustices and warmaking.

OFFICIALS ARE KEEPING THE PRESS OUT

All the Sisters are well but frustrated at their inability to communicate with the press. However, Carol Gilbert OP and Ardeth Platte OP have written for Synapse over the years.

Action Statement Carried into Site by the Sisters

We, women religious, naming ourselves "SACRED EARTH AND SPACE PLOWSHARES II," come to Colorado to unmask the false religion and worship of national security so evident at Buckley AFB, in Aurora, the Missile Silos, and in Colorado Springs: Schreiver AFB (the Space Warfare Center), the Air Force Space Command Center at Peterson AFB, Cheyenne Mountain (NORAD) and the Air Force Academy. We reject the mission of these along with the U.S. Space Command and Stratcom in Omaha, NE.

We come in the name of Truth, an-Nur, the Light. God alone is Master of Space, of the heavens that "pour forth speech...There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard" (Ps. 19:2), a voice that proclaims world community, not domination of the world's economy; peace, not planning for space warfare.

We hope in the light of that word to name things what they are, to unmask the lies, abuses, and racism hidden in the rhetoric of patriotism, security and moral superiority. We reject the U.S. Space Command Vision for 2020 to dominate space for military operations; to exploit space as a U.S. 4th frontier, making all other nations vulnerable to U.S. conventional and nuclear attacks; to integrate space forces for warfighting; to abuse the Aleutian Islands and other lands with interceptors and spy satellites and to waste more billions and billions of dollars and more human and material resources, causing the destruction of Earth and desecration of Space.

We walk in the name of the Shepherd, ar-Rashid, the One who leads us on the path to justice for the "have-nots" rather than military power "to deny others the use of space" and even of their own resources. We walk unafraid.

We trust in this Shepherd who is also the Way of active nonviolence and generous sharing that will lead to true security.

We act in the many names of God the Compassionate, ar-Rahim: our Life, our Peace, our Healer to transform swords into plowshares, our violence and greed into care for the whole community of earth and sky, not as masters but as servants and friends.

We pray in the name of al-Qabid, the One who holds the whole world, who said, "I will do whatever you ask in my name." (Jn. 14:13)

Shalom
Salaam
Shanti
Peace

Carol, Jackie, Anne, Ardeth

Oh My God, teach me how to be a peacemaker in a hostile world...(Ps 120)

source: http://www.domlife.org/missiles.html 8apr03