September 16 Actions
The "Pilgrimage for Life and Peace," hosted by Consistent Life Network member group Feminists Choosing Life of New York Act, took place on Sept. 16th in Syracuse, NY. This is what Mark Scibilia-Carver wrote to the sponsors of Campaign Nonviolence: “We were in front of Planned Parenthood on East Genesee St. from 10 til 11:30 am before going to Hancock Airfield's drone warfare base. One of our signs was a quote of Dan Berrigan's, ‘Abortion is a war on the unborn, war is an abortion.’ Another was from Fr. Charles McCarthy, ‘Mass abortions are the inevitable consequence of modern war.’ At Hancock, 7 police cars showed up as usual but we "negotiated" to cross the road and stand in front of the base sign with our messages including, ‘Abortions performed here via drone launched Hellfire missiles’ Thus, the base was tagged with another war crime in addition to the ones some of us had brought before. The regular group that prays the Rosary in front of PP was very happy to welcome us.”
Pictured, left to right: Linda Scibilia Carver, Carol Crossed, Kelly Vincent-Brunacini, Suzanne Stack
Pictured, left to right: Robert George, Kelly Vincent Brunacini, Amy Crossed Rieck, Caroline Bennett, Mark Scibilia-Carver, Nick Crossed
In Kansas City, Missouri, a double vigil was held, called “Ban the Bomb, Not the Baby,” with the same banner held at a plant that used to make nuclear weapons components and then at the mid-town Planned Parenthood. We’ve reported on these actions, plus the march held last week, on our Week of Actions web page. We hope to again have a set of actions next year, in conjunction with the Campaign Nonviolence Week of Actions. We ask everyone to think in terms of what can be done in your own locale, since we have about a year to prepare. We’ll add upcoming events for next September on that same Week of Actions web page as they become available.
Video Series Starts
Also in conjunction with the Campaign Nonviolence Week of Actions, we begin the series of videos that came out of presentations at our conference as they become available for YouTube. Because of the theme of the week, we start with our panel on pacifism, just war, and peacemaking.
Pictured, left to right: Rob Arner, Mary Liepold, John Whitehead
Latest CLN Blog Post Noting another time when a pro-life site lobbed the criticism that the consistent life ethic’s very purpose is to water down and divert from the abortion issue, our board member Richard Stith answers with Equal Concern for Each Human Being, Not for Each Human Issue. The editor then explained why he doesn’t want to publish this as a comment, and gave further comments of his own. We include that along with Richard’s response to him, so this week’s post is an exchange of views – something we want to encourage more of.
Quotation of the Week
The Challenge of Peace, May 1983 statement by the U.S. Catholic bishops, #284 When we accept violence in any form as commonplace, our sensitivities become dulled . . . Abortion in particular blunts a sense of the sacredness of human life. In a society where the innocent unborn are killed wantonly, how can we expect people to feel righteous revulsion at the act of killing noncombatants in war?
Responses/News tips/Questions to share are all welcome. Send to weekly@consistent-life.org
