tbe catholic peace feLLowship BalLet:lo APRIL, 1969 s caw NO.NVIOLENT WAR ON SLAVERY ... The Milwaukee 14 sing while draft records burn. The 14, "~hich include five priests, a protestant minister, a Christian Brother and CPF ~o-chairman Jim Forest, expect.the trial to begin in Milwaukee May 5 .. A "Resistance Festival" is planned to coincide with the trial-those interested in taking part should write or phone· the Milwaukee 14 Defense Committee, 2119 W. Vliet St., Milwaukee, Wise. 53205; (414) 933-3228. The text of the 14's s~at~m~_nt is available in leaflet form from the Defense Committee, and appears on page 3:. (Photo: 'Gary Ballseiper) _ Cloitago Flog remo vol Do the ·American and· Papal flags, both flags of state, belong in areas where· the: Eucharist is being cele­ . brated? The Peace Committee of St. Thomas the Apostle Parish, Chicago, decided that they do not and were considering means ·of bring the ques­ tion to :the congregation, possibly by ceremonially removing the flags during fROM DRAFT CARDS TO ASHES ... Marquette students remove ashes of a liturgical celebration. (It was even draft cards and other symbols of oppression from burner. The ashes were used in considered whether the National placing crosses on the foreheads of those participating in the observance of Ash Wednesdav. {Photo: Tom Liptak) Liberation Front flag might be intro­ duced~in order to dramatize the Gos­ pel message that the Christian is to Milwaukee S Asll Wetlnesioy have no ene.inies.) Resistance fires are still burning in celebration. It was advertized as an· In order to bring· the matter to· a Milwaukee. After the Milwaukee .14 "Ash Wednesday · Liturgy;" but the . head more quickly, two members of burned . draft files on September 24 underground had the word that it was· the Peace Committee · of the parish and the card burning at St. Boniface to be something special. At 4:30 the decided· to: remove the flags. On Satur­ shortly after, there was a long, quiet people started pouring into the ball­ day evening; February 1st, between period. People went back to the busi­ room of the student union. The chairs· Mass ·and Confessions, Jane Kennedy, .ness of draft counseling and organi­ . had been removed, so coats were·:·-·: 43, a registered nurse, and CPF­ zing, of rallies and marches and spread and everybody sat down ·o·ri the sponsor Hermene Evans, 62, a nurse speeches. Then on Ash Wednesday the floor, almost five hL~ndred· students,. and housewife, took the flags from fires were .lit again, this time at Mar­ faculty and visitors sitting on the floor their place just outside the sanctuary, quette l!n~versity during a liturgical cont. on pg. 2, col. 1 cont." on pg. ~· col. 1 . · Milwoukee • 0 • cont. from pg. 1 singing to the music of electric guitars. That's how it all started. After a few minutes, Father Quentin Quesnell of. the . theology : department· m·ounted the stairs' to the · stage artd took the microphone. Around a series of scriptural readings he wove an explanation of what Ash Wednesday is all about. We tradition­ ally burn palms because in the day of Jesus palms were a symbol of the royalty the people wished to confer on him, a particular kind of worldly royalty which ·he ultimately refused. Father Quesnell went on to explain that Christians burn palms on Ash THE HANDS HAVE IT ... V'~d fingers rise from Ash Wednesday celebrat~on as . Wednesday as a sign of their own 500 circle dancers rush together on floor of the Marquette Student _pnion . rejection of worldly royalty and ballroom. Ashes for the service were obtained from palm leaves,' draft car~s, IB~ empire. Burning palms symbolizes the punch cards, a dollar bill, and '~other symbols of oppreSsion." (Photo: Thoma_s Christians' desire to destroy all that ~~ . enslaves man. At this point Father ·As the fire burned down, the ashes recalled the. night before Jesus died; he. Quesnell took a few palms and lit were taken in plates ·and passed passed the bread and cup through the them. He then explained that in our through the crowd. People took the crowd. .They ate and drank. Then day there are other more important ashes and rubbed them on one ano- Father Quesnell spoke ·a final prayer. things to burn, other symbols of ther's foreheads, signing one another The music played again. People stood . enslaving power. He called on those with the sign of destruction of slavery up as· if to kave ~ut 'reluctant to go~ A who wished to come up and burn and hope for a new, free future. few people formed a circle and started . things they felt would be appropriat­ More music ... where have all the to dance. _They_ held out their hands ely reduced to ashes. flowers gone, long time passing. Some~ and .brought others into the.circle.·The · - Art Heitzer, the president of the thing was happening at the center. circle ·widened.· More and more joined.· student body, stepped to the micro­ People were moving together across The · circle · expanded · almost to the· ·· phone. He reviewed the history of war the floor, holding hands, touching walls of the ballroom. Hundreds of'·· and the history of the peace talks; he bodies, raising held hands into the air people dan9ing in a single circle as the spoke of what is right now going on in in the sign of peace, still singing . music played. Then they broke apart,· Vietnam; he recalled that 14 brothers where have all the soldiers- gone, gone some running hand in hand· out the·· · might soon be in jail for burning draft to graveyards everyone, when will they doors, others staying to meet, to· kiss; files. Then he took a card from his ever learn. Five hundred people touch- to talk. Everyone was happy,· almost pocket, a card which ne said had been ing, singing, breathing together, still high. Something unusual had· hap-· weighing him down for too long, a sitting on the floor, marked with ashes pened. The fire was out now, only card which bound him·.to a selective of hope. ashes left, but the· fire_ had been ~ service system he had long rejected. He After the song, Father Quesnell communicated and was burning· in took the card to the fire and burned it. brought forward the bread and wine. people. Others followed with similar cards and he made a prayer of thanksgiving; he Richard Zipfel similar explanations. A girl stepped up with IBM cards, a symbol of the way Regarding our starvation diet. .. students, who are people, are reduced The hardest part of the CPF's work is the task of su'rviving. None of us to numbers. She burned the cards. are talented fund raisers. And we have utterly refused to rely on the Someone brought a dollar bill to the gimmicks so often used in -gathering contributions. In fact we have fire, explaining that it was a symbol of relied entirely on occasioJlal fund appeal letters (one has just been sent the way men are made slaves to ·a out) and such notes in the Bulletin as you are reading. If you think that competitive economic system that nonviolence didn't die with Martin Luther King, if you think there is a colors their entire lives and their per­ continuing need for the Catholic Peace Fellowship-then we hope you sonalities. Finally, ·a bJack girl stepped will put some money on the line for us; if possible, more than a few · forward with a copy of the Marquette dollars. What about making a $40 annual pledge, to be paid in quarterly·· Student Handbook and read ·from it. installments? That's considerably less than· the average dollar-a-week . "Final responsibility for the conduct parish contribution; And what about sending the fiiSt $10. today? We·· of students rests in the president of really need it. We'l/e· had to put the Bulletin out on credit. Several of us the university." As she tore the hand­ are still working without any recompense at all. book and placed it in the fire she Our membership is small. Most of us haven't very much money. , spoke, "Final responsibility for my Still, survival-even growth-is possible. If you want it. Please, please· conduct rests with me." The fire help. Send a pledge and a contribution today. burned and people watched it silently 0 -2- Resistance in Hawaii:. i letter from Jim D.ouglas s As for the Catholic Church here, its relation to Resistance has been almost totally negative. It is true that several lay people have taken a prominent part in forming the Committee for Conscience to raise legal funds for Tom Met and Gary. Gray, and several resisters have their roots in Catholi­ cism. But the diocese is far and away the most militaristic I have ever se~n, with ROTC programs entrenched in the Catholic school system, the Bishop regularly on parade with the brass, and the diocesan paper in constant celebra.; tion of Country and god. The paper's usual practice is to write violent edi­ torials against peace groups-includfug the Milwaukee 14-whose activities it refuses to report on its news page. One indication of Church-State-Resistance relations is that a group of resisters, after passing out leaflets at a Christmas Jim Douglass writes: "The scene is the lawn of the Federal Courthouse in Eve Mass, was beaten by ushers on the Honolulu a few minutes after the sentencing of our first resister, Dana Rae Park~ steps of Our Lady of Peace Cathedral.