Catholics for Peace and Justice will sponsor a public, all-night vigil of prayer and fasting for peace in Iraq. It will begin in Cathedral Square at 4 p.m. Sept. 24, move to the cathedral's atrium after 10 p.m., and end with Mass with Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan at 8 a.m. Sept. 25 in the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, 812 N. Jackson St. The opening rally at 4 p.m. will include talks by Franciscan Father John Celichowski "on the immorality and illegality of this war," Hamid Alwan on the impact of the war on the Iraqi people and Deacon Steve Przedpeski of Franciscan Peacemakers on the costs.
All they are saying is give peace a chance ... and the war is illegal and immoral, etc.
My reader notes that
a previous posting in some of the parish bulletins had him [Father Celichowski] addressing, in less pejorative terms, "the morality and legality of the war."
as you will see if you go to my earlier post and follow the link to my parish's bulletin.
Why September 24th? That was the date in the
call issued by the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition on May 12.
The local secular protesters are more candid about the connection.
There will be a protest in coordination with events in Washington D.C. on September 24th in Milwaukee on the corner of Brady and Farwell.
In a comment to another post, Donna made the first mention of the CPJ rally. Looking at the lineup of speakers, she wondered if Cindy Sheehan might also appear. Afraid not, she's featured at the concert in Washington DC.
Update: Unless I missed it, the reports in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for Sunday, September 25th, said nothing about the local protests.
Update 2: Milwaukee IndyMedia reports on the other local protest, over on the East Side, but not on the downtown prayer vigil protest.
I had a most uncharitable thought while reading your post - the wish that the good Lord might see fit to bless us with rain during that vigil.
ReplyDeleteWhy do none of these "compassionate" Catholics seem to care about what would happen to the Iraqi people if we withdrew our troops now? That never seems to register with them. Apparently Iraq was just delightful before we arrived (give or take a few children's prisons and people fed into wood chippers) and all will be well again if we only withdraw. After all, look at how wonderfully peaceful SE Asia was after the evil Yanks left Vietnam - if you don't count the boat people, reeducation camps, Pol Pot,...,
Re: Mother Sheehan. The Washington Post reported that she and her followers - all 30 of them - "descended" on D.C. this week. And I wouldn't be surprised if 20 of them had press cards.
Donna
Hopefully the people with enough zeal to do these all night public vigils will organize a similar vigil to pray for the unborn or maybe even pray for an end to gay marriage in traditionaly Catholic places like Massachutes and Spain!
ReplyDeleteI have my doubts though.
Does the church still have the "just war theory?" or is the vatican against all war no matter what?
It is noted by one of the Big National Blogs that the 9/24 rallies/candleburnings/blame-fests are heavily endowed by (surprise) George Soros and Teresa Heinz (through Tides Foundation.)
ReplyDeleteAnony: it is NOT un-charitable to pray for rain, as the greater good of our agrarian brothers is in the balance here. Rain will help them with successful crops (and thus, keep the price of corn low for us and the victims of floods.)
Tsk, tsk, Donna and Dad29, see Matthew 5:45. Pray they bring umbrellas and have contingency plans for shelter if there are thunderstorms.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, seems to me that if people get that idea that pacifism is being masked with use of the language of Just War theory, they will be more skeptical of both.