New Zealand CW Pacifism Touching in the Season of the Prince of Peace

By Monica,  The Lamb Catholic Community, (evolving of the LCW)        Columbus, Ohio

       In this approaching season honoring the birth of the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, one will marvel at the constant and unblemished history of the Christian pacifist Maori people against "the Crown," [England], and its imperialist havoc of greed, malice, slaughtering and prejudice.  Still, they remained true to their Savior, who preached, modeled, and died for love.  Their history is below from the Christchurch Catholic Worker in New Zealand ("Christchurch" being the name of a city).

     As one recounts horrific details of a massive ISIS bombing in Egypt yesterday killing over 300 innocent Muslims at prayer in a mosque, and as one recalls another very recent grisly tragedy of innocent praying civilians in a Texan Baptist church at the hands of Devin Patrick Kelley, a former U.S. Air Force soldier (committed with mainly a Ruger AR-15 assault rifle),  -- one's immediate reaction may at first be to take up arms and kill the enemy. An eye for an eye. Yet, the power of God, who is love, who created the universe, all life, all human beings the world over made in His image and likeness, beckons to much higher ground, much higher levels of love.

       Like the purity of witness in Jesus Christ, all members of the early church communities for the first 300 years after Christ's death, Martin Luther King Jr, Dorothy Day, St. Francis of Assissi, St. Justin the Martyr and countless Catholic Workers, Amish, Mennonite and Quakers, death does not have the final say; and the nonviolent cross and way of Jesus Christ has enormous power -- moreso than hate and killing will ever have.  

      Was the Temple restored because of the armed killing and slaughter at the hand of the "Jewish rebel warriors," as described by history scholars, called the Maccabees, or mainly from the pure, holy and undefiled blood of the seed of the martyrs -- elderly Eleazar, tortured and killed for his beliefs in Yahweh, as well as the mother and her seven sons who were brutally tortured and who perished together rather than disobey even one of God's smallest commands?  These pure actions and  witnesses have greater power to change the world with the genuine conversion of hearts, the method typical of God's sweeping movements in history.

       I have heard from the pulpit that the main way that the Catholic Church proliferated was not with the Old Testament mentality of killing, pillaging, and butchering of men, women, and even children (there are several genocides in the Old Testament) in the name of God, but with running further and further distances to avoid persecution.  Done purely, in holiness and Truth, and even with martyrdom, this is the seed that grows strongly and steadily, that explosively proliferates -- that precious seed of the blood of the martyrs.

       Even our country was somewhat begun in this manner -- with the English Puritans fleeing religious persecution in England, going to dangerously great lengths to begin anew far, far away.  

       Some say we would not have a country now if it were not for winning the Revolutionary War, defending ourselves against these British.  Great Britain had far far greater control over India in the 19th and 20th century than it ever had over the British colonies.  Ghandi, and his program of active nonviolence -- purer to Christ than many Christians live  -- helped to completely overthrow British control and gain India's independence in 1947.

        In Matthew Kelly's book, Catholicism, he quotes what Ghandi answered when asked why he did not simply become a Christian since he read Jesus' words nearly daily, lived them nearly perfectly, and promoted this way often.  He replied, "I would become one if I met one." 

       I have heard some say that all of Europe would be Muslim if it were not for this or that "Christian" army and their bloodbath, or without the rosaries prayed to kill and slaughter the enemy men and boys fighting against them.  Is God not capable of the proliferation and spreading of His Gospel in pure and holy ways and witnesses? Must He have these violent, bloody ways at all?  Could He employ His own newer commands aligned with His Way of His own Son who came down to show us how to fulfill all the prophecies and old order, to then further purify, align, and raise all of our actions to the level of perfect love toward all, even the enemy?  Jesus contrasted ways of old to His new way with prefaces like "... before it was ..... but now I say .... "

Tom Siemer and Rita D'Escoto Clark

         My father, peace activist, Tom Siemer, always said to me, while growing up, that the reason the very birth place of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Middle East is so Muslim is that we Christians messed up the purity of Christ's way and Truth in our militaristic and often greed-filled attacks and slaughter of the "enemy" men and boys.  This Old Testament mentality still continues in the Middle East to this day, sadly, and in the name of God on both sides.

        In giving the "Our Father," Jesus furthered His desiring that our actions here be indistinguishable from our actions in Heaven: "Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven."  Jesus wants our actions to be pure from beginning to end -- such as with Mother Teresa's whose actions of love are the means and the ends and everything in between -- mirroring what they will be in Heaven.

      Some say, "But we had to kill, especially at times like Hitler's, when the atom bomb was necessary..."  Fr. Richard McSorley, S.J. and Georgetown University always taught that "He who chooses the lesser of two evils soon forgets he chose evil in the first place.  There is always a third choice."

     But wait, aren't we not truly, truly capable of loving on Earth the way that we will be able to love in Heaven after our time of purification and purgation?  We will be capable then only after this process that we will undergo, right?  Won't it be perfect there because of the purification of people, as opposed to now, when we are still weak and exposed to the human condition as well as to evil?

     It seems that Jesus believes that we are capable of our actions being to the level they will be in Heaven and even beyond the best of human actions altogether (to the Father's perfect love level) when he teaches: "You must be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect."  He says this after giving the new command of loving even the enemy.  His confidence in us and our ability to love and act at the perfection level of the Father is utterly amazing, but true.  

       Should we be so willing to not risk breaking a least command of God surrounding what goes into our mouths (as with the Maccabees), but risk breaking far greater ones surrounding the outright killing of people through carnage and butchery, of violently ending actual sacred human life?  Do we take seriously Jesus new command to solely love our enemy, do only good to those who hate us, only bless those who curse us, be the proof that we are a children of our heavenly Father in our peacemaking?  

    Which actions are more powerful, the blood of the seed of the martyrs and their holy, unblemished  offering of their lives, or the militaristic killing, maiming, and mutilating of sacred human life?  Is human life sacred or is it not?  Can it be destroyed or can it never be destroyed at the hand of human beings?  Can one person ever choose or have a choice over the life or death of another person?

     My mentor, Fr. Richard McSorley, S.J. from his mentor, Fr. Horace McKenna, S.J. (who many things are named after in Washington, D.C.) taught me that "Jesus Christ is present in every single human being the world over."  Pope Emeritus Benedict XVII and Martin Luther King Jr. said that God's own indelible stamp is within every single person.  You stop God's work of salvation in the person that you choose to kill.  In a sense, you play God, and as in the Old Testament, and "God alone is the author of all life and death."   

    Our special prayers are for and appeal is toward the Muslim women in Egypt, and in the Middle East, from all sects of Islam.  They must see the recent carnage and bloodshed of the innocently praying men, women and children in Egypt as so evil, so against all that is good, against all-merciful God, against love and and beliefs of all kind, that they will work hard for peace, mercy, and reconciliation for a world they are leaving for their children.

     We ask all Christians, especially Catholics, to do the same.  One small way here in Columbus, is to learn more about and extend friendship toward the Muslim cultures and peoples here in Columbus, many war refugees from the recent Iraqi War as well as refugees from Somalia and other countries, at the Noor Islamic Culture Center and mosque (5001 Wilcox Rd. in Dublin). 

      They have certain days of the year where teachers and others are invited to learn about their religion and their culture. In peacemaking, dialogue and friendship are crucial, and we can all be instruments of peace and mercy.

Meeting Tariq Tarey, Nov. 2017

       One Muslim from Somalia, famous photoartist, director, and documentarian, Tariq Tarey, has created an exhibit at our Ohio History Connection (formerly the Ohio Historical Society near the soccer stadium) about some of our newest Ohioans -- the Bhutanese and Nepali refugees.  These join other refugees, such as those from Somalia, and teaches the difference between an immigrant (coming for a better way of life) and a refugee (fleeing for their lives typically from war-torn or high famine areas).  This exhibit ends January 8th, so get their quickly. :)

     

Bhutanese-Nepali Neighbors:
Photographs by Tariq Tarey

Fri., May 5, 2017–Sun., Jan. 7, 2018
Weds.–Sat. 10 a.m.–5 p.m., Sun. Noon–5 p.m.
Ohio History Center, Columbus 

The history of the more than 20,000 Bhutanese-Nepali people in Columbus is rapidly becoming the history of Ohio. This exhibit consists of 30 photographs of members of the Bhutanese-Nepali community, taken by Tariq Tarey. Each photograph is accompanied by a narrative written by Doug Rutledge, which explains each individual’s history. The photographs emphasize the historic sequence of the Bhutanese-Nepali refugee experience; from living and working in Bhutan, to being forced to leave Bhutan, the experience of living in refugee camps in Nepal for 20 years or more, to resettlement in Columbus, finding jobs, buying homes and finally becoming American citizens.  

The exhibit at the Ohio History Connection on refugees was put together by Tariq Tarey, his background is  below.

Tariq Tarey from Somalia (I met him
at a talk he gave in Columbus)

          Tariq Tarey is a documentary photographer, skilled in both still photography and video, who specializes in refugee affairs. In July of 2006, Tariq’s show, Forlorn in Ohio, which documented the plight of Somali refugees, appeared at the Kiaca Gallery in Columbus. Forlorn in Ohio also traveled to Wright State University, in 2007. Several images from that show are now part of the permanent collection of the Columbus Museum of Art. In recognition to the power of his work to call attention to the plight of refugees, Tariq was honored with the South Side Settlement House’s prestigious Arts Freedom Award in 2006. In that year, he also won the Ohio Art Council’s Individual Artist Award. In 2008, Tariq was given the Individual Artist Award by the Greater Columbus Arts Council. He directed the documentary, “Emergency Living: Somalia in the Aftermath of Famine.” Tariq also directed “Women, War and Resettlement: Nasro’s Journey,” which was aired on WOSU Public Television in 2012. In 2014, Tariq’s film, “The Darien Gap,” was shown in the 2 nd United States Conference on African Immigrant and Refugee Health. In 2015, Tariq’s photo spread appeared in the Magazine, 614, in an article entitled, “Journeys of the Diaspora.” In 2015, Tariq also did a photo spread for a publication entitled, Impact of Refugees in Central Ohio.

      Mother Mary, or Maryam in the Muslim world, pray for us, especially the Muslim women to help bring peace into their world, as you brought Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, into the world.

     The New Zealand Catholic Worker article is below.  To revive your hope in humanity, in the sacredness of all human life in their witness of Christ-like pacifism, and gain a restored fervor over the power of love and peace beyond what this world could give amidst a sometimes violent and cruel world, please read this amazing true story of the history of the Maori people in New Zealand..., which models so very well, Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.

We Are Prophets of a Future Not Our Own

                                          by Archbishop Oscar Romero

It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view.

The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,

It is beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.

We plant the seeds that one day will grow.

We water the seeds already planted, knowing that 

they hold the future promise.

we cannot do everything

and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.

This enables us to do something, 

and do it very well.

It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning,

a step along the way,

an opportunity for God's grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results,

but that is the difference between the master builders,

and the worker.

We are the workers, not the master builders,

ministers, not messiahs,

We are prophets of the future not our own.

Bishops Speak Out on Trump's Policies Against Immigrants and Refugees

                          By Monica     LCW  Columbus, Ohio

         We want the world to know, since views come from so many countries, that our Ohio Catholic Bishops, in one voice, raised concern for the policies put into place by President Trump against immigrants and refugees.   We are soo proud of our Roman Catholic bishops right here in little old Ohio, USA!  We are thankful to God too, who looks out for the widow and the orphan, the stranger, and the least.  Jesus repeatedly spoke out and warned all about protecting the most vulnerable and lowliest who have no rights and no one to speak for them.  The actual statement of our Ohio bishops cut and pasted from their website is below my comments.
       We are a nation of immigrants too!  Our very ancestors were in this position and our lives would be very different now, most likely much worse, if they had not been welcome.  Many of us are descended from immigrants who more often than not came freely for a better life and were at least allowed entry - with the exception of our Native American citizens who were here first, and our African Americans brought here and forced, against their will, into slavery.
       One would think that we would have a deep appreciation and gratitude instead of condemnation and mistreatment, ripping families apart after they have already worked painstakingly to make a new life here like our ancestors, contributing greatly to society.

      It is neglectful for me not to have spoken out before now, not only from

my strong social justice roots of being a Roman Catholic (with our amazing social justice papal encyclicals, teachings from our U.S. Catholic Bishops, pastoral letters, etc), of being a staunch Catholic Worker which stands for Christ's peace always and justice for the poor, but mainly there is no excuse because I have seen firsthand the terror in my families of mainly Hispanic and Muslim descent that make up the majority of my ESL students (I am an English as a Second Language teacher in a public school).

      I have Muslim students and families who feel the hate and mistrust, even though they have done nothing wrong and never will.  They often asked me in my school year questions like, "Why does President Trump hate us?" or "What else will he do to us?" and "Is it going to get worse?" I had no answer to give.
      My Hispanic families in general are the most scared ones because people have already been rounded up to be sent back, even after having worked hard here for years.  They are terrified every day and their whole family cries a lot and try to make plans in various scenarios.  My little Third Grader Pedro said his family is moving back to Mexico even though there is not enough work right now.
     In the case of the "Chaldean Catholics" that are being rounded up and sent back to Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries, their very lives are at stake, in addition to Syrian Muslims and others.  My father remembers seeing on the news huge ships and yachts from Germany with Jewish people lining the edges, coming into New York harbor or another U.S. port with hands clasped begging and pleading to be allowed entry, only to be turned around and sent back to their deaths.  Hitler was known to say, "You say we are being hard but you don't want the Jewish rats either."
      I tried to calm my students fears, but what assurances could I give?  I am silently appalled at the lack of basic humanity in our newer laws and actions against immigrants -- and even refugees -- the whole dark mentality.  One would wonder of a change of heart would take place if the lawmakers themselves were thrust into this situation, since they lack the empathy to imagine it.
     It reminds me of how Hitler, little by little over a period of time, imposed difficult and bigoted  burdens, heavy to carry, upon Jewish people for years before finally rounding up this ethnic group for horrific purposes.  At the National Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.  I was horrified with the MANY laws and prejudices that were acceptable to the German people against the Jewish population, incrementally worsening all the time.  First, they were not allowed to travel (sounds familiar), then ride or own bikes, then be out past a certain time in the evening, then they could not live where they wanted but were rounded up into "ghettos," etc, etc.  As their rights were infringed upon more and more, very few stepped up to fight these laws on their behalf.
     While I believe that President Trump would never agree to create work/death camps, given his verbal defense of our unborn citizens and abortion-mill laws changing one day -- which is important from our president -- he needs to end the terrible laws against refugees and immigrants, as well as slurs against entire populations of Americans.
       If you look up Boston and New York City news headlines and history in the 1800's and early 1900's you view quite an outcry against Roman Catholic Irish, Polish, and German immigrants taking over their cities, taking all their jobs, bringing their Catholic religion, being a menace to society with their heavy drinking and brawling, etc, etc,.. Obviously most of those European immigrants more often than not as a whole did not exude these negative stereotypes, but there were enough of those few to always get into the headlines, creating prejudice and bigotry in weaker minds and souls, as in Hitler's Germany.
     Instead of the "melting pot" image of how all should melt into typically a white-male European bent and language, I think the more exquisite analogy of the United States is the Salad Bowl image of many cultures, maintaining their distinct heritages, customs, dialect, ideas, strengths, etc, and creating a huge conglomerate (salad), better than its individual parts separate.  Beautiful in the eyes of the maker of us all, who created all in His own image and likeness, yet distinctly unique from each other, and all of whom are sacred, no matter who nor from what country.

      It's a good thing that compassionate Catholics - nuns (sisters), priests, laypeople - took some of those that were the young "hooligans" under their wings to help shape them into who they became, with great care and compassion.  Most immigrants though have been responsible, reliable, hard-working, law-abiding citizens building our nation stronger and more just with each generation.  May we ask our immigrant ancestors from the past to please pray for us, pray for our nation, and especially, pray for our immigrant, refugee, and other "stranger" populations who always held a special place within the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
     Below is the Ohio Bishops' Statement on Immigration, April 4th, 2017, at a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Catholic Conference of Ohio.  It was sent to President Trump and to Senators Rob Portman and Sherrod Brown, and to all Ohio members of the U.S. House.  This is taken from the Catholic Conference of Ohio website.
     Bravo to our Catholic paper here and its editors of  The Catholic Times, for printing it prominently in the beginning of the paper!
     Come to Carey, Ohio on the VIGIL (Aug. 14th) of the feast of the Assumption of our Blessed Mother to spiritually support the Chaldean Catholics living in great fear.  Twenty-five to thirty buslines, multiple campers, etc, etc take over the entire city of Carey!  So beautiful!!  You will never have heard such singing and such gusto in the songs in love of Mary as you will when the Chaldean Catholics are there.  It may not be for long though, if our lawmakers have their way.
    

News & Press - Catholic Conference of Ohio

Ohio Bishops Issue Letter of Concern regarding Changes to Immigration and Migration

Call for comprehensive reform, support for children and intact families, enforcement efforts that focus on threats to public safety, and maintaining programs for refugees

• Posted: Apr. 4, 2017
• Categories: Legislative Action Alerts, Immigration Reform, News

CATHOLIC CONFERENCE OF OHIO
Letter Encouraging Legislative Support for Immigrants and Refugees
Catholic Bishops of Ohio
April 2017
Welcoming refugees and immigrants is a significant aspect of our American heritage and a fundamental character of Ohio faith communities, including the Catholic Church. Ohio is blessed to have many refugees and immigrants in our parishes, schools and ministries. The Catholic Church in our state operates numerous programs that directly sponsor and support these newcomers.
As we listen to our pastors, principals, program directors, and more importantly, to the refugees and immigrants served by our Church’s ministries, we know of many good people who are deeply concerned for their personal safety and fearful about separation from their families. These are ongoing concerns, but recent changes in federal policy have heightened such fears.
At both the state and national levels, our Church has long spoken out in favor of policies that ensure safety and compassionate treatment for immigrant and refugee persons and families in need. We continue to call upon Congress to address our broken immigration system through a comprehensive reform that improves security and creates more legal and transparent paths to immigration.  As for enforcement, we do not advocate for the breaking of laws.  Yet, we do urge for a more humane enforcement of these laws in a way that distinguishes between actual criminals and otherwise law-abiding, undocumented immigrant family members.  We believe immigration officials should prioritize removal to those who are real threats to public safety. Likewise, most local law enforcement agencies we encounter are highly concerned about increasing trust between police and immigrant communities.  Their work for public safety relies on trust between immigrants and local police and sheriff departments.  We oppose efforts to pressure our state and local law enforcement to proactively enforce immigration regulations, unless public safety is truly at risk.
Ohio does not benefit from separating good families and traumatizing children in our schools who each day live in fear of finding that their mothers or fathers are no longer at home to greet them. In these instances, justice should be sought, but the punishment should be commensurate with serving the good of the family unit, which is the fundamental cell of all society. In January 2017, the chairman of our United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Migration, Bishop Joe S. Vasquez, echoed our concerns over policy shifts created by recent presidential executive orders that increase the detention and family separation of many immigrants. He wrote:

"The announced increase in immigrant detention space and immigration enforcement activities is alarming. It will tear families apart and spark fear and panic in communities. While we respect the right of our federal government to control our borders and ensure security for all Americans, we do not believe that a large-scale escalation of immigrant detention and intensive increased use of enforcement in immigrant communities is the way to achieve those goals. Instead, we remain firm in our commitment to comprehensive, compassionate, and common-sense reform."

In Ohio, our Church’s refugee resettlement network includes diocesan offices in Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Dayton. In 2016, we resettled over 1000 refugees. Catholic parishes and diocesan offices also work in collaboration with other refugee resettlement programs in Ohio. These programs have safely and compassionately resettled refugees from all over the world, including a small number from Syria. Measuring by the immense outpouring of support from parishioners and others in our communities towards these refugees, we believe most Ohioans who know migrants and refugees welcome newcomers with open arms and wish to see Americans offer acts of mercy. The refugee program is one of the most vetted processes for entry into the United States.  We do not oppose efforts to improve on the system, should there be a need.  However, the temporary shutdown of all refugee admissions, and the more than 60 percent reduction in the number of refugees who can be resettled, create a chilling effect on our ability to maintain programs and ongoing assistance.  Refugees who have languished in camps for years will continue to find no relief, and a sudden temporary halt for our own agencies will likely result in significant downsizing of resources and staff.
We encourage your support for the following:
1.  A comprehensive reform of our immigration laws, not just enforcement-only measures, but a reform that provides more paths for legal entry and a rational and clear cut separation of duties among federal and local law enforcement officials which does not compromise the community character of local law enforcement;
2.  The BRIDGE Act: S.128/H.R. 496. (This Act will protect the dignity of DACA-eligible youth by ensuring that these individuals, who were brought to the United States as children and are contributing so much to our nation, can continue to live their lives free of the anxiety that they could be deported at any time.);
3.  Efforts to persuade the administration to reestablish enforcement priorities, so that they focus more on true criminals and threats to public safety;
4.  Maintaining the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program with adequate funding while further improving the vetting process.
As Pope Francis said, "To migrate is the expression of that inherent desire for the happiness proper to every human being, a happiness that is to be sought and pursued. For us Christians, all human life is an itinerant journey towards our heavenly homeland" (February 2017 Address to Participants in the International Forum on Migration and Peace).
Thank you for this consideration.
The Catholic Bishops of Ohio
Most Rev. Dennis M. Schnurr
Archdiocese of Cincinnati
Chairman, Board of Directors, Catholic Conference of Ohio
Most Rev. Joseph R. Binzer
Auxiliary Bishop of Cincinnati

Most Rev. Frederick F. Campbell
Bishop of Columbus

Most Rev. William Skurla
Apostolic Administrator of Byzantine Eparchy of Parma

Most Rev. Jeffrey M. Monforton
Bishop of Steubenville

Most Rev. Daniel E. Thomas
Bishop of Toledo & Apostolic Administrator Diocese of Cleveland

Most Rev. George V. Murry S.J.
Bishop of Youngstown

Most Rev. J. Michael Botean
Bishop of Romanian Catholic Eparchy of Canton

Most Rev. Bohdan J. Danylo
Bishop of St. Josaphat Ukrainian Eparchy, Parma
Letter Catholic Bishops of Ohio (PDF)

    

Hana at Carey

 The Lamb Catholic Worker

Fall 2014 Newsletter

"We Want Peace! We Want Peace!" 

             -An Iraqi-American Catholic woman at the Shrine and Basilica of Our Lady of Consolation, Carey, Ohio August 14, the Vigil of Feast of the Assumption of Mary

                                                                   By Monica Siemer

Chaldean Masses (about 10 in one day) at Our Lady
of Consolation Shrine in Carey

Beautiful "halo" around Fr. John Stowe and my friend, Hana,
not seen through the lense, but appeared in the picture

     I had the priviledge of accompanying a dear Syrian Muslim friend, Hana, who has lived in the United States for 20 years (and was my former instructional assistant in my ESL classroom) to the Shrine and Basilica of Our Lady of Consolation in Carey, Ohio on the vigil of the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, August 14.  This was a very special day, a day of the "Chaldean masses," about 10 masses in the upper and lower chapels, to celebrate this special Marian feast day vigil for the Iraqi and other middle-eastern Catholics that live in several states nearest to this most holy shrine to Mary.  They have a special love and affinity for our Lady and I am amazed at the outpouring of love that the Franciscans there extend to this most beloved community, especially in light of the heavy persecution going on in parts of Iraq right now. 

       I took my friend, Hana, because she is a walking miracle, attributed to the heavy-duty intercessory prayers of Mary, or "Mariam" to the Muslim world, Jesus' mother, Dorothy Day, and Peter Maurin. She was told two years ago, August of 2012, by Mt. Carmel doctors (a Catholic hospital) that she could have no more chemo and radiation and to make her [final] arrangements.  Previously, at about 35,  she had had breast cancer, surgery, radiation, and chemo, and went to Haj at Mecca (because her case was so serious).  Approximately 1 and a half to two years passed where she felt she had been healed. 

      In late 2012 though, it had come back with a vengeance, to her brain (paralyzing half of her face so that she could not consciously shut her left eye nor smile with the left side of her face), her bones, her liver and her thyroid glands.  This was very late stages cancer, and once it gains in the soft tissue of critical areas, it grows quickly.  At this time I asked her to ask Mariam, or Mother Mary, for help to bring it before God (our Catechism teaches that it is the same God as Christians, Muslims, Jews, etc.  Also, "Allah" is simply the word for "God"), and to ask for Dorothy Day's prayers as well, to help attain her canonization.  I asked her to go to Carey then, but she had switched doctors to Ohio State University cancer hospitals and was given new chemo (even though they said the same thing). 

Coworkers from Cranbrook Elemen at chemo with Hana
Dec. 2012,  Face half paralyzed, I am at right

      Finally, by December of 2012 when Hana  could not go to Carey after repeated attempts, I went in proxy for her and Fr. John Stowe prayed over my body in place of hers for her healing, and involved the other Franciscans in praying heavily for her, asking Mary and Dorothy Day's intercessory prayers.  They have a lot of time to pray (seven times a day!).  I also obtained the amazing holy water from Carey too.  She used it every day, and in five months, she was still alive, her liver cancer had shrunk in half, and her face was no longer paralyzed.  She could shut both eyes at will and with effort, smile, although the paralysis had caused some permanent damage so it was with difficulty.

  

      Satan had continued to bite at her heals, as he has all along (to mine as well), and a spinal tumor grew and paralyzed her whole leg in June of 2013.   She and I had lulled a little in daily pleading her case to Mary and Dorothy, and she had run out of holy water and did not tell me.  I raced to get more holy water (this time from Christ the King), and we asked Peter Maurin's intercessory prayers as well.  Msgr. Mottet, overseeing this community, has always prayed that Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, co-founders of the Catholic Worker Movement, would be canonized together.  Dorothy always said that Peter founded the Catholic Worker, not her, and that it was his vision, his ideas, his everything.  He only lived to see it take off for 15 years while she did for almost 50 (and as a prolific writer).  People attribute the Catholic Worker solely to her, but both need to be honored for their holiness.

       The doctors have been saying for that past year or so that my friend still has the cancer but that she is a "Mystery," a "Mystery..."  Why will this woman not die, really!  I said, "You are another "M" word; you are a MIRACLE!"  

       The beauty in all of this is that while she is a practicing Muslim, Our Lady, "Mariam," has looked down upon her with great love just as she is, as she does to all in the world.  All can come to this most amazing vessel of love and motherliness.  In fact, Fr. Emmanuel Bertrand, a Dominican missionary to Pakistan (for over 40 years) in community with the Dominicans at St. Patrick and St. Thomas Aquinas in Zanesville has visited nearly all the mosques in Pakistan and said that 100% of them have a statue to "Mariam," or Jesus' mother.  They honor and revere her sometimes more than Catholics do!  It is also moving that Mary chose to visit, or God chose to send her, to a city named after a very holy Muslim woman, one of Mohommed's daughters, Fatima.  Interestingly, Mother Mary was once quoted at Medjugorie as stating: "The holiest woman in this city is a Muslim.  She gets down on her knees every day in humility, ...." Finally, it is exquisite that Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, genuine peacemakers who TRULY believe in the sacredness of ALL human life and lives are to be possibly canonized in part by a miracle of a practicing Muslim woman.  It is beautiful, then that my friend wants to tell people about "this place."

       The first thing greeting my friend as we approached the actual basilica was the most, most beloved Fr. John Stowe who has prayed for her ceaselessly.  

           

      While she did not want to go into the upper church during a mass, she wanted to go into the basement to see evidence of the many, many miracles that have happened through Mary's intercession.  When I was a child, the large basement was overflowing with these, but they  have limited them to a few cases.

          Outside, she witnessed gentle, holy older Franciscans, mostly with grey beards, hearing confessions and giving council to people in numerous stations around the lawn.  She rested on the bench outside, having undergone hours of chemo that morning, to the powerful and booming voices through the windows, of the Chaldean Catholics inside singing praises.  She witnessed another religion not her own, that also ministered and guided people.  

           We had been approached at one point, in the midst of the Arabic being spoken all around her from approx. 20 van lines of out-of-state middle-eastern Catholics, by an Arabic-speaking woman.  She stated emphatically and almost woefully, "We want peace!  We want peace!" It was probably the fervent prayer inside as well. I am thinking this may be because the U.S. is sending more troops into Iraq and planning to bomb certain places.  She seemed desperate to say not to have that war mentality again that desecrated their home country once.

          Her desperation reminded me of a conversation my father, Tom Siemer, had with Archbishop Oscar Romero less than a year before he was assassinated. We were at a synod of all of the cardinals and bishops of the world in Mexico City, I believe it was in 1979 when I was 16 yrs old (and I was there but standing away from him). We were appealing to Pope John Paul II for Catholics to be told to have no part in weapons of mass destruction (manufacturing, handling, potential use, etc).  Archbishop Romero thought my father was from the press (with his "Press" badge) and begged and begged him to go back and tell the president (Carter at the time, who gave $5 million per year in "military aid") to stop funding the government with military money, which was being used against the people. 

       He explained that the money went into armaments and training of the soldiers in the military and in the juntas of the oligarchy who were terrorizing the campesinos, killing and mutilating many of them. 

        My father called over both Roy Larson, of the Chicago Sun and Ken Briggs of the New York Times to talk with him.  Ken told my father later that Romero would not live long by talking like that, and my father replied, "They would never kill an archbishop!"  Our government not only did not listen, but when President Ronald Reagan became president, shortly after, he quintupled the funding, giving a huge green light to those committing atrocities.  Archbishop Oscar Romero was martyred within a year. The U.N. reports that over 75,000 people, many poor women and children, were killed over the course of the next decade or so in El Salvador.   

In front of the Synod, Mexico City, 1979, with a group of protesting mothers of the "Disappeared" in El Salvador.  I am at the right and my mother, Dorothy Siemer, at the far right in red pants.

Salvadorean mothers of the "disappeared," those whose tortured bodies were never found.  I am on far right, with literature for the Pope, cardinals, bishops, and press against weapons of mass destruction

Mothers of the "disappeared" (sons, husbands, brothers, etc) desperate for help from the Church.

My father, Tom Siemer, and I in Mexico City, 1979

         A few years later I worked at the Center for Peace Studies at Georgetown University with Fr. Richard McSorley, S.J.  At that time another Georgetown professor, Dr. Jean Kirkepatrick, who was a campaign advisor to President Reagan then cabinet member, blamed the murders (Dec. 2, 1980) of the three religious sisters and an American lay worker on themselves for even being there with the poor: Jean Donovan, Sr. Maura Clarke, Sr. Ita Ford, and Sr. Dorothy Kazel.  Kirkpatrick believed that, according to Noam Chomsky, "traditional authoritarian governments are less repressive than revolutionary autocracies," and so her views were put into practice "most clearly in Central America, by supporting the Contra rebels in Nicaragua, and the military juntas in Guatemala and El Salvador, all of which perpetrated massive human rights violations while countering a perceived communist threat." (Chomsky, Turning the Tide, 1985).  She was not too thrilled when the United Nations Security Council came down on the United States and she talked of withdrawing much of the monetary support to the U.N., as well as for the United States to withdraw completely. This would have been quite a role model of genuine virtue, Christian values, and peace to the world.

       I witnessed firsthand large graphic close-up pictures being sent to the Center for Peace Studies at Georgetown University (that I helped Fr. Richard McSorley, S.J. run in the 80's) from El Salvador.  Neutral brave witnesses and groups were trying hard to document the atrocities and sent these pictures to several places as documentation, including to ours.  Prior to the Reagan Administration, the bodies of the dead at the hands of the military and juntas had one form of killing done to them (besides the women always having been raped).  As Fr. McSorley always said, "When you choose the lesser of two evils, you soon forget you chose evil in the first place."  There is always a third choice.

       When Ronald Reagan became president, and particularly after the stepped-up "anti-communist counterinsurgency training," or terrorist/guerilla warfare training ("terrorist" in the true sense of the word) at Ft. Benning of "Latin American personnel" from El Salvador at the U.S. Army School of the Americas, now called Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), things drastically changed.  To describe,  murdered victims appeared with three or four forms of torture performed, acid in the eyes being one of the favorites.  This spilled over to Honduras and Nicaragua as well, sadly. 

        Many Americans turned a blind eye to all of this because of the fear whipped up by those who would even sell their soul to the devil against the "Communist scare."  The same whipping up of hate and suspicion, and angst has been set in our country against African Americans after the Civil War, Irish Catholics in the early 1800's, and now, against Muslims both living in our country and beyond. 

       Most of the refugees at our Catholic Worker in D.C. witnessed much of this firsthand, and yes, it was the country's military doing much of it. Huge Carlos witnessed a savage group murder from a corn field, and when he tried to run, they caught a visual of him and hunted him down.  He and his wife Maria (pregnant) got their six other children to another part of the country and ran to the U.S. where they were the first Salvadoreans to be granted political asylum.  Their baby Leonardo was baptized with my first son, Shamus, at our Catholic Worker, St. Francis Catholic Worker, in Washington, D.C. (now the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker), in a Catholic worker soup pot.  It had been the former mother house of the Trinitarian order, and they had a fully functioning chapel in the basement.

     Very sadly in parts of Iraq right now Christians being severely persecuted.  They are "marked" on their doors or gates as Christian and are given time to convert to Islam or be forced to leave, or even killed.  More than 500 have been killed so far. Many must take only what they can carry or what they are wearing.  The following is a recent prayer written by Lous Rafael Sako, Chaldean Catholic Patriarch of Iraq, and read last Sunday across the United States according to directions from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops :

"Lord, the plight of our country is deep

and the suffering of Christians is severe and frightening.

Spare our lives and grant us patience and courage 

to continue our witness of Christian values

with trust and hope.

Peace is the foundation of life;

Grant us the peace and stability that will

enable us to live with each other ... with 

dignity and joy.  

Glory be to you forever."

     At the Lamb Catholic Worker, our prayers are for the Christians and for the Muslims of Iraq, both at great danger right now, for the love and peace of God to reign in their hearts as brothers and sisters of one God.  We pray for the persecutors, for their salvation and for an open heart to respect and love those of another religion who nevertheless are as made in God's image and likeness as they are. May all of us intervene in our prayers and in moral responses, pleasing to the Lord.  May we, as Pope Francis has preached so passionately about, not be a part of two great evils in the world today:  "the culture of indifference and the culture of distraction."  May we set aside our computers and cell phones for much more time spent in prayer and meditation.  They say, "Satan doesn't make you bad, he makes you busy." 

      I pray that we not ignore the pleas for peace of this desperate Iraqi-American Catholic woman, who could possibly have Christian relatives still there, yet who knows the sick and hideous bloodiness of bombings and war.  She is more worried about the U.S. response than even the persecution by extremists in a remote pocket of Iraq. I pray that we listen to this pleading, holy woman at Carey.  Our Lady, Queen of Peace, pray for us and for Iraqi people of all kinds!  Dorothy Day, Peter Maurin, and Archbishop Oscar Romero, please pray for them!   

My Father, Tom Siemer, and Dom Helder Camara, 1978

OUR NEEDS:

• Our greatest need is prayer and thankfulness for the more than 22,000 views on this site from over 80 countries.  Interestingly, the highest numbers are coming from the Ukraine right now.  God be with them all.  Please read our article about becoming a "sick and suffering co-Catholic Worker."  We need that level of prayer and sacrifice to get this off of the ground, like Blessed Mother Teresa whose ministry could not start without those valiant ones who offered up their physical, psychological or emotional suffering for her and her ministry.  Please consider this! :)  We will in turn pray for you as well.
• We need workers in the field, those who feel they are at a point in their lives to make a life change completely, to throw off their old life and live as the early Church in "profound poverty, profound joy," and solely being instruments of God's love and peace to the world.  Eventually we will have community members of varying degrees of commitment, but for now, we need full-time ones
• We also need funds to buy the properties in order to help us get started.  This is a huge task.  Any way that you could help us would be greatly appreciated, even simply praying and spreading the word!  We have a fully approved 501c3 nonprofit number if you feel you need this.  Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin encouraged all giving though to be a full sacrifice with no strings attached for the giver.  It is still a sacrifice though, even if part can lower ones taxes a little.  

     One last note is that we have a potential "relic" given to us by Dorothy Day's grandaughter, Martha Hennessy.  It is a part of a blue blanket she had crocheted for a grandson.  Martha placed it inside a seashell, which is touching because Dorothy so loved and meditated while on the beach.  Dorothy and Peter, please continue to pray for us. 

   One final note is that Bishop Richard Pate of Des Moines, Iowa and a contingent of 11 other bishops are going to the Holy Lands to pray and be a presence for peace in the Middle East.  This is soon to be announced nationally.  Pray for them!  Our Lady, Queen of Peace, pray for peace, for these most dear peacemakers, and for all peoples of Iraq.