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Reconciliation The Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) is a group composed of people from many faiths, and no particular faith -- all coming together to support nonviolence and justice. Offering people of conscience an action response to a morally-impaired U.S. foreign policy. |
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A Report on the Injustice in the Application of the Death Penalty in Missouri (1978-1996)(Microsoft Word document) News
Common Dreams Background Iraq Crisis Issue Guide by Phyllis Bennis of the Institute for Policy Studies U.S. History with Iraq, 1980 - 2 August 1990 Commentary Common Dreams News Center April 12, 2003 April 8, 2003 March 30, 2003 March 29, 2003 March 25, 2003 March 24, 2003 U.S. steps up secret surveillance March 23, 2003 March 22, 2003 March 20, 2003 |
Local News and Announcements... Don't miss anything...please scroll downPeace Prayer of the faithful at Mass, Newman Center, Columbia MO.- by Steve Jacobs Our congressman Kenny Hulshof had just finished reading the Prayers of the Faithful; a list of prayers made up by someone on the liturgy committee with no mention of the killing and the shameful torturing and sexual abuse in Iraq So here's what I prayed out loud at the 11 o'clock Mass last Sunday at the Newman Center during the Prayer's of the Faithful: Forgive us Lord for our violence and the destruction of Iraqi homes, for our torture and sexual abuse of prisoners and for the death of over 10,000 Iraqi civilians. A minority of the congregation responded, "Lord, hear our prayer". After a prolonged silence, Fr. Mark asked that any further unscripted prayers be directed through the Liturgy Committee. In response to this there was alot of applause which indicated that many, perhaps most, found my prayer offensive. But then something interesting happened. As Fr. Mark prepared to begin the Eucharist, he said that the applause was not appropriate and that his feeling at that moment was that he should end the eucharist and go home if our congregation was as divided as it seemed to be before coming to communion. But he realized that many visitors were there with their new graduates and so he would continue. Many interpreted the prayer as an inappropriate mixture of religion with a political agenda. Two parishioners came up to me afterwards to say I should apologize to the congregation for my "political screed". They felt it was overtly political and divisive. But, if you look in your Bibles you will find numerous instances where politics and religion are directly addressed in the psalms and other events; such as; when the scribes asked Jesus if Jews should pay taxes to the Romans and when prophets like Nathan confronted the Israelite king David about sending his general off to die and then stealing his wife. Jesus would never have been handed over by religious people and executed by the government had his message not been perceived as politically divisive and a challenge to the cozy accommodation between church and state. There are times when the state and the church cooperate to advance their own agenda, like eliminating a troublesome radical who stirs people up like Jesus did when He and his disciples occupied and preached in the temple against the abuses of the priests and scribes or when Jesus returned to Nazareth and preached in his hometown Synagogue. The Nazareans, his own people that He grew up with, wanted to kill him afterwards. Eventually, the institutional church and the state cooperated to have Him killed because He was undermining both the authority of church and the state to control the agenda and encouraging loyalty to a higher call. In our discussion at the Social Justice Commission meeting on Monday night, I asked Fr. Mark if I had sent the prayer to the Liturgy Committee before Mass, did he think it would have been read without being edited or censured? He said, probably not. I then asked, "Well, instead of calling them 'prayers of the faithful' shouldn't we then call them 'prayers of the liturgical committee'? I told him that I didn't believe they would read it either without censoring or editing the prayer and thus felt compelled in my heart to say it out loud even though I knew that some would be offended by it. I don't believe it's appropriate to have my deeply heartfelt prayers, which are aligned with Jesus's teachings to love our enemies, filtered through a liturgy committee and to have certain words, removed so that members might not be offended. In the psalms there is a truly offensive prayer calling for God to "smash the heads of my enemies children" which shows the cruelty of what we sometimes expect of God.In contrast, my prayer was not cruel but rather asks forgiveness for actual crimes and social sins which were generated by our allegiance to political decisions from politicians who falsely assumed for themselves a moral authority they do not have; yet their immoral decisions to drag us into this war have either been blessed by most clergy or unchallenged by a damning silence from most American religious leaders. It follows logically that when the Pope condemned this war as immoral, (because pre-emptive wars can never be moral), then Catholics, or anyone who considers themselves Christian, who participates in this war is committing a social sin. Where are the priests with the moral courage to preach this? This war would have never started if US priests had preached this from every pulpit, even the military chapels, because huge numbers of Catholic military would have refused to participate in the killing and the war makers would have been thrown into disarray. A teaching like this would have been entirely just and moral. But those whose allegiance is to the government, instead of to God, would condemn it and denounce it as political treason and beyond the authority of the church. But they would be wrong!. We had a historical opportunity to be Peacemakers but we couldn't find the backbone to do it because putting away the sword and following the way of the cross has real consequences, like the loss of reputation and the outrage of our neighbors, family and friends being among them. That is why Jesus said, "You have heard that I have come to bring peace, but I have come to bring a sword". He was obviously speaking symbolicly, using the sword as the symbol of divisiveness and the symbol of cutting. He was not encouraging us to actually take up real swords which he expressly forbade his disciples to do. Following Him means cutting allegiances to friends, to family, to institutions, to culture, to temple priests, and even to our govenments when they call us to participate in sins like war instead of merely giving lip-service to His teachings. That's why His message was considered so subversive and that is why they killed him. He is my hero and my example who I try to follow in all my weakness. I understand Fr. Mark's fear that prayers like the one above divide us when we are supposed to come united to the Eucharist table. He asked me last night that if I knew the prayer would upset others then why did I do it? Why say prayers that divide the congregation? I would be very naive and out of touch with reality if I didn't acknowledge how popular this immoral war is, even among Catholics, and that some, or even most, would be upset with my prayer. Most Catholics have so much misguided faith in their government. They have much less faith in Jesus's teaching to love our enemies and return good for evil. They have set aside Christ's words to be Peacemakers as being impractical because their ultimate faith is in military violence. Because of this, I think Fr. Mark is starting out with a false assumption that we are already coming to communion united. United to whom or to what? Are we united with Christ when we come to the Eucharist to recieve the One who poured out his blood for us, while applauding our Christian soldiers who are busy making others pour out their blood? Are we united with Christ when we take the Eucharist in one hand but hold tightly to our guns in the other hand, refusing to follow his admonition to be Peacemakers and to love our enemies and to love our neighbors as ourselves? My prayer for forgiveness and for peace did not so much divide the Newman congregation as it did to expose the unspoken division already there. It is a division covered up, and an embarrassment not mentioned, by clergy who prefer not to utter a word against the moral corruption of war. 0 Comments (perma-link) Email this:  
You are invited to attend the next mid-state meeting of theMissouri Campaign for a Moratorium on Executions 2:00-4:00 p.m. Saturday, 8 May 1205 University, (Apartment Lobby--entrance facing parking garage) Columbia Please join us for what time you can. Convened by the Mid-Missouri Fellowship of Reconciliation. Call or e-mail Jeff at 573-449-4585 for more information. 0 Comments (perma-link) Email this:
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