Lent

Worcester’s Catholic Worker community celebrated Good Friday as it traditionally does, by walking the Stations of the Cross in downtown Worcester with meditations on present-day evils. About twenty people were there today, include some I had not met before. In past year’s we’ve crossed paths with other Stations groups, but not this year. Many pix.

Pictured: Former marine David Maher prays for an end to war.

This morning at the federal courthouse in Worcester, after attending mass and with about a dozen supporters outside, Mike Benedetti, Ken Hannaford-Ricardi, Sandra McSweeney, Scott Schaeffer-Duffy, and Roger Stanley entered the pre-lobby, knelt, prayed for an end to the war in Iraq, and said a rosary. People came and went from the courthouse, though additional participants weren’t allowed to enter.

Officers allowed them to complete the prayers, then arrested them.

They were charged in federal court with the “petty offenses” of not obeying a federal officer and blocking an entrance. They all plead “not guilty” and said they would represent themselves.

The 2 charges each carry a possible $5,000 fine. A 30-day jail sentence is also possible for each charge, but both the US attorneys and the judge said there was no risk of that.

The defendants will be representing themselves in court. Trial is set for June.

Photo: Worcester Indymedia. Pictured: Tom Lewis and law officers outside the entrance.

The prayers and arrest come as the culmination of a 43-day Lenten prayer, fast, and vigil carried out in conjunction with people in 11 other US cities, including Des Moines, Iowa, Buffalo and Rochester, New York. This campaign was inspired by the example of Franz Jagerstatter, the recently beatified Austrian Catholic who was executed for refusing to participate in an unjust war.

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Bishops McManus and Reilly chat outside St. Paul’s Cathedral before the Chrism Mass.

Rocco Palmo:

In the majority of Stateside dioceses, whether in their cathedrals or even larger parish churches, the Chrism Mass — the lone “family reunion” mandated by the rubrics — is happening today.

There was no noon mass at the cathedral today, so my friends and I went to the Chrism Mass before our Lenten prayer vigil for an end to the Iraq War.

The Chrism Mass takes its name from the last of the three oils blessed during the rite, which are then used throughout the diocese for the next year.

Tom Lewis does a little anti-war “pre-vigiling” at the cathedral before mass. More of us assembled across the street afterwards. I was happy that several priests came over to share words or hugs of support.

I’d never been to one of these before. The bishop blessed the year’s holy oil and priests renewed their “commitment to priestly service.” A very long standing ovation for Auxiliary Bishop George E. Rueger, who celebrated his 50th year as a priest and gave a great homily directed at the many Catholic school kids in attendance.

The daily Lenten prayer and fasting for an end to the Iraq War continued today in Worcester, with 4 people participating. (I think a few dozen have been involved at some point.) We found a nice ring outside the cathedral; you can pick it up at the rectory if it’s yours.

When we went down to the federal building to continue the vigil, a friend and I went inside to talk to whoever was there. (From my limited experience, this seems to be standard operating procedure for continuing vigils. Sometimes this can bear unexpected fruit.)

My friend mentioned the recent report that upwards of 5% of Iraq and Afganistan War vets are collecting disability for hearing loss due to roadside bombs and the like.

One guy said, “And that’s a problem for us?” (Which seemed an odd thing to say.)

Another guy responded, “Yeah–we gotta pay for it!”

My friend pointed out that hearing loss also probably messes up a lot of these vets’ lives.

Other than that, things passed without incident.

Today we had six people praying and fasting for an end to the Iraq War. At the cathedral, we had more positive comments than ever.

Outside the federal building, an old guy was stopped at a red light with a dog in his lap. The way the dog was leaning out the window, he looked like he was driving. “He can’t read your sign!” the old man pointed out with a smile.

Another man stopped by and said, “We can pray all we want and fast all we want, people are making so much money from it it’s never gonna end.”

We had 5 people with us this rainy day, fasting and praying for an end to the Iraq War.

Outside the Federal Building, a guy asked, “You’re doing this outside the federal court?” Ken said, “Yes.”

“They can’t move Jesus,” the guy said, gesturing to our sign and the building. “They can’t move Jesus!”

At today’s 12:10 Cathedral mass, there were maybe twice as many people as normal. Pretty cool.

We had 6 people praying and fasting after mass and at the Federal Building. No incidents. (Don’t worry, I’m not going to blog every day of this.)

If I recall correctly, last Ash Wednesday the noon Cathedral mass was packed. This year, the church was maybe 3/4 full.

Bishop Robert McManus, after mass

After mass we began our Lenten fast and vigil for an end to the Iraq War. We started out by holding a banner near the Cathedral door, but were asked to move across the street. This was unfortunate, in that it probably left some passersby with the impression that we were protesting the church or something.

Holding a banner across the street. In the spirit of “Let no one see you fasting,” I tried to take photos of people’s backs.

All of the response I saw from churchgoers or people driving by was positive. Meanwhile, people handed out Jagerstatter holy cards to those leaving mass.

Then we went over to the Federal Building, where they didn’t care where we stood, so long as we weren’t blocking a door. I don’t have any good face-free pix of this part, so here you see Scott and Ken posing with the banner.

Nice omnibus Ash Wednesday post from Rocco Palmo. This bit sums up the point of the vigil, for me:

The crux of Ash Wednesday is one that fascinates, and rightfully so: in a world — and, indeed, in a church — too often obsessed with appearances, with shirking blame and maintaining an image of perfection (sometimes at any cost), all that gets turned inside out: I’m far from perfect. I don’t have all the answers. I can’t go it alone. What I do matters beyond myself.

What are Pie and Coffee readers and contributors doing for Lent?

Among other things, I’ll be participating in the Worcester Lenten fast and prayer for an end to the Iraq War. I’m not sure yet what form my fasting will take.

Feel free to post your thoughts below, or link to a blog post. Contributors, feel free to add resources to this post.

From the pope’s Lenten message:

The Gospel highlights a typical feature of Christian almsgiving: it must be hidden: “Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,” Jesus asserts, “so that your alms may be done in secret” (Mt 6,3-4). . . . If, in accomplishing a good deed, we do not have as our goal God’s glory and the real well being of our brothers and sisters, looking rather for a return of personal interest or simply of applause, we place ourselves outside of the Gospel vision.

So I assume everybody is giving alms, and you don’t have to mention that.

As Roman Catholics who love the Church, we listened closely to Pope John Paul II who called the 2003 Iraq War “a defeat for humanity” and to Pope Benedict XVI who said, “There were not sufficient reasons to unleash a war against Iraq,” and went on to say, “We should be asking ourselves if it is still licit to admit the very existence of a just war.”

We remember that, despite the Vatican’s clear opposition to the Iraq War, only one American Bishop, Most Rev. John Michael Botean, condemned it. In a 2003 Lenten Pastoral Letter, Bishop Botean called the Iraq War “objectively grave evil, a matter of mortal sin.”

On March 19, the Iraq War will enter its fifth year. More than 150,000 Iraqi civilians and nearly 4,000 American soldiers have perished. Hundreds of thousands of our sisters and brothers have been injured, orphaned, or left homeless.

We cannot help but wonder if this war could have been prevented with a stronger voice of opposition from all of us in the American Catholic Church. We admit our own complicity by our failure to raise our own voices more forcefully. But, even now, we believe that the voice of our Church can help end the bloodshed.

Therefore, inspired by the witness of Blessed Franz Jagerstatter, we join concerned Catholics in twelve other dioceses around the United States to call for a Lenten prayer and fast for peace. Like Jagerstatter, the only known Roman Catholic to refuse service in Hitler’s military during World War II, we believe that the Church must not stay “silent in the face of what is happening.” Starting on Ash Wednesday, we invite all people of conscience to join us at Saint Paul’s Cathedral for midday Mass each weekday, followed by a peace vigil outside the church and, shortly thereafter, at the nearby United States Federal Building. We will conclude our prayer and fasting during Holy Week on March 19th with a special Catholic peace witness at the Federal Building.

We hope and pray that this witness in Worcester and other dioceses around the country will draw the Church closer to the nonviolent Christ and help our nation to end the Iraq War and Occupation.