Civil Disobedience Action by Religious Leaders

Pax Christi USA
The National Catholic Peace Movement
www.paxchristiusa.org

** MEDIA ADVISORY **

WHAT: This War is a ‘Crime Against Peace’! A Witness and Civil Disobedience Action by Leaders from Religious, Human Rights and Peace Organizations

WHO: Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire; Former State and Defense Department official Daniel Ellsberg; Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton; School of the Americas Watch founder Fr. Roy Bourgeois, MM; Fellowship of Reconciliation Director Pat Clark; National Coordinator of Pax Christi USA Dave Robinson; Pax Christi USA National Council Chairperson Eric Lecompte; and others.

WHEN: Wednesday March 26, 2003, noon. (Press conference will be held at the site of the action at 11:30 a.m.)

WHERE: Washington DC. (Exact location will be announced at an interfaith prayer service, Tuesday, 7:00 p.m. at St. Aloysius Catholic Church, corner of North Capitol and I Streets.)

WHY: Religious leaders from Pope John Paul II to the Dalai Lama, human rights leaders and peace activists around the world have condemned the Bush Administration’s war against Iraq. Archbishop Renato Martino, a Vatican spokesperson, immediately labeled it a “crime against peace.” Faith and conscience dictate a response from religious, peace and human rights leaders which unequivocally pronounces this war immoral, unethical, and unjustified. Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire, former State and Defense Department official Daniel Ellsberg, Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Gumbleton and other leaders will lead the action which will include nonviolent civil disobedience.

“The Bush administration’s war on Iraq violates every value we hold as people of faith and conscience,” said Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit, who visited Iraq in January. “Faith and conscience compel us to actively oppose this war in word and deed, to do what we can to halt the killing.”

Dave Robinson, national coordinator of Pax Christi USA, the national Catholic peace movement, stated, “In the tradition of leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr., we will risk arrest to draw the world’s attention to the immorality of this war. We can’t stand by as men, women and children die because of the callousness and greed of this administration.”

Wednesday’s action is sponsored by Pax Christi USA, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Sojourners and the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns.

For more information, contact Johnny Zokovitch at 352-219-8419, or Mike Jones at 814-964-0078.

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