FIVE CHRISTIAN PACIFISTS ACTING IN MEMORY OF THE CATONSVILLE NINE ARE ARRESTED PROTESTING PENTAGON AIR SHOW

WHO: Five peace activists enacted the biblical prophecy of Isaiah to beat swords into plowshares at a Pentagon air show outside Washington, D.C. Activists Sr. Carol Gilbert and Sr. Ardeth Platte from Baltimore's Jonah House, Father Frank Cordaro from Des Moines, Iowa, Larry Morlan, from Peoria, Illinois, and Kathy Shields Boylan, from Dorothy Day Catholic Worker in Washington, D.C., calling themselves the Gods of Metal Plowshares, hammered and poured blood on a B-52 bomber on public display.

The Gods of Metal Plowshares intentionally disarmed a dual-capable weapon of mass destruction. They carried out their nonviolent protest in accordance with the prophets, Isaiah 2:4 and Micah 4:3: "They shall hammer their swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks."

WHAT: The five activists joined thousands of visitors to the air show organized by the Pentagon. They brought with them banners, bottles containing their own blood, hammers and leaflets. As hundreds of onlookers observed, they proceeded to throw blood and hammer on the inside of the bomb bay doors of a B-52 bomber. While Sister Ardeth was stopped by security officials, the others also hammered on the outside of the bomber, unfurled a banner, prayed and then explained to those assembled the meaning of their action. Eventually, military and civilian police placed the five religious activists face down on the tarmac, handcuffed them and took them into custody.

WHEN: 9:45 AM on May 17, 1998

WHERE: during the Department of Defense Open House at Andrews Air Force Base, located outside Washington, D.C. in Prince George's County, Maryland

WHY: They acted to unmasked the idolatry of the gods of metal, celebrate in this nuclear liturgy of the Open House. They nonviolently disarmed this weapon of mass destruction in a plea for the cause of peace with justice and the abolition of war. They celebrated God as "True Security" rather than accept weapons and violence as restorers or maintainers of peace. They poured their blood as a sign of their willingness to lay down their lives rather than taking the lives of others. They announced that weapons and their carriers in air, land, sea and space are in fact idols. They asked others not to applaud, celebrate or worship these gods of metal for they defile all of creation. Finally, they encouraged all people of good will to explore similar opportunities to put love into action until justice is established and peace prevails in all the earth.

These pacifists feel it is an urgent time to stand with peacemakers for nuclear disarmament and to call for an end to warmaking on behalf of present and future generations of children and Mother Earth, herself.

They acted today in memory of the action of the Catonsville Nine, who thirty years ago today burned draft files to awaken all to the immorality of the Vietnam War. In this witness at Andrews Air Force Base, the Gods of Metal Plowshares hammered a total of 30 times on the bomber to continue the legacy and tradition of Daniel and Philip Berrigan and seven religious activists who acted on May 17, 1968 at a draft board office in Catonsville, Maryland. In 1968, they carried Selective Service file drawers into the parking lot and set them on fire as a protest against the Vietnam War and U.S. operations in Central America.