WEEP
FOR CHILDREN PLOWSHARES: Early in the
morning, on July 27, 1996, the day of the launching of the 18thTrident submarine, Sr. Elizabeth Walters, I.H.M., from Michigan;
Sr. Carol Gilbert, O.P. and Sr. Ardeth Platte, O.P. from Jonah House; and Kathy
Boylan from Dorothy Day Catholic Worker in Washington, DC, entered the Naval
Submarine Base in Groton, CT. During
their liturgy of disarmament they poured blood on a torpedo test cylinder used
inside fast attack submarines. They then began a universal peace dance and
sang, “We begin in the name of our
God.” They proceeded to hammer 18 times on the test cylinder, symbolic of their
rejection of 18 Trident submarines that have been built. Once sailors and
security appeared nearby, they put down their hammers decorated with rainbow
ribbons and pictures of children, baby bottles with recorded messages of peace,
and documents substantiating the immorality and illegality of nuclear weapons.
Thy covered the weapon piece with a banner –WEEP
FOR CHILDREN PLOWSHARES and knelt down and continued their liturgy. They
were arrested by military and security personnel and charged with trespass and
willful injury to government property. They were tried in U.S. Federal Court in
Hartford in September. During closing remarks, the Prosecutor declared: “These
women must be stopped because they are just like the Oklahoma City bomber!”
Obviously amazed, Judge Thomas Smith firmly disagreed and stated that the women
were following a higher law. They were sentenced to 1000 hours community
service.