March 26, 2007VOL. 45, NO. 6Oakland, CA

Scripture, song and prayer mark religious
i nvolvement in anti-war protest in D.C.

Mission San Jose Dominican Sister Stella Goodpasture of Oakland is arrested during an anti-war demonstration in San Francisco March 19, the fourth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. CNS PHOTO/KIMBERLY WHITE/REUTERS

By Patricia Zapor
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Scripture readings were interspersed with testimonies from a U.S. soldier, Iraqis and the mother of a slain National Guard sergeant at a crowded prayer vigil March 16 that kicked off weekend anti-war protests in Washington and around the country.

With nearly 3,000 people packed into the Episcopal Church’s National Cathedral and hundreds more in overflow space at other churches, Catholic, Methodist, Episcopalian, Lutheran, Baptist, Mennonite, Presbyterian, United Church of Christ, Quaker and Seventh-day Adventist leaders set the stage for a late-night march to the White House in bitter cold wind and snow.

After walking just under four miles to the White House from the cathedral, participants carrying battery-operated candles prayed for peace.

Dozens who refused police orders to keep moving were arrested in planned acts of nonviolent resistance.

The next day, thousands of protesters gathered near the Lincoln Memorial and marched to the Pentagon for an anti-war rally.

At the National Cathedral, the focus of several “witness” reflections, as the program described them, was on the moral grounds for opposing the war.

“We are here tonight in this church because each one of us is a witness to this war and our complicity in it,” said Celeste Zappala, whose son, National Guard Sgt. Sherwood Baker, was killed in Iraq. “Though I know nothing I say can bring my son back to me, we lay this grief before the Lord.”

The Rev. Raphael G. Warnock, senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta said that “the real danger confronting America is not that we may lose the war. The real danger is America may lose its soul.”

Rev. Warnock said to President George W. Bush: “We do need a surge in troops. We need a surge in the nonviolent army of the Lord. We need a surge in conscience and a surge in activism and a surge in truth-telling.”

A reading from the Gospel of Matthew about the arrest and crucifixion of Jesus, another from St. Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians about the path out of darkness, and a hymn based on the peace-themed Prayer of St. Francis provided the background for the remarks of other participants in the program.

The prayer service, part of Christian Peace Witness for Iraq, was organized as a collaboration of dozens of religious and activist groups.

Donna Grimes, a national council member of Pax Christi USA, Franciscan Father Joe Nangle, director of Franciscan Mission Service, and Msgr. Barry Knestout, secretary for pastoral ministry and social concerns for the Archdiocese of Washington, represented Catholic organizations in processions leading into and out of the service.

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