Patrick O'Neill: Y-12 protesters should make us dig deeper

Knoxville News Sentinel


http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/may/25/patrick-oneill-y-12-protesters-should-make-us/

Patrick O'Neill: Y-12 protesters should make us dig deeper

Patrick O’Neill and his wife, Mary, co-founded the Fr. Charlie Mulholland Catholic Worker House, in Garner, N.C., which provides hospitality for people in crisis. O’Neill covered the Transform Now Plowshares trial for The National Catholic Reporter.

Posted May 25, 2013 at 3 a.m.

Sister Megan Rice, Greg Boertje-Obed and Michael Walli of Transform Now Plowshares are in jail now, ready to do hard time after being found guilty of property damage and sabotage at the Y-12 National Security Complex. As is usually the case with prophets, their words and actions are rejected by the masses who don’t understand their message or ignore it.

For many, it is far easier to believe nuclear weapons components manufactured at Y-12 represent an undertaking consistent with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, a conclusion critically important to anyone who claims to be Christian. To conclude otherwise would mean assenting to the nuclear arms race (and by extension Y-12) as being sinful, and followers of the Prince of Peace would have to align themselves, at least on a spiritual level, with the Plowshares.

Many readers consider the three common criminals who deserve incarceration. But is that all there is? Are Sister Megan, a nun who spent years in Africa working among the poor, and Boertje-Obed and Walli, who also work among the poor in Catholic Worker communities, simply well-intentioned people who went off the deep end?

It is easy to understand why local citizens prefer to keep any analysis of the Plowshares’ actions on an emotional level. Y-12 is a place of pride and economic security for thousands of East Tennessee citizens. Any effort to discredit that legacy is beyond the comprehension of many.

But digging deeper — on intellectual and spiritual levels — is a discipline Christians should embrace. Jesus used parables to make us think and to challenge the status quo.

It is clear the Plowshares did not comport themselves like other felons do. They took full responsibility for what they did — admitting their guilt from Day 1. They did not flee or profit from their crimes, and when the prosecutor asked Boertje-Obed if his actions constituted a publicity stunt, he replied, “Absolutely not.” Most importantly, the Plowshares testified they “spent months in prayer” before taking action.

Faced with a “lethal force” warning at the last fence separating them from the Highly Enriched Uranium Manufacturing Facility, they still crawled through, which raises the question: “Why did they risk death at Y-12?”

Agree or disagree, the Plowshares’ actions were shocking, reckless perhaps and self-sacrificial. I think it’s important that we take time to prayerfully contemplate what they did, and listen for God’s answer.

I urge those of you who oppose the Plowshares to contemplate the Pharisee Gamaliel, who said of the apostles, “I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone ... You might even be found opposing God!”

It is easy to ignore the Plowshares, to shake your head in disgust at them. However, that’s the easy way out. Jesus told us: “You have heard it said, ‘An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,’ but now I say to you, love your enemies, turn the other cheek, pray for those who persecute you.” A reasonable person might conclude even the threat to use nuclear weapons does not meet the “love your enemies” criteria.

Let’s circle up the Sunday school chairs and have some serious conversations about this profound event. These folks are heading off to prison, and it’s worth knowing what it is about their faith that led them to embrace such great risk — and the scorn of many. I would be happy to come to your church to participate in a prayerful, heartfelt, loving discussion about what the Transform Now Plowshares action might mean for us all.

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