Catholic Workers at Notre Dame Demand ROTC Be Removed from Campus

On March 26, Catholic Workers from some 15 communities around the
Midwest and their friends closed their 5th annual Resistance Retreat
by attending Mass for the feast of the Annunciation of Mary at the
Basilica of the Sacred Heart on the campus of the University of
Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.

After Mass, we retreatants knelt in silence behind the basilica's
ornate main altar in prayer before the relics of Saint Marcellus. It
is customary in Catholic churches to keep remains of a martyr or other
saint in the altar and here at Notre Dame the saint whose bones lie at
the center of the university's sacramental and spiritual life are
those of Marcellus. St Marcellus was a Roman centurion and a convert
to Christianity who was martyred in 298 during the reign of the
Emperor Diocletian, after he threw down his sword and declared it is
"not right for a Christian, who serves the Lord Christ, to serve in
the armies of the world."

We exited the church through a side door over which is carved in stone
the famous motto, "God, Country, Notre Dame!" and the seals of each of
the armed services and went to the university's administration
building next door to perform a play based on the trial and death of
St Marcellus.

Michael Latsch of Duluth played a stellar Marcellus in this short
drama based on actual transcripts of the trial from Roman archives and
Father Jim Murphy of Portage, Wisconsin, drawing on his experience as
a defendant in Omaha's US Courts, was appropriately rigid and
dictatorial as judicial magistrate. Our little play attracted the
attention of passing students and others who joined the audience of
Catholic Workers. It also attracted the attention of campus police who
joined the drama as unwitting actors when they approached the stage
just as Marcellus was being warned by his friend, played by Ben
Jimenez, a Jesuit priest from Cleveland, to take back his sword
quickly before the approaching guards arrived.

Arrive they did and curiously the police did not attempt to disrupt
the unfolding drama but went first to Daniel and Frank holding the
banner on the steps and took them into custody after they refused to
put it away. The audience continued to listen as Marcellus made his
witness of Christian nonviolence to the Roman court while the
contemporary guardians of law quietly ordered Brenna Cussen, our host
from the South Bend Catholic Worker, to leave or face arrest. After
Brenna refused to leave and was taken away, the same offer was made to
and refused by Roberta Thurstin-Timmerman and Don Timmerman of Park
Falls, Wisconsin, Ed Bloomer of Des Moines, Steve Jacobs of Columbia,
Missouri and Michael Walli of Duluth who were simply kneeling silently
next to the coffins.

Full article
http://ireland.indymedia.org/article/81748




Centurion Marcellus

The birthday of the Emperor Maximian Herculeus was celebrated in the year 298 with extraordinary feasting and solemnity. Pompous sacrifices to the Roman gods made a considerable part of this solemnity. Marcellus, a Christian centurion or captain in the legion of Trajan, then posted in Spain, not to defile himself with taking part in those impious abominations, cast away his military belt at the head of his company, declaring aloud that he was a soldier of Jesus Christ, the eternal King. He also threw down his arms and the vine-branch, which was the mark of his post of centurion; for the Roman officers were forbid to strike a soldier with any instrument except a vine-branch, which the centurions usually carried in their lands.

http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/MARCELUS.htm

the life of any country. But what our military has turned into (due to the current administration) is incompatible with a civilized society. Our military is not nothing more that the most efficient killing machine this world has ever seen. And they don't represent 'America', they represent a corrupt and treasonous administration.

pressure by the government. The government helps support colleges and should not blackmail them into helping with military recruitment. (Although I don't know if Notre Dame gets government funding or not).

wars of aggression.
it didn't start with Bush.
or Nixon,
or Johnson,
or woodrow wilson,or
Teddy ...
maybe polk.

in the country.

edit: I know that it's a Catholic college. Hell, I went to Notre Dame High School in Omaha, Nebraska. Both schools were founded by the nuns dedicated to teaching. The Sisters of Notre Dame.

That's why I say I'm torn. Keeping in the strict tradition of Christ's teaching, maybe a military organization shouldn't be on campus.

But at the same time, we have to educate our future military personnel somewhere. Obviously we need smarter and more humane people to join the military and climb up the ladder. To take the place of all the good men and women who bush** & Co. has driven out. To have the brains and the moral backbone not to be turned into a murderous force for corrupt politicians and corporations.

thanks so much for this.
i was just browsin at the LA Catholic Worker website this mornin'

I get the Catholic Worker paper every few months, and saw this story and was able to find it on the internet. Of course, the Christian Churches have not condemned this war, though they don't mind getting involved in gay marriages and birth control issues.

We go ROTC off our campus back in the '60s. Glad to see it happening again.

then ROTC should (and legally must) be permitted to exist on its campus. Not all government funded colleges, however, choose to exercise this constitutionally protected right. Although if there are ever efforts to stop an ROTC program on a funded campus, then said efforts are absolutely illegal.

I honestly have no problems with ROTC. If you want to join, then you can join. If you don't want to, then just ignore them. It's every individual student's choice.