Update

As we approach our first anniversary here at Mary the Apostle House, we can look back and see a lot of progress. Here is an excerpt from our paper newsletter (which is approaching publication):

We could not have done all we have accomplished in our first year by ourselves. For the many of you who have helped us on our way, Thank you!

Here is a short round up. In the past ten months, we purchased a house in such poor condition a bank refused to give us a mortgage; replaced a leaky portion of the roof; removed over 35 cubic yards of trash carpet, broken furniture, shattered windows, and more. We have replaced six windows, two doors, and painted the interior of the house. We also have lain new carpet and vinyl floor. Our new front porch is currently under construction. Also underway is a quite necessary rewiring of the whole house.

It has been equally enjoyable and stressful recovering our home from its broken past and creating a place of hope, joy, and peace.

Other than each of our members maintaining a full time job and renovating our house, we have been engaging in witness against the crimes of the American Empire from Hiroshima and Nagasaki to Iraq and our own broken cities. We seek to share the good news of nonviolence and create a new world without greed and violence and war.

Please help the Simple Way

Friends,

Last week a tragic fire struck the neighborhood in which the Simple Way community lives. Their community center and many homes were destroyed. To learn more, see the video below and visit www.thesimpleway.org.

Peace.

Direct Action to Stop the War in Iraq

Members of the Erie Peace Initiative arrived at the Federal Building in Erie around 8:15 am on Monday, March 19, 2007. We held short vigil during which we read our statement to the media and to our supporters and provided individual participants to share their thoughts on the days action. After singing “Peace, Salaam, Shalom,” nine of us departed from the vigil and approached the door of the Federal Building.

We had previously informed the US Marshals at the building that we were planning the action and they were prepared for us. They only let two of us in and then locked the doors. I read our statement in the foyer and they asked us to leave. We declined and instead asked that they close the building for the day to honor those killed by the war in Iraq. Our seven friends who were left outside attempted to block the doors while we on the inside blocked the metal detector.

The marshals knocked us around a bit as we blocked the metal detector. We were forcibly moved and then would calmly walk back to our place. This happened 3-4 times. After about twenty minutes, the marshals at the door received orders to unlock the doors. We motioned to the seven outside to come in. They were surprised to have the doors unlocked but entered and brought with them a reporter and photographer from the Erie Times-News.

We created a human barricade and stopped a couple of folks from entering. As we were explaining our action and inviting them to join us in the line the marshals shoved, kneed and pulled the three of us directly in front of the metal detector (Tuesday’s Erie Times-News printed a photo of us being knocked around by US Marshals).

After approximately 90 minutes, the marshals arrested us with assistance from the Erie City Police. We were split up and placed in holding cells for two and a half hours before being taken before Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan Paradise Baxter and charged with “unnecessarily obstructing public areas such as entrances, foyers.” We were released shortly after 1:00pm on our own recognizance.

We will appear before Judge Baxter again Tuesday, March 27, 2007 at 10:00 am.

The White Rose

"Everywhere and at all times of greatest trial [women and] men have appeared, prophets and saints who cherished their freedom, who preached the One God and who with [God's] help brought the people to the reversal of their downward course. [Humankind] is free, to be sure, but without the true God [humankind] is defenseless against the principle of evil... We must attack evil where it is strongest, and it is strongest in the power of Hitler... We will not be silent. We are your bad conscience. The White Rose will not leave you in peace." (adjusted for gender-inclusivity)

These words appeared on a leaflet in Munich, Germany in 1942. Outraged by the evil works of Hitler's regime and driven by their Christian faith, siblings Hans and Sophie Scholl led a clandestine organization of university students, the White Rose, in confronting the Nazi system and destroying the illusion of unanimous consent among the German people.

This generation is in desperate need of its own White Rose. Yes, the public opinion has turned against the war in Iraq. Yes, people on occasion march or demonstrate against war. But all too often these few return to their normal lives without any consideration of their participation in the systems which fuel the flames of war. Their resistance is nominal. It does not sink into the heart and the spirit.

They return to their stock portfolios, funding the war machine by their very investments. They do not even think of the farm workers who cry out for justice as they eat or for the earth in desperate need of restoration as they drive their SUVs. They choose not to see and help their neighbors in need, choosing instead to blame the government for doing nothing.

Yes, we need our own White Rose. We need more than marches. We need grassroots media freed from the slavery of corporate sponsorship. We need whispers in the dark shadows and shouts from the rooftops announcing the good news of peace and justice and true freedom - not the empty patriotic sentiment, but the freedom of all those whose allegiance is to the kingdom of God.

The evils of power and violence and greed must be stopped. In the days of the White Rose, these evils were found in the Nazi regime. We must take an honest look at ourselves and this nation and confront evil where it will be found. It cost the Scholls their lives. It cost Jesus his life. It may cost our own lives. Nevertheless, this is our calling.

Now is the moment. Now is the time. This is the day of our salvation. Wherever we are, let us begin.