Category Archives: CAM Original Articles

Jesuits dismiss priest for peace

“A popular U.S. Catholic priest and author known for his peace writings and some 75 arrests for civil disobedience actions across the country has been dismissed from the international Jesuit religious order, which says he was ‘obstinately disobedient’ to its directives.”

John Dear, Jesuit Known for Peace Witness, Dismissed from Order, National Catholic Reporter, January 7, 2013

“This decision was sparked three years ago, when Archbishop Michael Sheehan of Santa Fe, N.M., removed my priestly faculties because he objected to the prayer vigils for peace and against nuclear weapons development I was leading at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the birthplace of nuclear weapons. He had received many complaints regarding my peace efforts over the years from the local pastor in Los Alamos and other Catholics who work in Los Alamos, building nuclear weapons.”

Leaving the Jesuits After 32 Years, National Catholic Reporter, January 7, 2013

In a somber mood, I’d like to play The Skipperdees’ “Atomic City” on the CAM jukebox. This one goes out to all Catholics out there in Los Alamos, building nuclear weapons:

loose lips sink ships
so keep yours tight
don’t you go askin’ if
what we did was right

Christmas: Peace on Earth

Every year I feel a bit sad, as I recall what Christmas used to feel like as a child, remembering the anticipation, the excitement. I loved rituals that led up to the big day: putting our shoes out for St. Nicholas, marking off days on the Advent calendar, decorating the house. Twinkling lights and carolers. Snow that glittered in the moonlight. I could feel the angels all around me. Christmas meant warmth, comfort, and home: It meant peace. To feel peace was a little taste of heaven. Now sometimes it seems like the most Christmas has to offer is a little bit nostalgia.

Once upon a time, Christmas meant presents. There were two times a year when we got presents in my house: birthdays and Christmas. If you wanted something in July, you’d have to put in on your Christmas list. So making the list was real serious business, kind of like an examination of conscience before confession. If I left something off the list, I would have to wait for my birthday, which wasn’t until May, which would be horrible, because May would be forever away and might as well have been never.

In the mid-eighties, I asked for the Ewok Village every Christmas for about five years. It was my Red Ryder BB Gun but I wasn’t Ralphie: It never appeared under the tree. I eventually stopped asking for it. (Either I got the hint it was too expensive or I outgrew Star Wars.) Then, when I was in my mid-twenties, my mother discovered eBay. I awoke one Christmas to find the Ewok Village waiting for me under the tree — in the original box and everything — it was awesome! (And who are we kidding? One does not outgrow Star Wars. One only turns into a bitter fan who wants to see George Lucas drawn and quartered in a public square. I fully admit I’ll never get over those prequels. Never!)

Aside from my mother’s presents, the gift-giving at our house isn’t what it used to be.

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Catholics Missing the Point

What Catholics Missed in The Hunger Games, an article by a CAM co-founder

“The respect Collins paid her young readers in writing this trilogy was to see
them as not only conscious, but socially conscious, and potentially
curious about or concerned with that central human problem called war. It was
interesting to see that Christian adults saw very little about the central human
problem of war in this wildly popular film that was, in the words of its Roman
Catholic author, written about war, and after a decade of living under a
government that is perpetually waging war.”

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Napalm / Vietnam War

Napalm / Vietnam War

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stress

 

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