Tag Archives: Franciscan Spirituality

A short while ago I was re-posting an article on my Facebook page and needed to look up a quote by Philip Berrigan (or it may have been his brother, Fr. Daniel: I haven’t been able to sort it out). When asked about how a Christian should respond to Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and the rest of the gang that led us into the unnecessary war in Iraq, he replied, “We should pray for them, and resist them.” I had come across this quote several years ago as I was struggling to come to grips with the anger and bitterness that I felt after coming home from Iraq. It helped. It continues to help.

I wanted to get the quote right, though, so I did a quick Google search. I found Berrigan’s quote on the website of my old friends at Catholic Peace Fellowship; it was part of a list they had complied of quotes concerning issues of conscience & peace. Naturally, I had to read through them all. The words of these men & women who have been champions of peace and justice–one of the few worthwhile & righteous endeavors that humans can undertake–managed to get past the checkpoints that keep my emotions under control. I found myself, after a minute or so, beginning to tear up. Prior to 2004, this wouldn’t have surprised me; I’ve always been one of those people who wore his emotions on his sleeve (an awkward thing for a young man in our society). After Iraq, though, my emotions have been kept under heavy guard, and it’s a rare occurrence to have them appear without warning.

Because the list is somewhat long, and because each quote inspires its own set of feelings & ideas, I’m going to treat them over a serious of entries. This will be an exercise in finding the wisdom that has the ability to move me. And perhaps help to clarify in my own mind, and for others who may be interested, what are those beliefs & concepts that comprise the foundation upon which I have built (or rebuilt over the past five years) my identity.

The White Rose
“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.” Excerpt from a leaflet by Hans and Sophie Scholl, devout young German Christians executed by the Nazi party in 1943.

Hans & Sophie Scholl and Christoph Probst

Although I’ve been touched by the actions of many people who refused to stand by and let evil have its way, Hans & Sophie Scholl and the other members of The White Rose have a special place in my heart. [Click here for a short summary of their story, or here for the Wikipedia article.] I grew up in the shadow of WWII; like most Americans, I believed that the Germans were either willingly complicit with the Nazi regime or passive dupes who went along with Hitler out of a misguided sense of patriotism & nationalism. When I first learned of the young men & women who made up The White Rose, I had to re-think my prejudices. Learning more about the internal dissent in fascist Germany (and Italy, for that matter) over the years has challenged me to look differently at dissent in our own society.

Both Hans & Sophie Scholl had joined the Hitler Youth in the general enthusiasm the Nazi regime cultivated before it went to war. They, however, began to see those in power for what they were by witnessing the horrors that were being visited upon others and the Germans themselves. They went from good, patriotic young people to dissidents considered so dangerous that the full force of the Gestapo was brought to bear against them. They willingly sacrificed themselves in the belief that when ordinary people are confronted by the reality of what is being done to others in their name, they will rise up against the leaders who spew hatred and revel in suffering to justify their power.

While America is certainly not Nazi Germany, I think most of us would agree that it is far from perfect. In recent years (since Reagan at least), I’ve seen a slow but steady erosion of the institutional protections American citizens have relied upon to hold back the worst excesses of centralized power and corporate capitalist rapaciousness. Moreover, I’ve watched the skillful polarization of the citizenry to the point where large swaths of the American people vote against their own self-interests (much less basic human compassion) in electing power-hungry demagogues and militarists to offices low & high.

I’ve also seen–first hand–the way dissent is handled in this country. While we haven’t brought out guillotines (yet), anyone who raises legitimate questions about the motives of this party or that, of politician A or media pundit B, is silenced either by the denial of access to the media or subjected to the vicious ad hominem attacks. And if someone questions our elected government’s selling and maintenance of the most recent wars, he or she can count on being the object of government surveillance (in this I have first-hand experience).

We’ve already moved quite a way down the road toward becoming a society that is free in name only. We need more men and women, particularly young men and women like those who made up The White Rose who will stand & speak truth to power. We need more people who will shake off the chains of nationalism, superficial patriotism, jingoistic partisanship, and passive participation in the oppression of others. We need modern-day prophets who can show us clearly the truth of what we are doing to others and to ourselves. We need men & women with the courage to face down the far more subtle but no less dangerous viciousness that has become the norm in America’s so-called marketplace of ideas (i.e. “We’re going to sell you our ideas about what you should believe & do.”). We need our own 21st century version of The White Rose. Perhaps then we will be able to continue the task of living up to the ideals upon which this country was founded.