Update on Sisters Jackie, Carol, & Ardeth

By Sally Van Vleck

Yes, these dedicated peace activists are STILL in prison for their peaceful, nonviolent action in October, 2002. They prayerfully entered a Colorado missle site to bring the world’s attention to the threat of weapons of mass destruction that were housed there. After symbolic acts of hammering with a small hammer on a metal railing and pouring their own blood on the missle silo cover and on the ground, they were arrested and charged with sabotage.

The good news is that oral arguments for their case in the 10th Circuit US Court of Appeals will be heard on October 1, 2004. You can read the opening appeal brief on the Jonah House web site: <www.jonahhouse.org>. Also posted on the web site are letters from these three courageous women. A common thread running through all of the letters is one of gratitude, hope and love. Of course, they aren’t happy about having their freedom taken away for so long. But, there is no trace of bitterness or anger in any of their letters.

Here are a couple of excerpts:

Jackie: I am extremely grateful to each of you for your continued love, support and prayers. The inner peace I continue to experience is miraculous, truly a
gift. These experiences have brought me to a deeper realization of living
in the moment. The past is gone, the future is yet to come we have only
this moment and this moment makes life possible. In carrying the Burden of
Knowledge, may we each find ourselves doing our best to provide a world
that all can live in as one people, relishing the new life each moment affords.
My love to all,
Jackie

Ardeth: It is in faith communities that we learn the disciplines for discipleship. In and from community we learn to be inviters, healers, welcomers, preachers, teachers, nourishers, truth-tellers, resisters…It is in communities that we learn forgiveness, communication, discernment and new beginnings. Our analysis of the signs of the times, our sharing of Scripture, theology and plans to live the personal and social Gospel values are responded to in communities. We are challenged to live more simply, share more generously, pour out life more totally, risk without unfounded fear consistently with communities. We have common prayer, common study, common work or ministry. We carry the cross with the oppressed: with people under bombs in war zones, with refugees, the disenfranchised and marginalized.

I confess — for me community is an absolute, a necessity, an essential. Without it I would not be rooted. Without it I would not have courage, strength and awareness. So the journey continues — with Sisters, Faith and Resistance communities, believers in all faith traditions, networks of people all over the world. We are one planet, one community.

My celebration of jubilee will be with my classmates spiritually and with all companions on the path. You’ll hear the songs burst through the prison walls all year long. All blessings!

and I remain in awe of the grace of God to be able to continue on this prison journey taking each day, as friend Sue Tracy, OP, would caution and remind me – one blink, one breath, one swallow, one heartbeat at a time! My gratitude flows as a steady stream for your letters, your prayers, your support funds for the Appeal, your thoughtfulness in so many ways.

and, a moving poem, written by Judy ?, and quoted from Carol:

Wage peace with your breath,
Breathe in firemen and rubble,
Breathe out whole buildings and flocks of redwing blackbirds.
Breathe in terrorists and
Breathe out sleeping children and freshly mown fields.
Breathe in confusion and breathe out maple trees.
Breathe in the fallen and breathe out lifelong friendships intact.
Wage peace with your listening
Hearing sirens, pray loud.
Remember your tools, flower seeds, clothespins, clean rivers,
Make soup. Play music.
Learn the word for thank you in three languages.
Learn to knit and make a hat
Think of chaos as dancing raspberries.
Imagine grief as the outbreath of beauty or the gesture of fish.
Swim for the other side.
Wage peace,
Never has the world seemed so fresh and precious.
Have a cup of tea and rejoice.
Act as if armistice has already arrived. Don’t wait another minute.

If you would like to write to Carol, Ardeth or Jackie, their addresses are listed on the Jonah House web site, or at our web site: www.traversepeacealerts.org/thenuns.html