Jesus said to the crowd:
“They will seize and persecute you,
they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons,
and they will have you led before kings and governors
because of my name.
It will lead to your giving testimony.
Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand,
for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking
that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.

When I read these words from Luke this morning, I immediately thought of the people who were indiscriminately arrested by the Columbus police this past weekend at the Scholl of Americas Watch at Fort Benning. These people were a part of a larger crowd that gathered once again to give testimony—the testimony of the nonviolent Jesus. Their witness was against the School of the Assassins at Fort Benning, Georgia. The School of the Americas/Western Hemispheric Institute for Security Exchange Cooperation has trained thousands of military and police from South and Central America. Graduates have been implicated in the deaths of Archbishop Romero, the Jesuit martyrs, and the Maryknoll women martyrs not to mention countless advocates for social justice who have been killed and/or disappeared.

The Gospel compels us to cry out against the injustices perpetrated by the School. As the Gospel witnesses prepared for their nonviolent protest little did they know that undercover police officers sat among them. Little did they know that some of them would be arrested and hauled into court for trying to walk on a sidewalk. Little did they know they would spend 6 hours in court and be fined heavily for bearing witness to the Gospel of Jesus. Like Peter and Paul they would be released from jail in the wee hours of the night. Others, including Fr. Louis Vitale, crossed unto the grounds of Fort Benning and will serve federal prison sentences.  Jesus was with them in their ordeal. Two Columbus based lawyers rose to their defense. Continue reading →