Pax-salon Mailing List: Fwd: Fwd: Dr Miles

[patty (pattypax]

Oops,  it was not St Joan of Arc, i have been told.  The edict to 
cancel Dr. Miles came from none other than the new archbishop.   Sorry 
for not being clear.  St  Joan's would really have wanted him as part 
of their service, but i guess they were overruled.  patty

Begin forwarded message:

> From: M E SHEPPARD <marthastp [at] msn.com>
> Date: Sat May 3, 2008  3:29:21  PM US/Central
> To: patty <pattypax [at] earthlink.net>
> Subject: RE: [Pax-salon] Fwd: Dr Miles
>
> Patty, St. Joan  of Arc Church didn't cancel Dr. Miles talk - the 
> archdiocese  cancelled it.  I had been really looking forward to 
> listening to him on Sunday and I would stay home Sunday, except for 
> the fact that I have volunteered for something that morning. 
> Martha
>
> > Date: Sat, 3 May 2008 15:36:57 -0500
> > From: pattypax [at] earthlink.net
> > Subject: [Pax-salon] Fwd: Dr Miles
> > CC: pax-salon [at] justcomm.org
> > To: marthastp [at] msn.com
> >
> > I am dismayed re. St Joan of Arc Catholic Church canceling the
> > appearance by the esteemed Dr. Steven Miles at their church to talk
> > about his writings and research on the subject of torture. So, i am
> > sending his speech to all of you. Please respond to the Bishop if you
> > wish. Too bad he is going to talk on Tuesday (different
> > venue---Sisters of St Joseph on Randolph) as that is night of salon.
> > patty
> >
> > Begin forwarded message:
> >
> > > From: patty <pattypax [at] earthlink.net>
> > > Date: Sat May 3, 2008 3:22:20 PM US/Central
> > > To: Patty Guerrero <pattypax [at] earthlink.net>
> > > Subject: Dr Miles
> > >
> > > Torture and the Courage to Be Inconvenienced
> > >
> > > Steven Miles MD
> > >
> > >
> > > [I was invited to give this talk at adult education at St. Joan of 
> Arc
> > > Catholic Church on May 4, 2008 and lead a discussion of this topic 
> on
> > > the evening of May 6. The Archdiocese of Minneapolis and St. Paul
> > > informed me that Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life encouraged
> > > people to contact the diocese to not allow me to speak because I am
> > > pro-choice on abortion and pro-euthanasia. Although I am pro-choice
> > > on abortion, I have written and spoke against physician-assisted
> > > suicide and euthanasia. This talk on torture addresses neither. My
> > > wife and I have adopted and raised a disabled foster child. The
> > > Archdiocese instructed St. Joan’s that I could not appear at the
> > > adult education in the church. St. Joan arranged for an alternate
> > > venue.
> > >
> > > The author hereby grants permission to redistribute, download, copy
> > > and use this material in any electronic or printed form. No further
> > > permissions need be requested.]
> > >
> > > ===========
> > >
> > > I am deeply honored to be able to speak with you today about the 
> issue
> > > of torture.
> > >
> > > Torture is not an exotic or esoteric topic. Although we rarely 
> speak
> > > of it, it has directly wounded most of us. It is government policy 
> in
> > > more than half of the world’s 200 nations. Our relatives fled the
> > > torture in East Europe, Latin America, or East Asia. Some of us 
> were
> > > dispossessed by torture which enforced United States racial 
> policies.
> > > Some of us have lost colleagues to torture in mission. Some of us
> > > sent or lost relatives who fought against torturing regimes. Forty
> > > thousand families in Minnesota have a torture survivor; we all bear
> > > the costs of their diminished parenting abilities, earning power, 
> and
> > > sadness.
> > >
> > > My family has been touched by torture too. My wife’s ancestors
> > > disappeared in the Holocaust of Belarus. Our adoptive son survived
> > > the Cambodia’s killing fields and as a nurse put himself in 
> service of
> > > the refugees of Ruanda. I have worked with survivors of torture on
> > > three continents and assist several groups, including Minnesota’s
> > > Center for Victims of Torture, which strives to treat or prevent
> > > torture.
> > >
> > >
> > > =====
> > >
> > >
> > > The word “torture” comes from the word for “twist” capturing the
> > > design of devices like the rack or the wheel that contort the body.
> > > We should however not allow our empathic recoil from the image of a
> > > person’s agony to cause us to miss the point that torture is aimed 
> to
> > > destroy a community. The destruction of a person is the path—the
> > > destruction of a community is the goal. The Passion story has all 
> the
> > > elements of torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.
> > >
> > > The ostentatious and unnecessary use of an inside informer,
> > > The mocking purple robe and the public label, “The King of the 
> Jews,”
> > > The scourging and the nails.
> > >
> > > Jesus was not some Nazarene carpenter who was picked at random. He
> > > was selected and tortured in a manner that was designed to destroy 
> the
> > > community carrying His message. In today’s scripture, Jesus 
> reflected
> > > on that communitarian nature of his impending arrest and execution,
> > >
> > > I glorified You on earth
> > > by accomplishing the work that You gave me to do.
> > > I pray for them. And I have been glorified in them.
> > > And now I will no longer be in the world,
> > > but they are in the world, while I am coming to You. John 17:1-11a
> > >
> > > Torture is generally used to attack and suppress civil society. 
> This
> > > is why it is aimed at the monks in Burma, the political leaders of
> > > Zimbabwe, the playwrights of Czechoslovakia, the journalists of
> > > Russia, the students of Chile, or the union leaders of Uruguay.
> > >
> > > In this use, torture is a strategy to maintain
> > >
> > > • The corrupt against the civic minded,
> > > • The empowered over the disenfranchised, and
> > > • The best fed in lands where most are poor and hungry.
> > >
> > > Torture is government by intimidation, horror, fear and division. 
> It
> > > is antithetical to those who would create societies to flourish by
> > > lovingkindness, justice, and inclusion.
> > >
> > >
> > > =====
> > >
> > >
> > > In the still space of our confession, we must speak of our active 
> and
> > > acquiescent, personal and collective, complicity with the culture 
> of
> > > torture.
> > >
> > > • We must acknowledge that torture is a problem for all of us. It 
> has
> > > found fertile ground in the lands of Islam, on the Buddhist ground 
> of
> > > Cambodia’s killing fields, in the fatherland of the Reformation, in
> > > the topsoil of communist nations, in the democratic motherlands of
> > > Turkey and the United States and in the loam of the Catholic lands 
> of
> > > Latin America.
> > >
> > > • We must confess that every people seem capable of torture, even 
> the
> > > United States — Convener of the Trials at Nuremburg, co-author of 
> the
> > > Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and instigator of the Geneva
> > > Conventions for the protection against “torture, or cruel or 
> inhuman
> > > or degrading treatment.”
> > >
> > > • We should note that the National Catholic Reporter of March 24, 
> 2006
> > > reports that Catholics--more than the public at large, more than
> > > Protestants, and more than Evangelicals, support interrogational
> > > torture. Secular Americans were most likely to reject 
> interrogational
> > > torture.
> > >
> > > Then, we must turn from confessing complicity with the culture of
> > > torture to the abolition of torture and to reconciliation in 
> societies
> > > of justice and lovingkindness.
> > >
> > > =====
> > >
> > > After the crucifixion, Jesus’ community—the real target of His
> > > torture--gathered at Olivet.
> > >
> > > All these devoted themselves with one accord to prayer,
> > >
> > > They reaffirmed their faith in the message, the movement, and the 
> kind
> > > of civil society that had been entrusted to them.
> > >
> > > Whoever is made to suffer as a Christian should not be ashamed,
> > > but should glorify God because of the name.
> > >
> > > Reconciliation means accepting our responsibility for building a
> > > culture against torture.
> > >
> > > We are responsible for knowing the facts. Research by the CIA, the
> > > Army, and the National Defense Intelligence University all show 
> that
> > > interrogational torture is ineffective. It does not defuse ticking
> > > time bombs. The television show "24” lies. Torture:
> > >
> > > • Produces bad information that leads to bad policy and needless
> > > dangerous battlefield sorties.
> > > • Radicalizes survivors
> > > • Makes it impossible to recruit human intelligence.
> > > • Alienates populations.
> > > • Causes an enemy to fight to the death rather than to surrender.
> > > • Undercuts the possibility of appealing for the humane treatment 
> of
> > > our own soldiers who are taken POW.
> > >
> > > We are responsible for resisting the culture of torture.
> > >
> > > • Bishop Tutu and Nelson Mandela were freed by our solidarity with
> > > their cause.
> > > • Our amens enabled Martin Luther King to beat back the culture of 
> Jim
> > > Crow.
> > > • Our complacency allowed Major Roberto D'Aubuisson to assassinate
> > > Archbishop Romero and his forces to oversee the defiling and 
> murder of
> > > the Maryknoll sisters.
> > > • Our complacency allowed the sadistic guards at Abu Ghraib to go
> > > about their business; but our unwillingness to put their 
> photographs
> > > aside saved countless lives.
> > >
> > > Oona Hathaway, a law professor at Yale University studied 160 
> nations
> > > some of which torture and others of which do not. She found that 
> the
> > > witness of the Mothers of the Plaza in Argentina, the honesty of 
> the
> > > Chilean Medical Association, or the dignified protests of the 
> lawyers
> > > of Pakistan summoned nations towards curbing the scourge of 
> torture.
> > >
> > > In such facts and examples, we can discern the path of 
> reconciliation.
> > >
> > > We must summon the courage to be inconvenienced by the culture of
> > > torture.
> > >
> > > We must accept responsibility for rejecting the culture of torture 
> in
> > > our personal and collective actions, including our acts of > 
> citizenship.
> > >
> > > We must lift our voices and hands in solidarity with civil 
> communities
> > > of justice and lovingkindness in order to move from confession to 
> the
> > > abolition of torture.
> > >
> > > Everywhere we go
> > > People want to know
> > > Who we are
> > > So we tell them
> > > We are the people
> > > The mighty mighty people
> > Everywhere we go
> > People want to know
> > Who we are
> > So we tell them
> > We are the people
> > The mighty mighty people
> > _________________________________________________________________
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Everywhere we go
People want to know
Who we are
So we tell them
We are the people
The mighty mighty people