Marv Davidov

by Randy Furst

Marv Davidov, an iconic figure in the Minnesota peace movement who founded and led the Honeywell Project in a decades-long campaign to halt the production of anti-personnel weapons by the Honeywell Corp., died Saturday afternoon, January 14, 2012, at Walker United Health Care Center in Minneapolis.

Davidov, who also was active in the civil rights movement in the 1960s and beyond, was 80, and had suffered from a number of health problems.

A chain smoker until recent years, he was an immediately recognizable figure at protests, with his large mustache, blue skipper's cap, almost always wearing a T-shirt with a protest slogan on it.

In 1983, nearly 600 protesters were arrested outside Honeywell's Minneapolis headquarters in a civil disobedience action, the type of demonstration that Davidov and his allies had organized so many times that it was honed to a fine art.

For years during the Vietnam War era, Davidov carried around a deactivated cluster bomb, the size of a softball, to show anyone who would listen that Honeywell was creating weapons being used by the U.S. military. He said the weapons indiscriminately killed innocent civilians in Southeast Asia.

Honeywell eventually spun off its defense contract work to Alliant Techsystems.

Davidov estimated that he was arrested 40 or 50 times, mainly in antiwar and civil rights demonstrations.

He was one of the original Freedom Riders, young people who rode on buses through the South in 1961 to desegregate bus transportation and terminals.  He and five other white youths from the Twin Cities were arrested at a blacks-only lunch counter in a Greyhound bus station in Jackson, Miss., when they refused to comply with police orders to move on.

In a hospital room interview Thursday, January 12, Davidov, although sedated with pain medication for a worsening circulatory problem, spoke with animation about being locked up for 40 days with other civil rights demonstrators at a Mississippi prison farm. Black and white protesters were incarcerated together, he said.

"We were the first group of integrated prisoners in Mississippi state prison history," Davidov said with a smile.

'An inspiration to many'

In an autobiography he wrote with Carol Masters, he described himself as a "nonviolent revolutionary."  One of Davidov's admirers was Daniel Ellsberg, the White House consultant who leaked the Pentagon Papers about U.S. military decision-making in Vietnam to the media. Ellsberg, who later became a peace activist, helped raise money for the Honeywell Project at Davidov's invitation.

"Thanks to people like him, we're still hanging on as a species," Ellsberg said. "His nonviolence and his indefatigability and energy are an inspiration to many people.

"He's lived a good life, and I told him so" when he spoke to Davidov by phone on Friday, Ellsberg said.

Last week, as Davidov's medical condition worsened, a number of peace activist friends kept a hospital vigil. "It's one of those great things that happens," Davidov said. "This kind of solidarity and love and support that people give one another."

John LaForge, an antiwar activist friend, had brought a small refrigerator to his room with a bumper sticker on it that read, "No more war."

Bill Tilton, a St. Paul attorney, said he first met Davidov in 1969 at a sit-in at the University of Minnesota in support of the African American Action Committee, which was demanding more scholarships for blacks.

"Marv is one of my heroes," Tilton said. "He never took his eye off the ball of advocating for the rights of the underprivileged and accountability of government."

For years Davidov taught a class on "active nonviolence" at the University of St. Thomas. Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, who taught the class with him, said, "There was a warmth that came across when he related to students, a deeply respectful interaction in which Marv would share parts of his life story that awakened within students a possibility that they too could impact society."

Barbara Mishler said she got to know Davidov when she took a class of his at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church in south Minneapolis 30 years ago.

"When I first met him, I was so terrified of nuclear war," she recalls. "He said, 'Settle down and read and inform yourself, before you hit the streets.' "

Nothing to say? Hardly

Lying in bed, barely able to sit up on Thursday, Davidov welcomed a reporter.

Asked if he had any thoughts that he'd like to pass on to young people, Davidov thought for a moment, smiled and said, "I've been waiting for this interview my entire life, and now I've got nothing to say."

But as anyone who has ever known Davidov knows, he was never really at a loss for words, including on Thursday.

On the current presidential election campaign: "It reminds me of one of the books that Paul Goodman wrote in the 1950s -- 'Growing Up Absurd.' Once again the needs of the people who have most everything are satisfied first."

On this election year: "Find the people in your community who are probing reality and talking about how to fundamentally change it and work at a local level on these problems, creating peace, freedom and justice."

On the Occupy protests against Wall Street: "I thought it was great. The people were locating what their needs were and going out in the streets without compromise."

On the kind of memorial gathering he'd like: "I want people to remember and tell funny stories about me and the struggle, and try to create a deeper, more profound movement and build the numbers."

He is survived by a brother, Jerry Davidov, a retired Minneapolis firefighter. Services are pending with the Cremation Society of Minnesota.

Source:

http://www.startribune.com/local/137350833.html

An inspiring NPR interview with Marv before his death may be heard at this link:

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/www_publicradio/tools/media_player/popup.php?name=minnesota/news/programs/midday_2/2012/01/15/davidovmiddayfull_20120115_64

Sr. Claire O’Mara, OSU

Sister Claire O’Mara died peacefully at Andrus on January 8, 2012. She was 89 years old and resided at Andrus on Hudson in Hastings, NY.

She entered the Ursulines in 1945 and made her final vows in 1951. Her Ursuline life of service extended beyond the United States to Mexico City, from 1954 to 1966, with 1 year of tertianship in Rome during those years, and again in 1974 to 1976. She studied Spanish at Salamanca Pastoral Institute in Madrid in 1966-1967, and she went from there to serve in Miramar, Peru for 3 years.

When Claire returned to the United States, she found ways to use her language skills, her joy in life, and her ardent commitment to social justice by teaching, interpreting, and pastoral service at St. Angela Merici School in the Bronx, Hostos Community College, Mount St. Ursula Speech Center, Casita Maria, the Adult Learning Center n New Rochelle, and with migrants in Encinitas, California and Apopka, Florida.

In a demonstration calling for the close of the (then) School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia that trained foreign military, Claire was arrested and from May 31, 1996, served 2 months at the Danbury Federal Correctional Institution.

Claire held a bachelors’ degree in Spanish from the College of New Rochelle and a Masters in romance languages from Fordham University. The College of New Rochelle honored her along with Rosa Parks as a Woman of Conscience.

Claire was born May 20, 1922 to Mary Martha and John O’Mara in Worcester, Mass. She had five siblings: David, John, and Anne Ahearn, who predeceased her, and Christine Sullivan of Dedham, Mass. and Lucille Murphy of Harwichport, Mass.

Memorial gifts may be given to the Ursuline Retirement Fund, 1338 North Avenue, New Rochelle, NY 10804.

LA Catholic Worker Volunteer Daniel Jiru Dies

Daniel Jiru was more than just a religion teacher at St. Paul High School, but was a symbolic icon to the many youths who walked the hallways of St. Paul from the early 1970s to the late 2000s.

Jiru spearheaded the school's March for Hunger, where he encouraged students to take a stance against the existing social injustice in the United States.

The activist suffered from a malignant brain tumor for two years before he died on Dec. 22. He was 73.

Jiru was born in Janesville, WI., in 1938 and had one brother, Richard.  He belonged to the Salesians of Don Bosco and worked at St. Paul High School from 1972 until he retired in 2007.

Jiru founded the March for Hunger in 1972 where, according to the group's Facebook page, his mission was to, "Serve the poor of the Los Angeles area buy fund raising for the Catholic Worker Soup Kitchen in downtown. They serve 1800 meals a day."

"I think for me the most precious thing about Dan was that he always had the ideological sense of justice and compassion. What he gained from being at the kitchen was to have the time to be present to the lives of the poor and homeless," said close friend, Jeff Dietrich.

Jiru often spent his time sweeping the soup kitchen's garden and spoke with the the kitchen's visitors and got to know them.

According to Dietrich, over a period of close to 40 years, the youths at St. Paul raised about a million dollars for the soup kitchen.

"They are our biggest donors, contributors and supporters. Dan was not only someone who wanted to raise money for a good cause or charity, but he wanted to teach his kids about social justice and the disparity of wealth in our social system," said Dietrich.

Jiru designed the 26-mile walk to have participants walk from the poorest neighborhoods in East Los Angeles through Downtown Los Angeles and into Beverly Hills.

"He did this so those participating could gain a sense of how unjust our social system is and that we weren't just raising money for the homeless," said Dietrich.

Youths that Jiru taught would often visit the soup kitchen.

"We have parents who did this walk years ago as students at St. Paul and to this day they're still involved," said Dietrich.

"This was Dan's gift and his legacy continues with thousands of kids who are now adults and have a whole different world view and may not have had that had Dan not been there to teach them about compassion," he said.

Jiru lived in Whittier before moving to Long Beach eight years ago.

One of his greatest passions included running marathons in which participated in about 16 of them during his life.

"He participated in the Los Angeles Marathon 11 times until 2006 when we both ran it together," said Dietrich.

"He was the most profound human being in my life," said his son, Eric Jiru.

"This man lived such a wonderful and inspirational life that I feel others need to know and understand what this man brought to the world," said Jiru.

Jiru is survived by his wife, Irene, son, and granddaughter, Charlotte.

______

Source:

Jiru, activist and former teacher, dead at 73 - Whittier Daily Newshttp://www.whittierdailynews.com/news/ci_19652350#ixzz1iW73SohP

Rita Corbin Dies, 81

by Claire Schaeffer-Duffy

Taken on Rita's 80th birthday. Photo by Bob Fitch.

Artist Rita Corbin, whose tender line drawings graced the pages of Catholic Worker journals for decades, died Nov. 17 from injuries suffered in a car crash. She was 81.

Corbin decided early in life to become an artist, choosing to major in art while attending Cathedral High School in New York City.

"The school was keen on turning out secretaries," she said, "but I refused to learn to type. I knew I didn't want to go into business on pure instinct, I guess. I needed a major and art appealed to me the most."

For Corbin, the artistic endeavor could not be separated from one's political and religious consciousness. She considered the work of the artist to be "a real struggle to bring some kind of form and feeling out of the materials one uses and the society one lives in."

Corbin's society included the natural world as well as the poor. Both were frequent subjects of her illustrations. Her etchings and pen and ink drawings of trees, flowers and birds have been described as lyrical celebrations of nature. Her figurative work has been likened to that of German painter, printer and sculptor Kathe Kollwitz.

Unassuming in demeanor, Corbin was a prolific artist. Over the course of her life, she produced a voluminous and expansive body of work that explored a variety of styles and subject matter. Much of this art was created while Corbin was living in pacifist collectives and raising children. She donated a lot of her work and later said, "In retrospect, maybe I shouldn't have given away so much to people who could pay for it. It's not fair to other artists for me to work entirely for free."

Her artwork enjoyed wide-ranging publication. Corbin's images appeared in Commonweal, Harvard Theological Review, several pacifist magazines and numerous Catholic and liturgical publications. She illustrated books, including Thomas Merton's Ishi Means Man, painted a mural in Chicago and annually produced Christmas cards and a calendar.

But Corbin is best known for her countless contributions to The Catholic Worker newspaper first published in New York in 1933. She, along with liturgical artist Ade Bethune and illustrator Fritz Eichenberg, formed what one editor of The Catholic Worker referred to as the "Holy Trinity" of artists whose work shaped the look and feel of the newspaper during its formative years.

Rita Corbin's famous depiction of the Works of Mercy.

Her now-famous etching contrasting the Works of War with the Works of Mercy was emblematic of the Catholic Worker movement's commitment to Christian pacifism and solidarity with the poor. It has been reproduced in Catholic Worker journals all over the country.

Editors described her as a most agreeable and responsive artist, able to produce images in a timely manner.

"If we said we needed something for the newspaper, Rita would do it. She understood the importance of the work," said Patrick Jordan, a former editor of The Catholic Worker and now managing editor of Commonweal.

Rita Corbin's famous depiction of the works of mercy, seen in Catholic Worker communities across the country.Jordan said Corbin "had a way of picturing the poor that was obvious it wasn't from afar. ... There was one picture she drew of a woman at the [Catholic Worker] soup kitchen standing beside a dining room table where someone had scrawled, 'Joy, Joy, Joy.' Rita caught that detail. For a journal that didn't use photographs, she conveyed a great deal with a certain clarity that worked very well for a newspaper."

Writer and publisher Robert Ellsberg, who edited The Catholic Worker in the late 1970s, praised Corbin's regard for the natural world.

"A lot of the famous Catholic Worker artists like Bethune and Eichenberg brought a heavy, narrative approach to the paper," he said. "Rita always brought a more celebratory and decorative approach that came out of the [Catholic Worker] farming communities. Her images from nature reflected as much of a concrete dimension of the Catholic Worker movement as those depicting the Houses of Hospitality."

Indeed, Corbin said she considered some of her best art to be her drawings of nature and the poor, "those on the fringes of society, the same kinds of people Christ came to heal and teach."

Born May 21, 1930, in Indianapolis, Corbin was the youngest daughter of Carmen and Hubert Hamm. The family was very poor and traveled throughout the country while Hubert Hamm, an organist, played for magic shows.

After graduating from Cathedral High School, Corbin remained in New York to pursue training in art. She was awarded a scholarship to Franklin School of Professional Art, a three-year advertising school, then later studied with Hans Hoffman, a master of abstract expressionism. She also took classes at the Arts Student League of New York City.

But Corbin said much of her artistic education came from wandering through New York's galleries and parks, simply observing.

Upon graduating from advertising school, Corbin was offered a job at an agency, which she declined. When later asked if she regretted refusing a potentially lucrative career, Corbin said, "What I do is kind of commercial, but I have control. I consider myself an artist illustrator, not a fine artist, not a commercial artist."

Corbin first visited the New York Catholic Worker on New Year's Day in 1950. Like many before her, she was immediately recruited to help in the kitchen. She made friends with the Catholic Workers and kept coming back to their home on the Lower East Side to attend Friday night meetings, bake bread, serve soup, support a strike or demonstrate against the city's civil defense drills.

"The Catholic Worker was my school, my education," she once said.

The Catholic Worker first published Corbin's art in 1954. Two years later she married Marty Corbin, a Catholic intellectual. For 10 years, the couple lived in Glen Gardner, N.J., in an intentional community founded by pacifist Dave Dellinger.

As artist and writer, the Corbins contributed to Liberation, a radical, pacifist monthly. Conditions in Glen Gardner were very tough. The Corbins lived in an un-insulated chicken coop. Their firstborn, a son, died in infancy, the first of many losses in Corbin's life. Three daughters were also born in Glen Gardner.

In the mid-'60s, the family moved to the Catholic Worker farm at Tivoli, N.Y. Marty Corbin edited The Catholic Worker. A son and another daughter were born.

After spending 10 years at Tivoli, the Corbins relocated to Montreal, where Marty taught English at a local college. Rita separated from her husband four years later, and with her children, moved back to the United States. She lived in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., then Weston, Vt., where she became art director of Growth Associates publishers, then Worcester, Mass., where she studied printmaking with artist activist Tom Lewis.

At the time of her death, Corbin was living in Brattleboro, Vt., near her five children and grandchildren.

Once asked what advice she would give to young artists, Corbin said, "Keep working at it. It doesn't come easy. It's very fulfilling. A lot of young people think in terms of jobs and not vocations. It's very schizophrenic."

Source:
http://ncronline.org/news/people/rita-corbin-catholic-worker-artist-dies-81

Remembering Dean Brackely

The University of Central America (UCA) in San Salvador, El Salvador, has announced that Fr. Dean Brackley, S.J., passed away October 16, 2011.  He was  sixty-five years old and had been living, teaching, and ministering in El Salvador for the majority of the past eleven years.

After the 1989 murder of six Jesuit priests at the UCA in El Salvador, Brackley volunteered to leave the U.S. for the war-torn country and begin ministering as a professor, academic administrator, and pastoral minister to poor communities in El Salvador.  He became known as a passionate theologian, writer, and advocate for the poor of Central America and throughout the world.  He spoke at many Jesuit universities across the U.S. about solidarity and social justice and at various times taught at a number of them as well.  In 2003, Brackley spoke at the Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice, in Columbus, Georgia.   In 2004, he released well known book “The Call to Discernment in Troubled Times”.

Brackley entered the Society of Jesus in 1964, became a priest in 1976, and earned a doctorate in Religious Social Ethics from the University of Chicago’s Divinity School in 1980.

Read the statement from the UCA at: https://www.facebook.com/UCA.ElSalvador/posts/10150363510022722

Articles, Audio, and Video Excerpts from Dean Brackley, S.J.:

Higher Standards for Higher Education: The Christian University and Solidarity

Speech at Creighton University – November 4, 1999

Enemies of War: Yanquis Return to El Salvador

PBS – 2001

The Jesuit University in a Broken World

Loyola Marymount University – January 25, 2005

“Justice in Higher Education” Keynote Address

John Carroll University – October 16, 2005

Audio Interview with Dean Brackley

Commonweal Magazine – February 21, 2008

Brackley Receives Pedro Arrupe Award at University of Scranton

University of Scranton – May 3, 2010

Migrants: Illegals or God’s Ambassdors

National Catholic Reporter – March 14, 2010

Obama’s visit to the land of Romero leaves behind questions

National Catholic Reporter – March 24, 2011

Jesuit who replaced slain Salvadoran priests dies

National Catholic Reporter – October 17, 2011

Meeting the Victim, Loving the Poor (introduction by James Martin, S.J.)

America Magazine – October 19, 2011

Video Reflection created by former students and friends of Fr. Brackley

YouTube – October 20, 2011

Rev. Dean Brackley, 65, Dies; Served in El Salvador

New York Times – October 29, 2011

Books written by Dean Brackley, S.J.:

The Call to Discernment in Troubled Times: New Perspectives on the Transformative Wisdom of Ignatius of Loyola Divine Revolution: Salvation and Liberation in Catholic Thought

Jackie Hudson, nun who believed in nuclear disarmament, dies at age 76

August 5, 2011

POULSBO, WA — Jackie Hudson, a Poulsbo-based Dominican nun who spent decades demonstrating in support of nuclear disarmament, died at Harrison Medical Center on Wednesday. She was 76.

Hudson died from a type of blood cancer, according to the Kitsap County Coroner's Office.

She was diagnosed in June, said Sue Ablao, who has demonstrated in favor of nuclear disarmament with Hudson since the 1990s.

The two started managing and living at the Poulsbo-based peace organization Ground Zero for Nonviolent Action Center two years ago. The center organizes educational events and nonviolent protests focused on nuclear abolishment.

Hudson organized and led Ground Zero's nonviolent events, connecting with nuclear disarmament groups around the country.

Her activism landed her in federal prison three times, according to her brother, Frank Hudson.

"But I could not be prouder of her. I have always looked up to her and her stand on things and her willingness to put her life on it," Hudson said in a phone interview from his Michigan home.

The two grew up in a Catholic household in Central Michigan and attended Catholic schools.

Jackie Hudson surprised her family when she decided to become a Dominican nun when she turned 18. No one knew she was that serious, he said.

She received music training from the VanderCook College of Music in Chicago, then went on to teach music in her hometown for 30 years, Frank Hudson said.

During that time, her brother said, she began reading about global warming issues and learned how nuclear production contributed to the problem.

So she quit teaching music to participate in nuclear disarmament events in Michigan. Although small in size — Hudson was only 4 feet and 10 inches tall — she did not back down, her brother said.

In 1990 in Michigan, Hudson was sentenced to six months in jail for her involvement in a protest. In another Michigan incident, on an Easter Sunday, Hudson and other activists spray-painted "Christ lives, Disarm" on empty bunkers, according to Ablao.

"A lot of people respected her commitment and thoughtful concern on issues," Ablao said. "She was very action-oriented and at the same time, acted with deep discernment and thought."

Ablao has family in Bremerton, and she and Hudson decided to move there in 1993 after Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Michigan closed. Wurtsmith had been home to nuclear-armed B-52 bombers.

The two wanted to move to Bremerton because there was opportunity to continue their nuclear disarmament education, Ablao said.

Hudson found work as a driver for Kitsap Transit for about six years before she retired, according to Ablao.

The two continued to organize nuclear disarmament events out of their house until the Ground Zero Center building opened two years ago.

Hudson's cancer diagnosis came just weeks after her most recent run-in with the law.

In July 2010, Hudson and 13 other protesters trespassed onto Department of Energy property in Tennessee, gathered in a circle, prayed and sang. The group was charged with trespassing in May and was awaiting sentencing in prison when Hudson's health started deteriorating.

Authorities eventually dropped her charges and let Hudson return back to Poulsbo, according to Ablao.

Hudson's death comes within days of Ground Zero's events to commemorate World War II atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

"Her death was a big shock to all of us. I think (her death) will renew and rededicate myself this weekend for this long struggle to abolish nuclear weapons," said Leonard Eigar, a Ground Zero member.

A celebration of Hudson's life is planned for 1:30 p.m. Aug. 13 at the Ground Zero Center in Poulsbo, located at 16159 Clear Creek Road NW.

Original source: http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2011/aug/05/jackie-hudson-nun-who-fought-for-nuclear-dies-at/

George Albert Pettit, 1954-2011

George Pettit on bottom left, at the Nevada Test in November 1987 during Dorothy Day's 90th birthday CWer gathering (with Jack and Felice Cohen-Joppa and kids, Brian Flagg and Jim Walsh.

After spending a lifetime making the world a more peaceful place, George "Jorge" Pettit left this world peacefully at home in Tucson on July 26, 2011. Born September 7, 1954, in Libby, Montana, he was a graduate of Montana State and taught school on the Crow Reservation before moving to Tucson in 1986.

A loving and compassionate husband, father, brother, and friend, he was preceded in death by his mother Catherine (Roberts) and stepmother Helen (Caulkins). He is survived by his wife Debra "Debbie" (Bjorndahl); children, Catherine "Katie" and Lydia; father, Francis; and siblings, Betts, Joan, Joe, Margee, Julie, and Patty.

George was an angel on Earth, always generously giving to others; first through the Casa Maria Catholic Worker House in Tucson http://www.casamariatucson.org/, where he lived and worked for 19 years and is considered the "Soul of Casa Maria," with the Pima County Interfaith Council (PCIC), and then through public service with Tucson City Council member Karin Uhlich.

George's lifelong selflessness made him a friend to all who knew him.  And what a friend he was.

He considered his greatest achievement to be his two daughters, Katie and Lydia, who, with his beloved and devoted wife Debbie, will carry on his legacy of love.

His family wants to thank all of the doctors, nurses, and caretakers that gave us five years more than he could have had. You are miracle workers. We also send our love to all friends and family who have been by his side all of these years.

If there are saints walking the Earth today, George was one of them. He lived his life caring for the least among us. So please, in lieu of flowers, give of yourself in some way to the service of others. When asked by his sister, Joan, in his final days if there was anything he needed her to finish, he whispered gently, "The Revolution."

Condolences can be sent to George’s family at 5341 E 10th, Tucson, AZ 85711. Condolences can be sent to Francis Pettit at 878 S. Palmetto St. Cornelius, OR 97113.

Photo: George Pettit on bottom left, at the Nevada Test in November 1987 during Dorothy Day's 90th birthday CWer gathering (with Jack and Felice Cohen-Joppa and kids, Brian Flagg and Jim Walsh)