IN THE BELLY OF THE WHALE

House Notes, compiled by Liz McAlister

The Supervised Release status of Sisters Ardeth and Carol (and Jackie), has been a relentless saga. Their P. O. in Denver requested that Judge Blackburn remove them from supervised release - unsuccessfully completed . This designation would mean that the next time they faced sentencing they would have extra points against them which would increase their prison time. Their prosecutor wanted the supervised release to continue without supervision (if that makes any sense). His goal was to keep them under censure so that any action of theirs might be a violation of release conditions as well as a “crime” in and of itself. The judge never ruled on it. Under this cloud, and still unable to get permission to travel, the nuns traveled to Michigan in April for time with their religious community and families - without permission but fully informing their P.O. of their decision, intent and schedule. They went to Michigan again in July-August - this time for meetings at their Mother House where their religious community is discerning a corporate stance against all weapons of mass destruction. This focus is a direct consequence of the nuns' powerful witness. In addition, their film - Conviction - appears in film festivals all over the country. Then they traveled to California for some time with Ardeth's family. They are away again as I write, this time combining Dominican area meeting with speaking throughout the state of Michigan. And their judge has allowed as he has no difficulty with their travel now as long as they do not engage in acts of resistance.

In early spring, Jonah House prepared for, welcomed and worked with student groups from St. John's and St. Ben's - Collegeville and St. Joseph, MN - Loyola, Chicago, and De Paul University, Chicago. We do a series of presentations (two each day) on nonviolence, community, spirituality and resistance, work with the students, prepare and share meals together, and engage in lots of sharing in small groups. Each week had its highlights and we find the time with them valuable. It's a grace to see the way each person in the community interacts with the students and interprets the theme s/he is presenting. (Mike Uca-Dorn writes about our efforts with student groups in this issue.)

We prepared for and participated in the Holy Week Faith and Resistance Retreat. There were a couple of highlights of this Holy Week. One was the four distinct community groups that interacted and enriched one another: the Loras College group from Dubuque, IA, a group of high school students from St. Cloud, MN, a group from the New Jerusalem Community in Philadelphia, PA and the folks who comprise the general faith and resistance community. The other was having Shelley and Jim Douglass with us. Each offered a stirring presentation. And both are so humble, they made us feel as if we did them a favor by asking them to drive from Birmingham , AL and back again and share their lives with us. We had the privilege of a visit with them at Jonah House after the retreat. Jim's reflection is on the Jonah House web site; it is well worth your taking the time to read it in full. (Eda Uca-Dorn shares a brief of Jim's presentation on Martin Luther King's assassination in this issue). He's been writing on that assassination and those of Malcolm X, JFK and Robert Kennedy.

Jonah House participated in the Christian Peace Witness on March 16th which began with a briefing at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, moving to an interfaith prayer service at the National Cathedral, then a candlelight procession to the White House, encircling that darkness with light. 3,000 people joined in prayer at the cathedral and over 700 committed to risk arrest at the White House. Three of us from Jonah House were part of the arrest scenario. As luck or design would have it, we went from a week of spring to a return to winter with heavy rain and snow and a 40 degree drop in temperatures. Participation in that kept us from participation in the Pentagon witness on the 17th. One cannot do it all. Too much and never enough. How to continue and to keep our feet to the fire.

A number of us have been in and out of court for our witness in September at the Capitol - Declaration of Peace - for arrests at the Pentagon and White House, for the Christian Peace Witness. They were amazing court scenes - at times four distinct arrest scenarios were tried together. People were reserved, each taking a piece of the action and doing it without grandstanding. Despite being told that this was civil resistance, that we violated no law, the judge repeatedly found us guilty and sentenced us to pay into the victims' fund. These experiences do not increase our faith in our judicial system. But we, as a nation, crow about our legal system and justice for all . It was enough to make one weep and rage.

On the home front, we had a list of sizeable projects: replacing rot, scraping, priming and painting the trim on both houses; replacing damaged siding boards; putting oil treatment on the siding, decks and stairs. We got professionals to replace the roof on the caretaker's cottage and insert a liner in its chimney. Another big task for us this summer was to fence in the rear of the cemetery from the back of the pasture to the perimeter fence. It meant clearing a space for the fence, measuring and digging holes, tamping in posts and then stretching and attaching fence. The animals love it. And they have their work cut out for them there. We have lots of cut trees and limbs stacked, ready for cutting and splitting for the winter's heat. That is the current project.

The garden has been a joy from planting to keeping up with the miracle of its produce. We thinned the fruit on the trees and cut back the forsythia and engaged the perennial weeding. And then, did I mention weeding and/or mowing? There were days and weeks of weeding, mowing, harvesting, canning and freezing the fruits of this earth as well as tons distributed to our neighbors each week. It continues to be bountiful.

Gary and Eden moved into their apartment in Charles Village on June 1. Gary took an LSAT prep class and, after the test will begin applications to law school. They expect a child in January. Their apartment looked good but proved not so good, so, on September 1 they moved into the apartment at Joe Morton's, vacated by Katy Lauter who is going to graduate school.

We had two wonderful experiences with interns through the summer and Josh Cohen writes in this issue about his time with us. He left in September and we miss him mightily.

We prepared for the August 5 - 9 retreat trying to focus on Global War and its assault on the environment. We were in D.C. from the 5th through 9th of August - a witness at the Pentagon one day, the next at the DOE and walking from there to Bechtel offices and witnessing there, the next at the Military Archdiocese and finally at the Blight House. Our web site, www.jonahhouse.org has a good account and photos of the events. The White House on the 9th was the most surprising in that we met a totally different (read more repressive) arrest scenario. Three people, including Keeley Coleville from the Amistad Catholic Worker in CT, a juvenile, were arrested and sent through the system (including the juvenile system).

A major focus for August was the marriage of Eda Uca and Mike Dorn who met here last August and, when he moved here in September 2006, began to become deeply attracted and attached to each other. They were married at St. Peter Claver on August 18th. They plan to stay on with us into 2008 - dates to be determined depending on where they decide to go. The wedding was replete with inevitable last minute changes, crises and preparations. There was a wonderful dinner and gathering at Viva House the night before the wedding. Then, we borrowed and set up the big tent and had a gathering here after the ceremony; bride and groom were lovely and the service beautiful but modest, reflective of them. They left that afternoon for Ocean City and time alone; we met up with them at the ALC retreat in Voluntown Labor Day weekend and brought them home.

In the spring, we tried to add a donkey to our animal herd. The little guy had three strikes against him: he was an intact male which the other animals found threatening; he was a miniature which they found inexplicable; and he bore signs of abuse which made him less than trustworthy. So we are trying again with the little female pictured below with my grandson, Amos. We named her Vinnie Quayle for the president of the Board of St. Peter's Cemetery Foundation. It was Vinnie's request that the next animal be named for him; he had never had anyone named for him.. She seems to be doing much better. She is female, very young and standard sized. We have great hopes for her.

We grieve over the earth. Eda, Mike and Kevin Jones attended a weekend conference at GWUniversity - “Confronting the Triple Crisis: Climate Change, Peak Oil, Global Resource Depletion.” (Eda writes about the conference in this issue of Year One.) They were overwhelmed by the realities we face and by the information shared that weekend.

We grieve over our leadership. Many are forthright in denouncing Bush as the worst leader that the world has experienced. Back in January, I had an image of congress turning their backs on him for the State of the Union address- a sight, alas, that we never will see.

We grieve over the relentless killing and lack of reverence for the sacredness of all of life.

As often as we can, we bring that grief to the streets in public witness against war, weapons of mass destruction and all that kills the spirit so alive in every aspect of creation. (See account of the “Rivers of Blood” action - one of the many - in this issue.) At present, we have begun to plan for the Faith and Resistance Retreat for the Feast of the Innocents, Dec. 27 - 30. Be with us if you can.