Sr. Ardeth Platte, O.P. Writes from Prison:
Ramblings and Reflections #14
September 2004
Dear Communities, Family and Friends,
Your loving support is sustenance in every season. Please accept my gratitude personally.
IT IS ALL BLESSING
On September 8, 1954 I entered the Grand Rapids Michigan Dominican Sisters. I view it as a holy day, a leap in faith, a response to a calling that just could not be silenced within me. In this jubilee year I celebrate COMMUNITY – “unity with” the league of Dominican ancestors: Dominic, Thomas Aquinas, Catherine of Siena, Rose of Lima, Martin de Porres and many others. I celebrate with mentors and sages who share a love of creation, the social gospel, the charism of veritas – speaking truth, living truthfully and being itinerant preachers. These 50 years have been a Pentecost experience, a daily communion/Eucharist with so many circles of communities: The Dominican family, many hundreds of students and teachers, parishes in inner cities and suburban areas, with justice and peace communities.
I celebrate the decades of lived experience in organizing and coalitioning through the Home for Peace and Justice/Advocacy for Justice in Saginaw, with Loaves and Fishes Catholic Worker and Pax Christi Community in Marquette, and our faith-filled intentional Jonah House community in Baltimore.
MORE BLESSING
In these years of incarceration I'm becoming more aware of the global reality of these living communities. Yesterday the following message came from Carlos Acosta, Master of the Dominican Order and signed by friars on every continent and from many cities:
“We, your brothers and sisters in St. Dominic, meeting at the General Chapter of the Friars of the Order of Preachers at Krakow Poland, want to express our solidarity with you in this difficult moment. Your courage and determination are part of the Dominican message for truth and justice.
We join you in your protest against war and the indiscriminate loss of life and destruction to the environment which war causes. We sincerely pray to God with the intercession of St. Dominic to give you strength and hope, especially in times of solitude and discouragement. We will invite other brothers and sisters throughout the world to continue to pray for you.”
Sisters Jackie, Carol and I humbly receive similar supportive letters from people of every walk of life. We praise the God of Life Who brings all of us together in these common causes.
THANK GOD WITH ME
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!
GIFTS OF BOOKS
These books have arrived since my last list. We are having enlivened conversation at table as we share them. All the women here say thanks for the additional nourishment.
- Light Beyond by Raymond Moody, Jr., MD
- Profiles – Men and Women of the Bible edited by Branson L. Thurston
- Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver
- Repressed Memories by Renee Fredrickson, Ph.D.
- Radical Prayer by David J. Hassel, S.J.
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
- Just Peacemaking by Glen Stassen
- One Million Footsteps Across Spain by L. Carroll Yingling, Jr.
- Diary of Anne Frank
- A Treasury of Wisdom by Ken and Angela Abraham
- Reinventing Your Life by Jeffrey Young and Janet Klosko
and a subscription to Mother Jones
APPEAL UPDATE
Anabel Dwyer, one of our lawyers, received the 10thCircuit Court prosecutor's response to our Brief on August 6 th . She wrote to me saying: “On this 59 th anniversary of Hiroshima, it is fitting testimony about why we all do this work. Clearly we come from different planets from the prosecutors in whose world U.S. high-alert nuclear weapons are presumed innocent and nonviolent resisters to war crimes and genocide are presumed guilty.”
Her comment tells it all. When I read the response I wondered if the prosecutor was actually dealing with our case or taking the paragraphs right off the internet, material compiled in another century before weapons of mass destruction and nuclear weapons law.
Our clarification reiterated in response to the prosecutor is due September 17 th . Oral arguments are scheduled for Oct. 1 st . Some months after, the 3 judges will make their decision.
Colorado Coalition for Prevention of Nuclear War gathers on that same day to celebrate 20 years. Reserve Oct. 1 at 7:00 p.m. for that event in Denver. Call Tom 303-388-4954 for details.
On Oct. 2 nd there will be Citizen Inspection Teams at each of the 49 missile silos to heighten awareness of their illegal threatened use or use. For information: www.rmpjc.org
My LOVE and Gratitude Always,
Ardeth Platte 10857-039
Federal Correctional Institution
33 ½ Pembroke Station
f
Danbury, CT 06811
Sr. Ardeth Platte, O.P. in Danbury Prison |
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