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PDF versionUrsuline sister, SOA prisoner of conscience, dies
by Joshua J. McElwee on Jan. 13, 2012
An undated photo provided by Ursuline Sr. Madeline Welch shows Sr. Claire O'Mara holding a protest sign.Ursuline Sr. Claire O’Mara, a Massachusetts native who spent 17 years in Latin America with her order before later spending time in jail in protest of the School of the Americas, passed away Jan. 8, the feast of the Epiphany, in New York. She was 89.
O’Mara, who entered the Ursulines in 1945, was known for her dedication to the people of Mexico, Peru, and the Bronx, and to issues of social justice.
Compelled by the story of fellow Ursuline Sr. Dorothy Kazel, O’Mara was arrested at the gates of Fr. Benning, Ga., at the age of 74 in November, 1994, along with twelve others.
Asked on the eve of her trial for the action whether she was scared of possibly going to jail, O'Mara said in a 1996 interview with NCR that she was “too old to be nervous” about going to prison.
O’Mara also said it was partly the Kazel’s story that inspired her to make a 25-hour train ride to join the protest.
Kazel was one of four U.S. churchwomen who were killed by graduates of the School of the Americas while working in El Salvador in 1980.
Now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation and located at Fort Benning, the school trains soldiers from Latin America.
During the 1996 trial of the 13 SOA protesters, Judge Robert Elliot initially sentenced O’Mara and the only other female in the group, 59-year-old Mennonite volunteer Jo Anne Lingle, to probation.
After O’Mara and Lingle protested, asking to be given prison sentences just like their male counterparts, Elliot sentenced them both to two months in prison.
Partly for her witness in the SOA action, O’Mara was recognized by the College of New Rochelle, her alma mater, with a “woman of conscience” award in 1997, along with Rosa Parks and another alumna who had founded a food kitchen and pantry to serve impoverished people in the New Rochelle area.
O’Mara was also honored with the Cleveland Ursuline Sisters’ “Sister Dorothy Kazel Alleluia” award in 2000, the year marking the 20th anniversary of Kazel’s murder in El Salvador.
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The website for that award says it honors those who are “serving others in the joy-filled, contemplative and justice-oriented spirit of Sister Dorothy.”
In her Jan. 11 eulogy for O’Mara, fellow Ursuline Sr. Martha Counihan reflected on how various changes in O’Mara’s life had led her to minister in places across the world, from Mexico City to Lima to the Bronx.
Even after a stroke had limited her activities in 2006, Counihan said O’Mara “propel[ed] herself around in a wheelchair, waving aside the treats and snacks urged upon her, living in the moment, reveling in so much, [and] expressing gratitude to all for everything.”
such as these lift us
such as these lift us upwards; such as these make us rise, and dare stand up tall and strong once more; upon the great shoulders of such as these we have Church, and build and go on, despite all which holds us back and casts us out, we have such as these, who bring us forth, never forgetting.
And it is nuns like this that
And it is nuns like this that the Vatican saw fit to send a "Apostolic Visit" to investigate and marginalize. Another instance of living proof that there is a horrible disconnect between the heirarchy and those that are - and always have been - the backbone of Christ's Church. May God bless her soul, as I am certain (S)He has all along.
Why not celebrate the life
Why not celebrate the life and witness of this incredible woman without using her death as a club to beat the Vatican with?
and the club with which we
and the club with which we have been beaten since the year of three popes (to use Hebblethwaithe's term)?
"The Pope's War (to use Fr. Matthew Fox's term)" club has taken its toll on our Church's Mystical Body.
Probably for the same reason
Probably for the same reason you felt compelled to respond to my posting. I do understand what you see as being inappropriate about it, but we obviously have different points of view. Thank you for sharing your thinking.
"Kazel was one of four U.S.
"Kazel was one of four U.S. churchwomen who were killed by graduates of the School of the Americas while working in El Salvador in 1980."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-ajAVHmTvQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A5X6yoryoY
Thank you, Sister.
http://osueast.org/?p=409
Roses in December recently
Roses in December recently arrived at the hermitage here. Please see it, again.
I can't say we have any
I can't say we have any Australian nuns [or priests for that matter] prepared to march on Parliament House or smiliar on obvious worldwde justice issues, but it won't be long before we have one I'm thinking of, if thing don't get any better.
It must be disheartening to be holding up members of an establishment, the referred to the "backbone of the church", continuing to let her down.
No Apostolic Visitations there, yet anyway.
We are inspired and humbled
We are inspired and humbled by Sister Claire O'Mara's example and grateful to Joshua McElwee and NCR for bringing this life to our attention again.
The SOA, regardless of any
The SOA, regardless of any latter day re-branding, is nothing more than a terrorism training school, a blight on the moral fabric of our nation, and a means for our government's CIA to continue meddling in the affairs of other nations — propping up tyrants who treat their own people shamefully but are politically 'useful' to our own national leaders.
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It's not just the slaughter of foreign citizens either (men, women, children), but also slaughter of unarmed missionaries, such as occurred in El Salvador. One cannot help but wonder if/when this U.S.-grown, government-funded terrorist organization will ultimately be turned against our own citizens on our own shores. Think about the violent rhetoric, nationalistic exceptionalism, and the growing militarization being called for in some political quarters. The Machiavellian mindset can justify anything.
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Read John Dear's words about the final end of one Maryknoll lay missioner and her three companion nuns (two Maryknoll, one Ursuline), to see what graduates of the SOA are capable of. How could Sr. Claire do otherwise than she did in the face of such atrocities enabled and promoted by our own militaristic government? ...and BTW, where are the voices of the USCCB, ...where their lobbying and activism funding in the face of this moral abomination — something truly “intrinsically disordered” and overtly evil?
http://www.johndear.org/articles/the_life_jean.htm
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Reading this piece reminded
Reading this piece reminded me that a couple of days ago on a different blog site a fellow requested the names of some good women theologians. Sr. Clare Mara's name can be added to the list I gave him. Clare's theology is one of living. It's definitely "faith seeking understanding", and it urges us to push boundaries like she did. So we respond with you, Clare, "Presente!" as your name is enrolled with those for whom you stood all these years.
God still raises up prophets.
God still raises up prophets. Praise God!
Our government, this current
Our government, this current administration, trains foreign military officers from countries with less than stellar human rights records ALL THE TIME - 24/7 365. Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Honduras, Benin, Indonesia, and the list goes on and on. And not just at Ft Benning, but at Maxwell AFB, Carlisle Barracks, Newport Rhode Island, Quantico, National War College, and others. What is this obsession with Ft Benning and the 1970's and '80's (Oh, sorry. Dumb question! I forgot for a moment that this is the NCR).
And may God have mercy on Sister O'Mara's soul, but when she set out to be arrested, and then INSISTED on jail time, against the judgement of the court, it kind of diminishes the heroic nature of her deeds, don't you think? (And let's not forget that Bill Clinton was president when she was arrested, and his Justice Department, under Janet Reno, who had her incarcerated.) What's next, do you have to ask the corrections officers to rough you up too, to increase your credibility?
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