Marianne Williamson, standing beneath the statue of the Risen Christ in St. Joan’s Church, tells the crowd that fills the sanctuary that our country is being crucified by the forces of fear and repression. Resurrection will come, she points out, when these forces are banished by an awakened public. It is then that our democracy will come back more strong, more beautiful than ever. Marianne, an author and activist, talks about Paul Wellstone’s death leaving a huge hole in the fabric of our society. He was a beacon of light and hope to all Americans, she claims. But his ideas, and his spirit, will die only if we don’t keep them alive.

If Democracy is neglected, she says, something else will take its place. Only an enlightened constituency will bring about enlightened leadership.   

She says Joe Hill, the legendary labor organizer, told his followers, ”Don’t mourn. Organize.”    Gandhi’s advice was “in the midst of darkness, act as though the light has already come,” even when all the evidence is to the contrary because no lie can last forever. To organize around money alone is a lie. Truth has a cosmic energy: it cannot die.   

Williamson points to the changes that have come about in the last few years in medical treatment. Instead of a flat approach to illness and disease, doctors now take a multidimensional approach to healing and treat both their patients’ souls and bodies with  science and with spiritual and psychological tools. It’s called integrative medicine.

Both Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. harnessed Love, as exemplified by Jesus, to bring about broad scale social changes in the cause for good, Marianne told us.

What our country needs, Williamson asserts, is a movement toward more holistic politics that look beyond the typical military response. In her opinion, a Department of Peace with a Cabinet position will fulfill that need and bring about the healing that we currently lack. Such a department will be able to offer non-violent solutions to both domestic and international conflicts. A Peace Academy will teach students how to wage peace.

Williamson declares that there are three things that can predict with 70 percent accuracy an outbreak of violence any where in the world: (1) high infant mortality, (2) lack of access to a direct market, and (3) lack of access to governmental influence. These are the conditions which bring about danger to our national security, she says.

Currently America is spending $400 billion a year to promote our military industrial complex. When the American flag is flying over schools, medical facilities and new housing, instead of leading machines of death and destruction, our country will regain the high regard it once had in the world and peace will begin to reign. This kind of effort, not just destroying what we don’t want, will bring about a whole new system of government where the Department of Peace will have a place at the table. There it can offer conflict resolution and mediation as alternatives to force to settle differences.   

Fortunately for us, we don’t have to bring about this kind of massive change in our society all by ourselves. It¹s already in the works. Congressman Dennis Kucinich has introduced a bill (H.R. 1673) into the House of Representatives that would establish nonviolence as an organizing principle of American society. It would provide the President with an array of peace-building policy options for domestic and international use. Minnesota Representatives Jim Oberstar, Betty McCullum and Martin Sabo have already given their support to this bill. Let them know you are proud of that support and urge them to recruit others in Congress to support it, too, Williamson says.

A Department of Peace would:

  1. Domestically  develop policies to address domestic violence, child abuse, and mistreatment of the elderly
  2. Internationally  gather research, analyze foreign policy and make recommendations to the President on how to address the root causes of war and intervene before violence begins; improve national security, protect human rights
Here’s what you can do to help:
  1. Write or call your Congress people to let them know that you think this idea is vital for our country at this moment in history.
  2. Call or email your friends and family and ask them to do the same
  3. Go to Washington, D.C. on the weekend of Sept. 10 - 11 for the 3rd annual Department of Peace Conference
  4. Learn more and register at www.ThePeaceAlliance.org or call (586) 754-8105 for further information
Williamson ends her remarks with a call to reclaim our citizenship. She emphasizes that an effort such as this won’t happen overnight, but that it will happen if enough of us become “part-time politicians,” something Dwight Eisenhower recommended when he was president.“³To be conscious in America today means to experience some level of pain,” she says, and quoted Gandhi, “To bear witness is an important moral power.”

There is a current bumper sticker that says, “If you aren’t enraged, you haven’t been paying attention.” Buddah, when asked about his spiritual path, said, “I remain awake.”
Jo Welch-Youngren worked with Harvey Egan in the early days of St. Joan of Arc. At that time she, Cy and Joan Speltz, Nancy Anderson, Darlene Arbuckle, Ferry Deslauriers, and John McGowan made up the staff. We all pitched in and did everything that needed doing and had a ball every day. Jo’s first husband, Jack Welch, was buried from St. Joan’s in 1980. Later she married Dave Youngren, moved to New Mexico, then returned to her roots. Now she and Dave sit on the left side center at the 9:00 o’clock Mass on Sundays and love every minute of it. Jo can be reached at joandave@ties2.net.
  

What Williamson seems to be saying is that the Resurrection of our country is possible if each of us takes on our portion of the burden, and just as important, stays awake.
MarySue Hansen has been a parishioner of St. Joan of Arc for over 11 years. She lives in St. Paul and treks over to S. Mpls every Sunday Morning for 9 o'clock mass, community and spiritual renewal. She lives and breathes community, loves children, and believes strongly in the power of collective learning and action. She is the Director of a collaborative community working to improve protective factors for children in Suburban Ramsey County.


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