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A WOMAN’S JOURNEY ... A CONVERSATION WITH PARISHIONER MARY WHITE

“It is this new position acquired by women in the society of our time, their new independence in relation to men, that gave us reason to anticipate that they would constitute a new fore in the work for peace. Bjørson seemed to see women as bringing the spirit of calm to the tumult of battle, with the prayer that love should prevail over the passion to kill, and to believe that when women obtained power in society and in the state, the very spirit of war must die.” - quoted from the award ceremony for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931. Given to Jane Addams an American women for her dedication to the cause of peace.

There is a line in the St. Joan of Arc Mission Statement that says we are a community that transcends traditional boundaries. One fast way of understanding why traditional boundaries and stereotypes do not work, is to have a conversation with Mary White, long time 9:00 Sunday Mass participant and currently President of the Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers.

Jim and Mary White

The simple name throws you off as does any attempt to call her home. The answering machine’s voice says “The White house, Minneapolis, we are not here, leave a message.” If you know anything about Mary White, not being at home would be understandable given her carefully chosen activities she has determined to give her time and energy to. Well actually Mary White is not just involved with the activities; she actually runs some of them, or sits with the major decision-makers. There are many people around Minneapolis that know who Mary White is if they are involved in mental health issues, HIV/AIDS ministries, or one of the forty or more peace groups.

Our lives or journeys have to start somewhere. Mary White is truly a homegrown woman. Mary was born and educated in Minneapolis. Mary attended Holy Angels Academy when it was an all girl school. She chose Trinity College in Washington, D.C. and after two years, she came home and finished her undergraduate degree at the University of Minnesota. Marriage followed to Jim White. He was working his way into his career as hematologist at the University Hospital. They had five children and mothering was Mary’s first post college career.

Jim and Mary White(here with Nurse Nosisa Dunga and Mary Lou Ott) were part of a recent delegation to Guguletu, South Africa.

Every one of us, in telling our stories will identify some event or some person, who just happens to come along and things change, or life changes. For Mary White, it was a friend who recruited her for the Minneapolis Junior League of Women. In the late 60’s or early 70’s that would not be considered a high-risk group to join. But the world of the status quo was changing and some of the members wanted change, they wanted to get more involved in the wider community. As Mary tells it, a training course was offered for about thirty women at a time. It was bravely entitled: Women’s Institute for Social Change. The group met weekly and kept journals and did was were called ‘urban plunges.’ The goal in the beginning was to educate the women participants on social issues in the community so that they would be able to influence their husbands. In reality the women may have influenced their husbands but more importantly, they discovered they could effect change themselves. For many it was life changing. In Mary’s case she decided to go back to school and get her Masters in Social Work. Her life and world was enlarged. Armed with a degree, she specialized in social research. She worked for Ramsey County on program evaluation, and was eventually employed by the National Association of Social Workers Minnesota Chapter in the area of continuing education. When one thinks of it, that is a long way from attending monthly meetings at the Junior League of Women, but she credits them in part for the transformation.

In 1993 Mary White’s life changed again, her oldest son Greg became ill with AIDS and Mary quit work to take care of him. Greg died a couple of months later in the home of his mother and father. Mary moved her interests into the small struggling world of AIDS ministry. She started to work at Grace House and she became interested in the Catholic Coalition for Sexual Minorities, a group dedicated to increasing understanding and acceptance for sexual minorities in the Catholic Church. Mary White has never taken on the easy causes in life and trying to develop programs for tolerance in the Catholic High schools has been an uphill battle. Gregory’s life and death has been an inspiration for Mary. He is referenced at times when she talks about various things she chooses to do.

After Greg died the family had to battle with another life issue, a family member with mental illness and Mary refused the role of victim, she didn’t choose to go back to work but decided to actively dedicate herself to yet another complex world of fighting for the needs and rights of those with serious or persistent mental illness. Mary White, when she talks about this, is extremely well versed and can start with Governor Quie and the closing of the mental institutions and its aftermath. She is knowledgeable about Rule 36, and all the struggles that are still going on to create mental health centers and programs in the state. Today Mary makes sure she makes a difference, she serves on the Hennepin County Mental Health Advisory Council and on the Board of People Inc. Both of these organizations serve the needs of a large population struggling with issues of mental or emotional illness.

Jim and Mary particularily like this sign in the Parish Center. Jim says, "Justice for him and Peace for Mary!"

While there are people who know Mary, they do not know of her long hours of commitment to mental health, but they do know her more as a Peace Activist. I asked her where in her life’s journey could she point to that started her on this specific path. Again, it is sometimes something on the surface that seems insignificant at the time. She said that Jim had given her as a present one year, a subscription to Commonweal magazine. She started her conversion into peace and non-violence by what she was reading in Commonweal. When the Vietnam War was going on Mary’s views were not at first accepted. As Mary says, “All of us had come out of World War II and we believed in our country and the idea that a foreign policy would be flawed was not in the cards.” Mary found support in people like Polly Mann and Mary Ann Hamilton and along with those two women, she was part of the core group that founded Women Against Military Madness(WAMM). Since Vietnam, Mary’s interest in the peace movement has grown.

“The Viet Nam war was my first break-through in understanding that our government is like a bad parent and doesn’t always take care of us properly. We can’t always believe that what the government says is true; we must make up our own minds about things. I began to question and to look more carefully into issues.” - Mary White quoted in Wellness magazine: February, 2002

Today she can calmly hand you a professionally printed directory of forty some peace groups in the Twin Cities and they are all members of the network that she is the President of. If you turn the pages slowly of the directory you are struck by the diversity and breadth of the membership. There are Buddhists, Unitarians, Jews, various political groups, associations, religious groups and churches and two-thirds down the list, the eye spots St. Joan of Arc Church. When the United Nations celebrated its 50th anniversary, many of the peace organizations who gathered for the event collaborated to develop the purpose, goals, structure, and modus operandi for what would be known as the Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers. Leaders in the Peace movement wanted a vehicle through which various organizations devoted to the cause of international peace and justice could pool resources and ideas. They felt strength in numbers would strength their effectiveness. Education is a key goal and a challenging one in a society that isn’t always comfortable with alternative viewpoints.

"When our consciences awaken to the realization of our dual roles as oppressors and oppressed, our confrontations which stem from judgments are reborn into transformations which stem from emptiness." - Juan C. Moreno

Mary White knows the risk of burn out and she is adamant about the need to have a spiritual dimension in one’s life. She says she liked the words George Wertin uses about the need to breathe in the Spirit of God, to take it to one’s heart and then go into the world to be a messenger of hope. She then smiled and said we live in changing times. “It took me a long time to re-think my ideas about church and religion. I now think so differently. I think about Jesus calling the twelve apostles and all those women that never get mentioned. It is a long way from Holy Angels High School. I lost the piety but kept some of ideals. I never thought I would have a police rap sheet, but I do. I have to think very seriously about getting arrested now, with it comes a great commitment of time. It is key that I stay focused. I believe, as to many others do that the old ways are not working. We need a new global paradigm based on nonviolence and justice. I feel it is important at this time in my life, to work on building a communication and support network between the various peace groups in the Twin Cities”

and Chuck MacDonald and his wife Beth are members of St. Joan of Arc. Chuck is a member of the Parish Council. He is currently active helping a clinic in South Africa and works part time teaching English as a second language to recent immigrants. Chuck can be reached at chuckmacdonald@attbi.com.

Peg LaSota comes from a photography background. She now works in the digital world, computer instruction, and with "videography" and the restoration of family films. She is enthusiastic about capturing family memories and preserving them digitally. Along with that, her time is spent with her family and her love for learning Spanish, piano, recorder.....and of course singing with the choir!

For more information about the Minnesota Alliance of Peacemaker and their member organizations visit www.mapm.org or call Mary White at 612.374.3594 or mwhite15@yahoo.com.