Priest awaits further court case over peace protest
-21/04/06
A radical Catholic pries
Priest awaits further court case over peace protest
-21/04/06
A radical Catholic priest arrested for an anti-war protest outside the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in London expects to be back in court within the next two months after being issued a collection order at Stratford Magistrate’s Court last week for non-payment of fines totalling £660.
Father Martin Newell CP, who is 38, was first taken before a court for actions during a memorial service for the innocent victims of war in Iraq, held by a Christian group on 28 December 2005.
The prayer and protest was timed to coincide with the churchesí marking of Holy Innocents Day ñ the commemoration of a biblical account of King Herod ordering the slaying of children in an attempt to root out subversives, including the family of Jesus.
Around twenty Christians were praying while five of their number, including Fr Newell, began to dig graves for a coffin in the lawn outside the MoD, and to inscribe a wall as a memorial in blood-red paint with the words ‘Remember the Innocent – Stop the War’.
They were arrested, tried and ordered to pay costs and compensation. Fr Newell refused to pay the levy and has also refused to co-operate with the bailiffs.
In his statement to the court last week, he said: ìI am here today to witness to the Truth that sets us freeÖmy refusal to pay a levy imposed by the State. This levy is a result of an attempt to break through the moral blindness and spiritual darkness of our times, to break through our own hardness of heart.î
He continued: ìToday, I continue to withdraw co-operation. This is Holy Week, when Christians remember that Jesus was taken to Court and refused to co-operate. He remained silent. He did not try to escape the punishment that was coming.î
Said Fr Newell: ì[Jesus] did not trust himself to the judgement of human beings, but left the judgement of true justice to God and to history. He was convicted and executed on the cross, but we know the verdict of God and history: that he was innocent of any crime, and that his prosecutors were the guilty ones.î
He concluded: ìAs a Christian, as a Catholic, as a Passionist priest, I believe that ëby his wounds we have been healedí. And I try to follow the way of Jesus as he asked us to do. So, I will say again: I refuse to co-operate with the war-making State, the widow-making system. I will not pay any fine, any levy, nor will I co-operate with the bailiffs Ö And because of my own participation in the sin, by silence and selfishness, I am ready to do penance.î
After listening respectfully to what he had to say and his reasons for refusing to pay, the presiding magistrate at the court in Stratford issued a ëcollection orderí and gave Fr Newell a further month to pay.
He reminded the priest that further refusal would risk a prison sentence, and that ìprison is a rather unpleasant placeî. Fr Newell is a member of the Catholic Worker movement in Hackney.
Catholic Worker, which still sells its newspaper at the unmodified price of one penny, was founded in the USA in 1932 by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin. They established a three point programme: Houses of Hospitality (shelters and soup kitchens), clarification of thought (via discussions and publishing a newspaper), and farming communities, all based in the social teaching of the Catholic Church.
Today, there are more than 130 Catholic Worker houses throughout the world, each one autonomous, but all inspired by the original vision of working to build a more just and peaceful society where it was ìeasier to be goodî.
Before he died, Cardinal O’Connor of New York began the process to canonize Dorothy Day as a saint ñ something those who knew her say she would have been unlikely to thank him for.
Related link: Catholic Worker in London
Priest awaits further court case over peace protest
-21/04/06
A radical Catholic priest arrested for an anti-war protest outside the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in London expects to be back in court within the next two months after being issued a collection order at Stratford Magistrate’s Court last week for non-payment of fines totalling £660.
Father Martin Newell CP, who is 38, was first taken before a court for actions during a memorial service for the innocent victims of war in Iraq, held by a Christian group on 28 December 2005.
The prayer and protest was timed to coincide with the churchesí marking of Holy Innocents Day ñ the commemoration of a biblical account of King Herod ordering the slaying of children in an attempt to root out subversives, including the family of Jesus.
Around twenty Christians were praying while five of their number, including Fr Newell, began to dig graves for a coffin in the lawn outside the MoD, and to inscribe a wall as a memorial in blood-red paint with the words ‘Remember the Innocent – Stop the War’.
They were arrested, tried and ordered to pay costs and compensation. Fr Newell refused to pay the levy and has also refused to co-operate with the bailiffs.
In his statement to the court last week, he said: ìI am here today to witness to the Truth that sets us freeÖmy refusal to pay a levy imposed by the State. This levy is a result of an attempt to break through the moral blindness and spiritual darkness of our times, to break through our own hardness of heart.î
He continued: ìToday, I continue to withdraw co-operation. This is Holy Week, when Christians remember that Jesus was taken to Court and refused to co-operate. He remained silent. He did not try to escape the punishment that was coming.î
Said Fr Newell: ì[Jesus] did not trust himself to the judgement of human beings, but left the judgement of true justice to God and to history. He was convicted and executed on the cross, but we know the verdict of God and history: that he was innocent of any crime, and that his prosecutors were the guilty ones.î
He concluded: ìAs a Christian, as a Catholic, as a Passionist priest, I believe that ëby his wounds we have been healedí. And I try to follow the way of Jesus as he asked us to do. So, I will say again: I refuse to co-operate with the war-making State, the widow-making system. I will not pay any fine, any levy, nor will I co-operate with the bailiffs Ö And because of my own participation in the sin, by silence and selfishness, I am ready to do penance.î
After listening respectfully to what he had to say and his reasons for refusing to pay, the presiding magistrate at the court in Stratford issued a ëcollection orderí and gave Fr Newell a further month to pay.
He reminded the priest that further refusal would risk a prison sentence, and that ìprison is a rather unpleasant placeî. Fr Newell is a member of the Catholic Worker movement in Hackney.
Catholic Worker, which still sells its newspaper at the unmodified price of one penny, was founded in the USA in 1932 by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin. They established a three point programme: Houses of Hospitality (shelters and soup kitchens), clarification of thought (via discussions and publishing a newspaper), and farming communities, all based in the social teaching of the Catholic Church.
Today, there are more than 130 Catholic Worker houses throughout the world, each one autonomous, but all inspired by the original vision of working to build a more just and peaceful society where it was ìeasier to be goodî.
Before he died, Cardinal O’Connor of New York began the process to canonize Dorothy Day as a saint ñ something those who knew her say she would have been unlikely to thank him for.
Related link: Catholic Worker in London