Catholic priest arrested at US nuke silo

international | crime and justice | news report

Saturday April 10, 2004 14:42

by Eoin Dubsky

Silo Pruning Hooks II

At approximately 10:30 a.m. (MDT) April 9, 2004, Rev. Carl Kabat, OMI, entered missile silo N-8 nine mles west of New Raymer,Colorado, by means of ladders. He destroyed nothing in the process. He was wearing his trademark "clown's outfit," to prove he is still a "fool for God." He was taken into custody by Weld County law enforcement at approximately 11:45 a.m. (MDT).

N-8 is the silo site where three Dominican nuns were arrested in 2002. (Ardeth Platte, Jackie Hudson, Carol Gilbert) They are now serving sentences for harming national security. N-8 is several miles from silo
N-7, where Kabat also trespassed in 2000. He received 83 days in jail (time served) handed down by Judge Boyd Boland. However, because of probation violation in Illinois, he subsequently served a year and a day there. In all, Kabat has spent nearly 16 years of his life in jail for various protests at nuclear WMD sites which he calls "evil." Since Kabat's latest release from jail in 2002, he has been ministering to the Catholic Worker Community of St. Louis.

Kabat is calling his protest "Silo Pruning Hooks II." At the missile site he left a dysfunctional pneumatic jackhammer, symbolic of the action he and three others took in Missouri 20 years ago when they actually chipped at the concrete of a missile silo at Whiteman Air Force Base. Also pinned to the chain link fence was a puppet bearing the slogan, "The manufacturing, deployment or use of nuclear bombs is a crime against humanity."

Another slogan next to the "no trespassing" sign was expressed in Latin:
"Cessante ratione legis, cessat ipsa lex," which loosely translated means "a law lacking rationality, ceases to be law."

Kabat released a signed statement which reads: WE ARE FOOLS AND CLOWNS FOR GOD AND HUMANITY'S SAKE: "I Carl Kabat, come to this evil place today as a Roman Catholic priest to show what insanity is in this ground here at N-8 and 48 other silos in the beautiful state of Colorado. The nuclear bomb that is in the ground here is more than 20 times more powe4rful than the atomic bombs we dropped on the Japanese 59 years ago. Each of those bombs killed more than 100,000 people. Twenty times that number totals more than 2 million people. The World Council of Churches has proclaimed that "the manufacture, deployment or use of nuclear bombs is 'crime against humanity.' The Roman Catholic Church of which I am a priest, at the close of its Vatican Council II in 1965 proclaimed that nuclear bombs are a 'crime against humanity.' The Bible says in the words of Isaiah, 'they shall beat their spears into pruning hooks.' May God have mercy on us for not doing so."

Several of Kabat's friends witnessed his action, including Rev. Larry Rosebaugh, OMI, who also has served time in jail for similar protests.and one of his local friends, Bill Sulzman of Colorado Springs. Another item posted by Kabat was an "eviction notice" to the silo operators signed by numerous individuals. Still another was a water-color work of art (weather protected) done by Sister Pauline Blandina, OP. It depicts a clown nailed to a cross.

Kabat's use of the clown suit began at another silo protest when Good Friday happened to fall on April 1, "April Fool's Day."

Kabat took his action in the icy teeth of a rain/snow storm that roared into northern Colorado between noon and 3 p.m., the time when Jesus is supposed to have died. Kabat kept a sleeping bag for protection against the elements while he prayed alone in a corner of the silo enclosure, awaiting arrest. He had asked his friends to leave him there, the better to focus his prayerful message for peace (and an end to war over, or by means of) weapons of mass destruction.

--Bill Strabala

* For related articles do a search here on Indymedia for "Ploughshares" and "Silo Pruning Hooks"

* When I've got a prison address I'll post it below. Spread the good news!!

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Catholic priest arrested at US nuke silo