Gordon Zahn

This section of the site is called the “Diary of the Worm” but the web site as a whole is called “The Nonviolentworm.” The worm is a great symbol for persons in the nonviolent movement. It is one of the least of creatures, discarded and ignored by many, yet one of the most organically alive creatures with its amazing ability to consume waste and cast off organically fertile soil. The worm is a weak, defenseless creature yet it has outlasted many powerful creatures like the dinosaur. The worm is a very old creature, but it is always renewing itself. Persons of nonviolence are ready to be ignored and discarded by others, yet by persistence they can overcome. Persons of nonviolence do not fight violence with violence, yet they always overcome violence. Persons of nonviolence live in an old and rich tradition, but constantly come up with new and creative ways to express themselves. These thoughts came home to me yesterday at the funeral of Gordon Zahn.

Some spoke of the great feats of Gordon in changing the role of the Conscientious Objector in the Church, yet I knew him as an old man who in the last few years could not even change his clothes. Others spoke of how Gordon has spoken truth to power, yet remained a quiet and gentle man. Over the years I knew Gordon he lost his ability to speak and be understood. Gordon was 89 years old when he died, yet his thoughts and reflections are as relevant and refreshing today as when he wrote them. Gordon had no immediate family and few friends left in Milwaukee, but Milwaukee was his home, where he felt grounded and at home. Because of his work, especially his book on “German Catholics and Hitler’s War”, he was discarded and rejected by a Catholic university in which he had tenure. Yet he moved on to a public university and continued his work and writing.

At Gordon’s funeral were a retired Archbishop and a high school student, a well-respected politician and fringe political persons. There were young and old, male and female, priest and laypersons, a carpenter and a professor.

This Christmas season the words of Mary, the young unwed teenager who became the Mother of God, come to mind: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior for God has looked with favor on his lowly servant.”

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