Sometimes I find myself sending a message that some persons do not want to hear. This happened the other day when I felt compelled to write to 23 Jesuits, members of the Society of Jesus, on my mailing list asking them the question: “Is it moral and ethical for a Catholic University to host departments of military sciences.” Two responded, not with an answer, but by asking for clarification on the question. I gave it to them in an essay on the two different types of officer military training programs at colleges and universities in an essay called Not Your Father’s Military. I have not heard back from these two or any other recipients. I pray and hope they are ignoring the messenger and not the message, which I believe is central to Catholic Education.
This is just one example of something I find myself compelled to do in word and action, confront someone nonviolently with what I believe is an important message, even when I know they do not want to hear it. It used to be that they would reject the messenger and thus avoid the message. I am getting better at not letting that happen, so now they just ignore the message and messenger.
What I am trying to learn is how to put the message into actions in such a way that the action cannot be ignored. I thought we did that initially in our praying in Marquette University buildings last year behind our banner of “Marquette, Do Not Teach War.” But after the first week, when the ‘powers that be’ decided to let us pray illegally on university property, even that action was ignored. Of course when we tried to do it at an Alumni dinner the hammer came down and we were kicked off of university property. Ignoring can only go so far.
On this particular message, Teach War No More at Marquette, I think the next step is civil disobedience. When they came to move us out of the building at the Alumni dinner we could have just stayed.
Actually I think this approach of first giving the message in word and if it is rejected or, more commonly these days, ignored then I think action is required, be it civil disobedience or not.
These days I am often reminded of the quote of Frederick Douglas: “There is great value in healthy conflict.” Conflict, disagreement, standing on moral and ethical principles, seeking the truth, seems to be outdated these days. Ignoring what you not like seems to be the new norm. I guess I am just an old fashioned conservative radical or just a kid, calling it as I see it. Sorry about that, I guess. What I would like to do is to say with Gandhi “My Life is my message.” The message and messenger become one.
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