It was very cold today, the first day of spring as I stood on the sidewalk outside the walkway to the Marquette University Memorial Union. Inside the main entrance of the union a small group of friends prayed the Stations of the Cross as we have done Wednesdays during Lent in the lobby of the Raynor Library. Since I have been banned from Marquette University property, (See From Pope Francis to “Known Trespasser” Car), I was on the public sidewalk outside the union.
An elderly Jesuit priest who I known from my youth came by and felt obliged to warn me, “Bob, the Marquette Security police are looking for you and have a warning out on campus.” I smiled and said I knew, that I had been arrested for trespassing last week going to the archives at the Marquette Library and that was why I was on the sidewalk not inside the Union praying the Stations of the Cross with my friends. He was puzzled, as I was, why I am such a wanted person at Marquette. My friends inside told me a security officer came by looking for me but did not bother them for praying inside the Union. I said I knew and there was a security officer in a car parked on Wisconsin Avenue watching me. How far will Marquette go in scapegoating, in this silliness to avoid the fact they are teaching war and violence on campus in the three military departments they host?
A reporter from the University student newspaper came by and interviewed me. He asked me why I cared about this issue so much and how did it matter to me. The question caught me off guard but I thought of all the innocent men, women, soldiers and children from USA, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somali and Yemen killed by these Wars without End. I gave some long winded answer but in the Quote of the day from Mahatma Gandhi it is said more succinctly: “Mankind are one, seeing that all are our equally subject to the moral law. All men (and women) are equal in God’s eyes. When one of us dies we all die a little. Do they not teach this anymore in Catholic Schools, We are all members of the Body of Christ?
The seriousness of the situation came home to me when I was walking around the block, to avoid cutting through campus, and a Marquette student started to question me. He had very little idea of the military program on campus and how its teaching was opposed to the Catholic faith he and I espoused. I tried to explain how when we are baptized we made a commitment to the teachings of Jesus, the Gospel and our Church that says priority of conscience is more important than government and even Church teachings. He was a very good young Christian still talking the individualist language of ‘your opinion, my opinion’ where there is no Truth that we all seek.
Tomorrow I will ask the Marquette Administration for an appeal hearing on my banning order which says I am not welcome on campus because of “disruptive behavior” written my men I do not know and not given any example of “disruptive behavior”. If they do not respond I will try to take my case publicly since if they can arbitrarily ban me a white Jesuit educated elderly man they can do the same to for anyone. Now I know how my dear deceased son Peter felt when he thought of himself as an outcast and stigmatized person. The children, veterans who suffer and die due to “endless wars”, the young adult African American males who face discrimination, the person with mental illness are the real victims of type of devaluing human life by scapegoating individuals and ignoring message and people.
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