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Thursday, March 13, 2014

Monday, March 10, 2014

Massachusetts Peace Communities Statement of Support for VFP Inclusion in St. Patrick's Day Parade



Massachusetts Peace Communities Statement of Support
for Veterans for Peace inclusion in St. Patrick’s Day Parade


We the undersigned represent a number of peace organizations across the religious spectrum, interfaith and ecumenical, who wish to express our deep concern about the grave injustice, disrespect and clear discrimination against veterans who are voices of peace, through their exclusion from Veterans for Peace from Boston’s Annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade.  

It is our conviction that the history of such exclusion in Boston is based on secular and political maneuvering.  Such posturing prevents our veterans from expressing the ravages and trauma of war and their collective statement about their experiences and wounds, both physical and mental, in a public forum such as the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, meant, ironically, to honor veterans.  Visible reminders of the scourge of war such as members of Veterans for Peace bring to the public forum are consistent with our work as peacemakers in our war-addicted society.

We are aware that The Saint Patrick’s Peace Parade is currently mired in a debate about the exclusion of LGBT sisters and brothers from the main St. Patrick’s Day Parade. 

As communities of peace, we wish to make a clear and consistent statement of support of our veterans, across the gender spectrum, as peacemakers whose civil rights are violated, and who by turning from war, characterize a conversion from killing, to peacemaking, honored by all faith traditions. 

We note that St. Patrick, the Irish Catholic saint, after whom this parade is named, renounced war emphatically when he said in his writings:  “Killing Cannot Be of Christ.”

The Boston Chapter of Veterans for Peace, known as the Smedley D. Butler Brigade, is part of a national veterans’ organization of the same name with 140 chapters around the country, members from WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Gulf War, Iraq and Afghanistan.

For the past ten years, members of Veterans for Peace have attempted to walk in the St. Partrick’s Day Parade, and in 2011, they were denied participation by the parade organizers, one of whom stated:  “We do not want to have the word peace associated with the word veteran.”

We echo and support the words of Veteran for Peace, Tony Flaherty, LT, USN, Ret. of WWII, a member of the Boston Chapter, and one of its most eloquent spokespersons as an Irish Catholic who has renounced war, spent his entire life in South Boston, and who recently penned the following words to Mayor Walsh of Boston:

“Vets for Peace has been banned, simply for advocating peace and a dedication to offering our children a message that war is not the answer at spectacles glorifying militarism since 2003 (invasion of Iraq) and since initiating the Peace Parade in 2011, have been subjected to insult and calculated obstruction in which City Hall has been complicit.…”

Peace Parade key organizer, Pat Scanlon, a decorated Vietnam Veteran, comments that veterans experience this obstruction as an insult, especially, “to those of us who have experienced the horrors of war and know the real cost of war.” 

Veterans, some in their eighties, have waited for hours in the blazing sun, to march after street cleaners and other public employees finish their post-parade obfuscating and deliberate degradation of impact—under the guise of cleanup.  They are greeted, sometimes with applause, often with jeers and sullen stares, by the handful of dwindling numbers of parade participants.   A court order has altered these delay tactics, but the exclusion remains.

Veterans for Peace have clearly stated their desire: “One parade, welcoming and inclusive of any group.”

We representatives of Peacemaking Communities in Massachusetts want to make clear our support of the Veterans for Peace and our desire:

It is our desire to make visible to the wider community, the black and white flags carried by the Veterans for Peace, heralding their rejection of war. 

We wish to make visible the nobility of the nonviolent tradition through the centuries, carried by great American peacemakers: Lucretia Mott, George Fox, John Woolman, Martin Luther King Jr., Dorothy Day, Daniel and Philip Berrigan, Sr. Megan Rice, Howard Zinn and the countless numbers of the great cloud of witnesses who live on nationally and internationally, across the faith spectrum.

We the undersigned peace communities and individual peacemakers represent the voices of hundreds, if not thousands of our peacemaking brothers and sisters, who are appalled by the blatant disregard for the movement of conscience, the display of courage and nonviolence embodied in the lives of our brother and sister Veterans for Peace.



Signees for Mass Peace Communities Statement of Support for:


Veterans for Peace inclusion in St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Sunday March 16th at 1:00pm in Boston, MA

  1. Patrick Tracy, Director of Campus Ministry, St. Joseph’s College, Patehogue, NY
  2. David O’Brien, Worcester, MA
  3. Jeanne O’Brien, Worcester, MA
  4. Walter Cuenin, Chaplain, Brandeis University
  5. St. Susanna Parish Peace & Justice Committee (Pastor: Fr. Steve Josoma, Chairs: Pat Ferrone, Maureen Hearn, Sally Gould, Fr. Bin Kremmell)
  6. Patricia McSweeney, Taunton, MA
  7. John & Carrie Schuchardt, House of Peace, Ipswich, MA
  8. Peace & Social Concerns Committee, Friends Meeting at Cambridge
  9. Patricia Kirkpatrick
  10. Justin Duffy
  11. Maureen Hearn, Needham, MA
  12. Rev. Molly Buskette, Lead Pastor, First Church, Somerville
  13. Bill Gural
  14. Rev. Anne Bancroft, Consulting Minister, Universalist Church of Weymouth
  15. Marie Ebacher, Worcester, MA
  16. Rev. Maddie Sifantus, Unitarian Universalist Church of Wakefield, First Unitarian Universalist Church of Milford
  17. Rev. Kim K. Crawford-Harvie, Senior Minister, Arlington Street Church, Unitarian Universalist, Boston
  18. Dick & Deborah Kirk
  19. David & Erica Kay-Webster
  20. Severyn Bruyn
  21. Rev. David M. Bryce, Senior Minister, The First Church in Belmont, Unitarian Universalist
  22. Rev. Wendy von Zirpolo
  23. Maryellen Kurkulos, Bridget for All Southcoast, Fall River, MA
  24. Agape Community Mission Council, Hardwick, MA (See below)
  25. Teresa Wheeler, Worcester, MA
  26. John Paul Marosy,Worcester, MA
  27. Bob Wegener, Quincy, MA
  28. Alden Poole, Quincy, MA
  29. Janet Poole, Quincy, MA
  30. Catholic Deacon Bill Toller
  31. Rev. Dr. Dorothy May Emerson
  32. Arthur Roberts
  33. Barbara Roberts
  34. Rev. Susan A. Moran, Unitarian Universalist Society of Rockport
  35. Rev. Bruce Taylor, Minister of First Parish Billerica
  36. Hazel Dardano
  37. Skip Schiel
  38. Paul McNeil
  39. Rich Bachtold
  40. Suzanne Shanley
  41. Brayton Shanley
  42. Rev. Diane Miller, Unitarian Universalist Minister, Carlisle, MA
  43. Edmund K. Summersby, Cambridge, MA
  44. Professor Judith Phaqun, Saint Joseph College, Long Island
  45. Catie Scudera, Intern Minister, Arlington St. Church, Unitarian Universalist, Boston, MA
  46. Rev. Dr. Victoria Weinstein, Lynn, MA
  47. Kevin & Joyce Lucey, Proud parents of Cpl. Jeffrey Michael Lucey, Forever 23 years old. Succumbed to the Hidden Wounds of War, March 18th, 1981 – June 22nd, 2004
  48. Debbie Lucey, Proud sister of Cpl. Jeffrey Michael Lucey, a 23 year old forever, Succumbed to the Hidden Wounds of War, March 18th, 1981 – June 22nd, 2004
  49. Joseph Miller
  50. Beryl
  51. Dr. Robert Emmet Morris, USN/USMC Vietnam 1969-1970, International Health Consultant, South Boston Residents for Peace
  52. Howard Hayward
  53. Rev. Meg Soens
  54. Rev. John Gibbons, First Parish, Bedford, MA
  55. Rev. Art McDonald, PhD., Minister, Unitarian Universalist Church of Essex
  56. Bobbie Goldman, Merrimack Valley People for Peace
  57. Barbara Corbett-Flavin
  58. Pat Ferrone, Regional Coordinator of Pax Christi MA
  59. Nancy C. Arthur
  60. Justin Rocha, Occupy Fall River
  61. Rev. Rebecca Froom, Assistant Minister, First Universalist Society, Franklin, MA
  62. Caroline Cole, Merrimack Valley People for Peace
  63. Boryana A. Tacconi, Merrimack Valley People for Peace
  64. Sr. Katie Flaherty, South Boston Residents for  Peace
  65. Rev. Amy Freedman, Consulting Minister, Unitarian Universalist First Church in Boston
  66. Jeff Klein, Dorchester People for Peace
  67. Linda Jacobs
  68. James Roy
  69. Dee Halzack, Lowell, MA
  70. Jane Cadarette, Merrimack Valley People for Peace
  71. Rev. Ralph Galen, Transformative Justice and Violence Prevention Ministry
  72. JA Canonico, N. Chelmsford, MA
  73. Dr. Thomas Lee, Goffstown, NH
  74. Eileen Lee, Goffstown, NH
  75. Beth Elliott, Gilbertville, MA
  76. Rev. Dr. Judith Wright, Unitarian Universalist Minister, Northborough, MA
  77. Lou Bernieri, Merrimack Valley People for Peace
  78. Dudley Hartung, Veterans for Peace
  79. Chris Astephen, Stonehill College
  80. Rev. M. Lara Hoke, Consulting Minister, Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Andover, MA
  81. Rev. Wendy L. Bell, Harvard Unitarian Universalist Church
  82. Dan Philip
  83. Diana E Philip
  84. Rev. Harold H. Babcock, First Religious Society Unitarian Universalist, Newburyport, MA
  85. Jean Doran, Clarksville, TN
  86. Rev. Judy Deutsch
  87. Faye George, Bridgewater, MA
  88. Rev. Dr. Michelle Walsh, Tuckerman Creative Ministries for Justice & Healing
  89. Brenda McCarthy, N. Andover, MA
  90. Randy Kehler, New England War Tax Resistors, Colrain, MA
  91. Betsy Corner, New England War Tax Resistors, Colrain, MA
  92. Eleanor Maclellan RSCJ, Agape Mission Council
  93. Gayle Aroian, Barre, MA
  94. Bob Aroian, Barre, MA
  95. Brian Quirk, Merrimack Valley People for Peace
  96. Rachel Ravina, Boston University Graduate School
  97. Rev. Clyde Grubbs, Tuckerman Creative Ministries for Justice & Healing
  98. Teresa Shanley, Seabrook, NH
  99. Patricia Hynes, Traprock Center for Peace and Education at Greenfield Community College
  100. Annie Wuelfing, Spencer, MA
  101. Michael True, Professor Emeritus. Assumption College, Worcester, MA
  102. David Gill SJ, Jesuit School of Theology, Berkeley, CA
  103. Claire Schaeffer Duffy, Saint Therese and Saint Francis Catholic Worker House, Worcester, MA
  104. Scott Schaeffer Duffy, Saint Therese and Saint Francis Catholic Worker House, Worcester, MA
  105. Philip L Milgrom, The Centered Place, Warren, MA
  106. Nancy A. Nowak
  107. Deacon Kevin McCarthy, Blessed Sacrament/All Souls Parish
    Springfield, MA
  108. Donna Marosy, Worcester, MA
  109. Pax Christi, Boston, MA
  110. Beth Ingham, Noonday Farm, Winchendon, MA
  111. Bob Jennings, Noonday Farm, Winchendon, MA
  112. Carolyn Whiting, Merrimack Valley People for Peace, Reading People for Peace
  113. Ann Grady, St. Mary of the Angels Parish, Roxbury, MA
  114. Fr. John Patrick Sullivan, LaSalette Pax Christi National Shrine, Our Lady of LaSallette
  115. Rev. Katie Lee Crane, Interim Minister, First Parish Unitarian Universalist in Needham, MA
  116. Karen Hinchen, St. Mary of the Angels Parish, Roxbury
  117. David Hinchen, St. Mary of the Angels Parish, Roxbury
  118. Courtney Schlosser, Barre, MA
  119. Sue Coles, Barre MA
  120. Merrimack Valley People for Peace
  121. Pax Christi MA Board (Pat Ferrone, Chair, Mike Moran, Sally Markey, Jeanne Allen, Sue Malone, Brian Ashmankas, Irene Desharnais, Nancy Carapezza, Ron Holman, Jeanelle Wheeler)
  122. Swanna Champlin, L’Arche Irenicon, Haverhill, MA
  123. Larry & Leah Shea, Quincy, MA
  124. Kitty Vallely and Joe Vallely, St. Mary of the Angels Parish, Roxbury
  125. Eileen Gorman, St. Susanna's Peace and Justice Committee
  126. Judith Rich, Pax Christi MA
  127. Cole Harrison, Mass Peace Action
  128. Rev. MaryHelen Gunn, Spiritual Advisor, Unitarian Universalist, Center for Spirituality, Dialogue, and Service, Northeastern University, Boston, MA
  129. Nanette Eckert
  130. Rabbi Joseph Berman, Jewish Voice for Peace Boston Co-Chair
  131. Edward Downes, PhD, Agape Community
  132. Eileen Reilly, MD, Agape Community
  133. Jeff Brummer, Jamaica Plain
  134. Alan O’Hare, Life Story Theatre
  135. Kay Walsh, Dorchester, MA  Neponset
  136. Melida Arredondo, Military Families Speak Out
  137. Carlos Arredondo, Military Families Speak Out
  138. Jeff Merrick, Military Families Speak Out
  139. Pat Alviso, Military Families Speak Out
  140. Pax Christi MetroWest (Charles Gobron, Fr. Rocco Puopolo, Nancy Carapezza, Louise Bolles, Faith Madzar)
  141. Yvette Bellerose
  142. Peter Wuelfing, Spencer, MA
  143. Fr. Robert D. Bruso, Pastor, St. Anthony Parish, Fitchburg, MA
  144. Dave Ascher, Newton Dialogues on Peace and War
  145. Carol Proietti
  146. Shirley H. Young
  147. Rev. David J. Miller, Unitarian Universalist, Holden MA
  148. Octavia Taylor. New Braintree, MA
  149. Christina Abbey, Pax Christi Boston
  150. Louis Abbey, Pax Christi Boston
  151. Alice Kast, Pax Christi Boston
  152. Cornelia Sullivan, Pax Christi Boston
  153. Susan Harden, Pax Christi Boston
  154. George Payne, Gandhi Institute Rochester, NY 
  155. Suzanne Ewing, Pax Christi USA  
  156. Burke Oppeneheim, Stonehill College 
  157. Prithak Chowdhony, Stonehill College 
  158. Lauren Ireland, Stonehill College 
  159. Katherine Bryer, Stonehill College 
  160. Peter Croke, Stonehill College 
  161. Matthew Crawford, Stonehill College 
  162. Meghan DeCarvalho, Stonehill College 
  163. Melissa Mardo, Stonehill College 
  164. Micah James, Case Western Reserve University 
  165. Hayden Abene, Case Western Reserve University 
  166. Joseph Swanson, Case Western   Reserve University 
  167. Newton Dialogues on Peace and War 
  168. Rev. Edwin A. Lane, Minister Emeritus, First Parish in Waltham  
    169.
  169. Linda Davis, Needham 
  170. Andrew Larkin, MD, Northampton, MA
    171.
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