{"id":2722,"date":"2008-10-12T00:02:00","date_gmt":"2008-10-12T00:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/protesting-nuns-branded-as-terrorists.html"},"modified":"2008-10-12T00:02:00","modified_gmt":"2008-10-12T00:02:00","slug":"protesting-nuns-branded-as-terrorists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/protesting-nuns-branded-as-terrorists.html","title":{"rendered":"Protesting nuns branded as terrorists"},"content":{"rendered":"

What happens when you break the law while protesting at a nuclear facility? Two Catholic nuns found out — and it wasn’t quite what they expected. <\/p>\n

From the Washington Times<\/a>: <\/p>\n

<\/a>For decades, Sister Carol Gilbert and Sister Ardeth Platte have practiced their Roman Catholic faith with an unwavering focus on world peace. Their antiwar activities even landed them in federal prison earlier this decade for trespassing onto a military base and pouring blood onto a nuclear missile silo.<\/p>\n

Now they face fresh infamy as two nuns secretly branded by Maryland State Police as terrorists and placed on a national watch list.<\/p>\n

“This term terrorist is a really serious accusation,” Sister Ardeth, a nun for 54 years, told The Washington Times on Thursday in the first interview that the women have given since being informed they were among 53 people added to a terrorist watch list in conjunction with an extensive Maryland surveillance effort of antiwar activists.<\/p>\n

“There is no way that we ever want to be identified as terrorists. We are nonviolent. We are faith-based,” she said.<\/p>\n

The women freely acknowledge their participation in antiwar activities.<\/p>\n

On Oct. 6, 2002, the two sisters and another nun – armed with bolt cutters, a hammer and baby bottles filled with their own blood – broke into an unmanned Minuteman III missile site in northeastern Colorado and painted bloody crosses on the silo. It was the day before the one-year anniversary of the war in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

Sister Carol was sentenced to 30 months and Sister Ardeth to 41 months in federal prison for the action.<\/p>\n

“I learned to make it a meditation, almost a prayer,” Sister Carol told the Baltimore Sun upon her release in 2005.<\/p>\n

But they say being tagged as terrorists in a federal database is false and a blow to their commitment to a pursuit of peace.<\/p>\n

“We’re Dominicans; our mission is ‘veritas,’ which is truth,” Sister Carol said. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Visit the link for more details<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Photo: Sister Ardeth Platte (left) and Sister Carol Gilbert, by J.M. Eddins, Jr., Washington Times<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What happens when you break the law while protesting at a nuclear facility? Two Catholic nuns found out — and it wasn’t quite what they expected. From the Washington Times: For decades, Sister Carol Gilbert and Sister Ardeth Platte have practiced their Roman Catholic faith with an unwavering focus on world peace. Their antiwar activities…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":204,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ripped-from-the-headlines"],"yoast_head":"\nProtesting nuns branded as terrorists - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/protesting-nuns-branded-as-terrorists.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Protesting nuns branded as terrorists - The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What happens when you break the law while protesting at a nuclear facility? Two Catholic nuns found out — and it wasn’t quite what they expected. From the Washington Times: For decades, Sister Carol Gilbert and Sister Ardeth Platte have practiced their Roman Catholic faith with an unwavering focus on world peace. Their antiwar activities…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/protesting-nuns-branded-as-terrorists.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-10-12T00:02:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/SPFk9JO53OI\/AAAAAAAADHo\/5iYG0RLgVL8\/s320\/20081009-223233-pic-811432772_r350x200.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Deacon Greg Kandra\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Protesting nuns branded as terrorists - The Deacon's Bench","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/protesting-nuns-branded-as-terrorists.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Protesting nuns branded as terrorists - The Deacon's Bench","og_description":"What happens when you break the law while protesting at a nuclear facility? Two Catholic nuns found out — and it wasn’t quite what they expected. From the Washington Times: For decades, Sister Carol Gilbert and Sister Ardeth Platte have practiced their Roman Catholic faith with an unwavering focus on world peace. Their antiwar activities…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/protesting-nuns-branded-as-terrorists.html","og_site_name":"The Deacon's Bench","article_published_time":"2008-10-12T00:02:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/SPFk9JO53OI\/AAAAAAAADHo\/5iYG0RLgVL8\/s320\/20081009-223233-pic-811432772_r350x200.jpg"}],"author":"Deacon Greg Kandra","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/protesting-nuns-branded-as-terrorists.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/protesting-nuns-branded-as-terrorists.html","name":"Protesting nuns branded as terrorists - The Deacon's Bench","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/protesting-nuns-branded-as-terrorists.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/protesting-nuns-branded-as-terrorists.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/SPFk9JO53OI\/AAAAAAAADHo\/5iYG0RLgVL8\/s320\/20081009-223233-pic-811432772_r350x200.jpg","datePublished":"2008-10-12T00:02:00+00:00","dateModified":"2008-10-12T00:02:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/5a7b3c6e9d155e382842aa310ff9b1ee"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/protesting-nuns-branded-as-terrorists.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/protesting-nuns-branded-as-terrorists.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/protesting-nuns-branded-as-terrorists.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/SPFk9JO53OI\/AAAAAAAADHo\/5iYG0RLgVL8\/s320\/20081009-223233-pic-811432772_r350x200.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/SPFk9JO53OI\/AAAAAAAADHo\/5iYG0RLgVL8\/s320\/20081009-223233-pic-811432772_r350x200.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/10\/protesting-nuns-branded-as-terrorists.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Protesting nuns branded as terrorists"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/","name":"The Deacon's Bench","description":"Where a Roman Catholic Deacon Ponders the World","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/5a7b3c6e9d155e382842aa310ff9b1ee","name":"Deacon Greg Kandra","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/114\/1144d939be636f641ea021e1d347f9fdx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/114\/1144d939be636f641ea021e1d347f9fdx96.jpg","caption":"Deacon Greg Kandra"},"description":"A Roman Catholic deacon serving the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York, Greg Kandra is News Director for the diocese's cable channel, NET (New Evangelization Television.) Prior to that, Deacon Greg worked for 26 years as a writer and producer for CBS News, where he contributed to \"The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric,\" \"60 Minutes II,\" \"48 Hours,\" (Emmy Award, Writers Guild of America Award) and \"Sunday Morning.\" He was co-writer for the acclaimed documentary \"9\/11,\" hosted by Robert DeNiro. (Emmy Award, Christopher Award, Peabody Award, Writers Guild of America Award.) His radio essays were featured in the bestselling book \"Deadlines and Datelines\" by Dan Rather. He's also a two-time winner of the Catholic Press Association Award. Other places you may find him: AMERICA, U.S. CATHOLIC, CATHOLIC DIGEST, REALITY (Redemptorist Communications) and THE BROOKLYN TABLET. He also contributes homiletic reflections to the parish resource CONNECT!, published by Liturgical Publications. In November 2009, he began serving a three-year term as a consultant to the Communications Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Deacon Greg grew up in Maryland (Go Terps!) but he and his wife today live in the beautiful borough of Queens, New York. You can contact Deacon Greg at dcngreg@gmail.com.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/author\/gkandra"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/204"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2722\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}