Pace e Bene

Franciscan priest and Pace e Bene staff member Friar Louis Vitale, 78, began serving a six-month prison sentence on Monday, January 25 for nonviolent, prayerful protest calling for closure of the School of the Americas at Ft. Benning, Georgia. On February 25 he was transferred from Crisp County Jail in Cordele, Georgia (where he spent his first  month after being processed briefly at Muscogee County Jail), to the US Penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia. He was then moved to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and now has arrived at FCI Lompoc.  To see other letters from Fr. Louie, click here.  Here is his mailing address:

Louis Vitale #25803-048

FCI Lompoc

Federal Correctional Institution

3600 Guard Road

Lompoc, Ca  93436

Memorial Day Weekend in Lompoc Prison

May 30, 2010

Dear Friends and Family,

I send you warm greetings for a blessed and prayerful Memorial Day from FCI Lompoc.  I pray that we work together to end the slaughter of our young and our neighbors.  The toll is unbelievable and unconscionable. 

What more can we do?

Henry David Thoreau calls to me here in Lompoc; as he spent his night in jail, Thoreau questioned, “How can we pay tax to support slavery and war?” The stakes are much higher now.  (How about a robust anti-tax movement?)

Here, only a short distance from Vandenberg, I can only ponder over the potential Space war, even nuclear holocaust…We are spending hundreds of billions preparing the way.  The Creator cries out “Spare my precious creation. It is good,” but getting less so. We must turn all our energy and resources to stopping the killing in wars, and pray for ALL victims of war, including Iraqis, Afghanis, etc.

Henry David Thoreau calls to me here in Lompoc

Today, on this Memorial Day, I pray to Francis, Patron of Ecology: “Respect Our Mother Earth, and other Mother Planets, and Sister Water (“So precious and pure”) and all the beautiful gifts of creation especially our sisters and brothers.  Please spare our children, especially those on battlefields, and in occupied territories, and all prisoners of war and of conscience.”

May we use the wonderful gifts of creation, the resources of the abundant planet and this great nation for the well-being of all our children and peoples, and especially for victims of war and violence.  We rejoice and give thanks, and we pledge ourselves to nonviolence and respect and to act with love and compassion to all creation.

A blessed Memorial Day.    Peace and all good to each of you.   

Louie