Pace e Bene

Fr. Louie Grateful for Birthday Letters

June 15, 2010

Dear friends,

Thank you so much for your recent notes and birthday greetings!  I appreciate your helping me celebrate my 78^th birthday on June 1 – and I am so grateful for your support!

I thank you from the bottom of my heart, and give thanks to God for all the letters, visits, prayers, and your good thoughts.

One of the highlights of the day in prison is “Mail Call.”   It often is announced with a loud call, and draws people together within hearing range and near enough to receive an envelope.

One of the delights of being a “Prisoner of Conscience” is that there is strong group support. Fortunately, with groups such as the School of the Americas Watch and Pace e Bene, there are enough messages of support that the gratifying feeling of having done the right thing more than balances the sense of deprivation felt in prison. 

My mail averages about 15 pieces a day. In addition, I receive a mailing with several print-outs from “Common Dreams,” sent by a lawyer friend of mine.

Answering the many pieces of mail is a challenge, but it is one I enjoy very much. Sometimes I do feel desperate that I cannot keep up. I hope you all understand the delays; there are many restrictions on outgoing mail with special labels with significant limitations on the number I’m allowed each day, restrictions on only 20 stamps per week, etc.  I wish I could reply sooner to each of you.

I am deeply grateful to all of you who have eased the sense of deprivation and given me the needed support for the duration.  You fill my time and my spirit with hope and joy, and most profoundly a deep sense of being loved and cared for. I think this sentiment has been communicated to my inmate companions and even the custodial officers. 

I thank you from the bottom of my heart, and give thanks to God for all the letters, a few visits (regrettably hard to arrange, especially with a short sentence here), prayers, and your good thoughts.

Thank you also for your continued efforts to bring attention to the plight of victims of torture and war, for efforts to bring about the close of the SOA (WHINSEC), and also for your support of Pace e Bene and our pursuit of a world of peace and nonviolence. 

I look forward to seeing many of you on the “outside” with an opportunity to express my deep gratitude in person and share a few stories (yes, we share many laughs here as well).

Peace and all goodness!

Louie