Torture is wrong. Violence is ineffective to bring true change. How do we move from the place of complacency into activity? What does our nonviolent peacemaking say to our government’s sanctioning of torture and pre-emptive war?

Father Louie Vitale has been grappling with these and other related questions for nearly half a century since he began his journey by enlisting in the air force as a young man, and having a conversion towards nonviolence. While all of our journeys take different paths, our hearts converge upon the commonality of Pace e Bene – Italian for “peace and all good.”

Father Louie will be touring the United States to talk about his recent 5 month prison term served for crossing the line and praying at Fort Huachuca (the military installation in Arizona where we train our American Intelligence Officers in “Enhanced Interrogation” tactics such as the much publicized water boarding, among other torture methods).

Father Louie, a Franciscan Priest, is 75 years old. He has, at a time when most men are enjoying retirement, placed himself in situations where he knew physical danger or incarceration were options because of ethics and morals. Father Louie believes too much in the good of humankind to sit back and do nothing about it.