No to Torture
The Nonviolent Response to Terrorism

This theme will be addressed by Father Louie Vitale OFM at St. Andrew the Apostle Church at 124 Alden Street , Syracuse,NY on

Mon., June 9, 7:30PM

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 OFM 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 is 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).

He served as the provincial of the California Franciscan Friars from 1979 to 1988, he co-founded the Nevada Desert Experience and its enduring movement to end nuclear testing. He earned his Ph.D in sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles. In 2006, he served 6 Months in federal prison for crossing the line in Columbus, Ga.(School of the Americas Fort Benning Ga..) He recently completed twelve years as the pastor of St. Boniface Catholic Church in a low-income neighborhood in San Francisco.

For further information on Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service, go to http://paceebene.org/