Urging call to conscience

For Colleen Kelly, co-director of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, working towards peace is a case of conscience -- and an imperative of her Catholic faith.

"I feel compelled," she said. "I have to respond. This is the struggle, the daily, very human piece of it -- trying to follow your conscience every day. The hard work is living up to what you believe, and what you have faith in."

Ms. Kelly co-founded the organization after her brother, Bill, was killed in the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. Her decision was a reaction to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and an effort to promote peace, develop non-violent options, and end war and terrorism.

She will speak at an Aug. 19-20 peace conference, "A Call To Conscience," at the National Shrine of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha in Fonda. The conference is co-sponsored by the Albany diocesan Commission on Peace and Justice, the Interfaith Alliance of NYS, and other local activist groups.

Fallen brother

During the 9/11 attacks, Ms. Kelly was working at her job as a nurse at a Bronx school. She received a call from a nun she knew, informing her about the bombings. Two hours later, a second call became a moment she'll never forget: Her brother had been in the World Trade Center for a meeting when the towers fell.

"The huge loss of my brother was front and center," she said. "But [the tragedy] put me to the test. I understand how some people struggle with faith. I understand how some people, after something like this happens, lose faith. It is so true. But [I realized] that I have faith in God, and in Jesus' love for all of us.

"I put faith in forgiveness. I found that I really believe that stuff. Those words I say every Sunday -- I really believe [them]. That's the struggle to this day: to figure out how you make that fit with this horrific tragedy."

WWJD

She decided to speak out, and sent a letter to the U.S. bishops' conference urging them "to give thought to how Jesus would respond to Sept. 11." Then she joined with a number of families who felt similarly to found Peaceful Tomorrows, and began to speak across the country about her experiences.

"In many ways, Sept. 11 really unleashed what we now call the war on terror," she said. "This was the beginning. Today, we look at all the direct and indirect effects of what is happening: This is affecting our daily lives, and what we read, hear, and understand every day, with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, with civil liberties and our understanding of what 'love they neighbor' is all about."

Nearly four years later, her Catholic faith continues to "affect everything that I do," Ms. Kelly explained.

Inspirations

"There's days when it all seems futile and hopeless, and then I start to think. I think about Gandhi, and apartheid, and the civil rights movement: There were years of people thinking, 'This is never going to happen, people are never going to change.' Nothing changes overnight. It's a constant building-up of momentum. It's the water dripping away at the rock: Sooner or later, it forms something different," she said.

After 9/11, prayer began to play a large role in her life. She believes that "amazing things have happened because of the power of prayer, in my own life and in a collective way we can't always grasp."

Call to peace

Ms. Kelly continues to exhort Catholics and others around the country to be called to compassion, and to speak out for peace.

"Compassion means 'to suffer with,'" she said. "When you feel compassion towards someone, it means taking a little piece of that other person's suffering onto yourself, relieving their suffering somehow.

"I have very strong feelings. I wish every pulpit in the Church across this country was really speaking out against war, and against aggression, violence, and all these things that really are a part of this culture of death. One of the Church's great gifts is its spirit."

This peace conference at the Tekakwitha shrine will be held for the sixth time this year. John Amidon, who helped found the event, called Ms. Kelly "a very fine example of a call to responsible peacemaking."

Starting out

He hopes that the conference will help attendees come to a better understanding of "what one man or one woman can do. Everything starts with one person. When we work in cooperation with others, our abilities are amplified. It is important to us that we have a moral, ethical nation acting for the good of the world community."

Maureen Aumand, a conference co-coordinator and member of the peace and justice committee for the Sisters of the Holy Names, said that she began to get involved in peace activism after 9/11.

"I came to understand that I have a responsibility as an individual to try and understand and figure out how I can personally respond to the issues," she stated, adding: "That's what conscience is: our own personal understanding of those paths that are most consistent with our deepest beliefs."

(At the peace conference, workshops will be offered on non-violence, Haiti, military recruitment, congregation-based community organizing, and the status of Afghanistan. Other speakers include School of the Americas activist Blase Bonpane and attorney Don Quigley, a law professor who often represents people involved in anti-war actions. Call 853-3646.)

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