Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Fr. Jim Noonan arrested

Maybe I should start attending the Happy Hour instead of relying on the salad bar for info. Fr. Joe La Mar reports that at the Happy Hour, Fr. Jim Noonan shared that he was arrested along with 64 others at a demonstration at the White House on August 21. Ms. Marie Dennis, head of Maryknoll Office of Global Concerns, was also arrested.

The group Tar Sands Action calls for protests and acts of civil disobedience over the coming days against the proposed Canada-Texas Keystone XL Pipeline project, slated to carry toxic "bitumen" (a low grade of oil extracted out of tarry earth) from the Tar Sands region of Alberta Canada, south across the great plains and the vital Ogallala aquifer, all the way to the Gulf Coast near Houston.

In a blog by Rose On, she states:
"Some highlights from Saturday: Jim Antal, former head of Fellowship of Reconciliation and now president of the Massachussetts Conference of the United Church of Christ was arrested. Kristy Powell, originator of the One Dress Protest, was arrested. Lt. Dan Choi, leader of the protest against the former military policy of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, was arrested. Fr. Jim Noonan, Maryknoll Catholic priest, who spent years in Cambodia under Pol Pot serving AIDS patients was arrested."

A little fact-checking is in order. Pol Pot stepped down in 1979, a year before the HIV virus was identified. Noonan didn't go to Vietnam until much later, but did indeed minister to people suffering from HIV/AIDS in Cambodia.

It's nice to know that once we dismiss that pesky R.B, Maryknoll's newly acquired (and totally undeserved) reputation for passivity and obedience to the rule of law will be mercifully short-lived.

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