Selasa, 29 Maret 2011

Protes Nuklir, 2 Pastor Uzur Dihukum Penjara

Pastor dihukum penjara? nampaknya bukan berita baru. Tetapi kalau ada 2 Jesuit uzur (61 dan 82 tahun) dihukum penjara karena aksi demo-nya, tentu menjadi berita yang menarik. Pater Stephen Kelly (61) dan Pater Bill Bichsel (82) dijatuhi hukuman penjara dan kurungan rumah akibat merusak pagar dan melakukan demo anti senjata nuklir di sebuah Pangkalan Angkatan Laut di Amerika Serikat. Mereka tidak sendirian, tetapi ditemani oleh "partners in crime" mereka, 3 perempuan yang sudah uzur juga yaitu seorang suster, pensiunan guru dan seorang pekerja sosial. Mereka dijatuhi pidana kurungan antara 6-15 bulan.

Semangat, idealisme dan kenekatan mereka bisa kita acungi jempol. Di usia tua tetap berjuang menyuarakan protes mereka.

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TACOMA -- Two Jesuit priests, a nun, a retired teacher and a social worker who cut through fences at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor over a year ago to protest nuclear weapons were each sentenced to prison Monday.

Jesuit priest Stephen Kelly, 61, of Oakland, Calif. and retired teacher Susan Crane, 67, of Baltimore, were given 15-month sentences, while social worker Lynne Greenwald, 61, of Tacoma, was given a 6-month prison sentence.

The judge gave lighter sentences to the two protesters who were over 80 years old. Jesuit priest Bill Bichsel, 82, of Tacoma, was sentenced to three months in prison and three months of home monitoring, while sister Anne Montgomery, 84, of Redwood City, Calif, was sentenced to two months in prison and four months home electronic monitoring.

U.S. District Court Judge Benjamin Settle ordered Father Kelly taken to prison immediately. Settle was going to allow the others to report to prison next month, but they told the judge they might not show up, so Settle ordered that they be taken to prison immediately, too.

"I'm old enough to know that nuclear weapons are wrong," Crane said. "I'm old enough to have a grandchild and believe that all life is precious."

The five protesters were convicted in December of conspiracy, trespassing and destruction of government property for the Nov. 2, 2009 incident at the submarine base along Hood Canal.

Court documents say the group cut through fences to reach an area near where nuclear warheads are stored in bunkers. The weapons facility in Puget Sound assembles and maintains nuclear-tipped Trident missiles and other weapons.

The protesters put up banners, scattered sunflower seeds and prayed until they were arrested.

The five defendants said nuclear warheads stored and on submarines at the base are illegal under international, national and humanitarian law, but a judge prohibited them from using international law and the lethality of nuclear weapons as a defense. The trial hinged on straightforward charges relating to trespassing and property damage.

Kelly said in court they knew they were breaking a federal law to uphold an even higher law, and they need to shield people from these weapons of death.

Settle said he had to uphold the law, and sentenced the five to several months of federal prison time.

"The judge found that this was essentially anarchy," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Arlen Storm. "And if everyone behaved in this manner, society could not function."

Kelly told KOMO Newsradio before the sentencing that he was prepared to go to prison.

"I think it's really worth it," he said. "I have the solace of my conscience, as I think this is just one little step against nuclear weapons and someday we'll be free, and maybe not in my lifetime, but I have hope."

Montgomery said in a sentencing document filed last week that she and others have taken responsibility for their actions.

About 250 demonstrators gathered outside the federal courthouse during the sentencing.


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Jumat, 25 Maret 2011

Decision Making by St. Ignatius Loyola (Calm Deliberation)

(taken from “What’s Your Decision” by J. Michael Sparough, SJ and Tim Hipskind, SJ - Loyola Press, 2010)

IDENTIFY THE DECISION TO BE MADE

The issue should be practical and real. Your decision should not be a vague idea or intention. It’s decision to do or not to do something. For example, the thought “I really should do something to get out of this dead-end job” is not an issue for a decision. A decision would be, “I am going to stay in marketing and look seriously for a new job,” or “I’m going to do this (go to graduate school, take some courses, start a side business) to prepare for different career.

The decision should be the one that you have the right to make. You can decide seriously pursue marriage, but you cant get married until you and your partner are both in a serious relationship. You can decide to have career in finance, but you cant decide to work for Citibank until Citibank offers you a job.

You must have the information to make an intelligent decision. Decision making often grinds to a halt because we don’t know enough about the alternatives. What salary will the new job pay? What time commitment does the volunteer opportunity really require? Often we must make a decision without all the information we would like to have. If so, we must take uncertainty into account. “am I willing to take on the new job when I really don’t know how much time it will require?”


STATE THE CHOICE CONCRETELY

State the question as a positive choice as concretely as you can. Be specific. Boil it down to two choices if possible. Most choices can be stated in one of two ways: X versus non-X, or X versus Y. the first kind of decision is something like “I will take a course in conversational Spanish this summer.” The second kind of decision is something like “I will stay in my current job, or I will quit and start my own business.” It’s often helpful to state the choice in the way that appeals to you most at this early stage of decision making. If you want to start your own business, pose the issue that way: “I will start my graphic design business by next July or I won’t do that. Don’t be afraid to tell God what you really want.


PRAY FOR INNER FREEDOM

Achieving true freedom is the most important step and the most difficult one. The goal is to be free to choose the alternative that most fully expresses our deepest selves. We’ve reached this degree of freedom when we can sincerely imagine ourselves living with either choice. We want only to do what God wants, which is what we want in our deepest, true self. To get this point of freedom, we must be free of the personal attachments and desires that stand in the way.


GATHER ALL THE NECESSARY INFORMATION

Get all the relevant facts: what? Where? When? How much? Why? Is decision yours to make, or do others have to make decisions too? If others are involved, have they made these decisions? Are important practical details unclear? Consult with everyone that intimately affected by the decisions (spouse, children, friends, colleagues). Listen to what they think, but also make careful note of how they feel. Are they agitated, enthusiastic, happy for you, worried? Discuss the matter in detail with someone who will be honest with you and objective about the situation. Look for a spiritual counselor who knows you well enough to have an idea of your strengths and weaknesses but is not so close to you as to have a personal stake in what you decide. This person should be able to help you focus on the question: what do I really want?


PRAY FOR INNER FREEDOM AGAIN

Pray about the decision again in light of what you have learned so far. Most likely new issues have arisen. The previous step has stirred up some new feelings and desires. Bring them to God in prayer. People find it helpful at this point to pay attention to the emotions that the process has stirred up.


MAKE A LIST

Take a sheet of paper and list all the reasons for and against each alternative


EVALUATE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

Ask God for the gift of openness and freedom and then evaluate your list of pros and cons. Go over each reason on the list: reflect on them, pray about them. Be mindful of how they make you feel.

Which reasons seem to be the most important. Starting your own business brings up financial security, time with your children, job satisfaction and family peace. Which one or two of these issues strike you as the most significant? why?

What values emerge? Several advantages and disadvantages may be pointing to the same value. The pros and cons of taking a conversational Spanish course might boil down to a choice between a desire to always be learning something new versus an impulse to be prudent and cautious.

Which core values seem more consistent with your true self. Do you see yourself as a cautious person? A risk taker? Someone who is concerned about the opinions of others? Reflect on these values. What are your motives? Are you truly that kind of person? You may have to spend a lot of this step and repeat earlier steps.


TEST YOUR REASONING WITH YOUR IMAGINATION

You have applied your intellect and reason to the task, and the reasons for preferring one options over the other are lining up. Now, is the time to employ another mental faculty to test these reasons. Use your imagination. Take some time to imagine yourself living out each choice. Imagination is used as a tool to stimulate feelings of consolation and desolation.


MAKE A TENTATIVE DECISION

God has been influencing you through this process. Now is the time to pay attention to your will, your capacity to decide. Your will has probably settled on one of the alternatives before you. If so, make a tentative decision.


CONFIRM THE DECISION

In the ignatian approach to decision making, confirmation of decision usually involves feelings of spiritual consolation. This ste[ completes the integration of the whole person in the process of discernment and decision making.


MAKE YOUR DECISION EVEN IF YOU ARE NOT CERTAIN ABOUT IT

Our thoughts, will and feelings may all tell us that this decision is the right one but there are no guarantees. We don’t control the future. Knowing this, it is not unusual to hesitate at the point of making a final decision. We procrastinate, waiting for certainty. Decide, and trust in God. The decision, important as it is, is but a step on your journey. It’s means to an end, the end is God. If you keep the end in view, all will be well.


JOE PATERNO'S STORY

Joe Paterno became head of football coach at Penn. State University in 1966 and had outstanding success almost immediately. His teams were among the best in the country. They went undefeated in two seasons and won three prestigious bowl games. Paterno was heralded as one of the best college coaches in the country.

In 1972, Paterno received an offer to leave Penn. State University and coach the New England Patriots, a struggling professional team. Paterno, who was paid a salary of $ 35,000, would be paid $ 1.3 million by the Patriots- an unheard-of sum at the time. He would also get an ownership stake in the team. Paterno considered the decision carefully. He made a list of pros and cons. He talked to colleagues and mentors. All the signs pointed toward accepting the offer. The money was very attractive. But it was also a superb career opportunity for a young coach. Paterno accepted the job verbally and made plans to fly Boston to sign the contract. He told his wife, Sue, “Tonight, you get to sleep with a millionaire”

But Joe didn’t get much sleep. He lay awake thinking about his decision. He realized that what he really liked about coaching was working with young men and playing a role in their development as human beings. He saw that professional coaching could never mean what college coaching meant to him. He decided to turn down the job. In the morning he told his wife, “Last night you went bed with a millionaire, but this morning you woke up with me”

Paterno’s decision to leave Penn. State University seemed to make sense, but it was never confirmed. His misgivings did not go away. Instead they increased until Joe could see what he really wanted-not money and glory but the satisfaction of making positive difference in young men’s lives.


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