Oblate Father Carl Kabat: ‘A fool for Christ’ - Oct 12 Catholic News Service story by Dennis Sadowski
Frank Cordaro
Catholic News Service
Oblate Father Carl Kabat: ‘A fool for Christ’
by Dennis Sadowski <DSad...@catholicnews.com>
http://cnsblog.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/oblate-father-carl-kabat-a-fool-for-christ/
Spending time behind bars is nothing new for Oblate Father Carl Kabat.
So on his 76th birthday Oct. 10, he could think of no better place to
be than a jail cell.
The St. Louis priest has spent more than 15 years behind bars as a
“fool for Christ” for numerous faith witnesses challenging U.S.
nuclear weapons policy.
Father Kabat’s latest arrest came Aug. 6. Dressed in his usual
colorful clown suit, he cut a hole in a fence surrounding a missile
silo in rural Weld County, 40 miles north of Greeley, Colo. The fence
was decorated with banners decrying the pursuit of nuclear warfare and
a clown doll.
His symbolic action came on the anniversary of the atomic bombing of
Hiroshima, Japan. The statement he issued prior to his arrest can be
read here: http://omiusajpic.org/2009/08/15/fr-carl-kabat-protests-nukes/
Father Kabat spent his 76th birthday in the Weld County Jail, where he
is awaiting trial on misdemeanor charges of trespassing and criminal
mischief for his latest protest. His trial is set for Dec. 9.
When he’s not engaged in faith-based protests, Father Kabat resides at
Karen House http://www.karenhousecw.org/, a Catholic Worker house for
homeless women and their children, in St. Louis. Ordained 50 years
ago, he was a missionary in the Philippines and Brazil in the 1960s
and 1970s.
Father Kabat can be reached at the Weld County Jail, 2110 O St.,
Greeley, Colo., 80631.
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Byline for attached photo: Oblate Father Carl Kabat, 76, prepares to
hang a banner on the fence around a nuclear armed missile in northern
Colorado Aug. 6. (Courtesy St. Louis Catholic Worker)
