Message from Art Laffin--Dec. 3rd Global Sisters Report/NCR Interview with Art Laffin and Carole Sargent About the New Book of Sr. Anne Montgomery's Poetry--Video Links of Book Event

[Catholic Worker]

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Art Laffin <artl...@hotmail.com>
Date: Thu, Dec 5, 2024, 13:21
Subject: Message from Art Laffin--Dec. 3rd Global Sisters Report/NCR Interview with Art Laffin and Carole Sargent About the New Book of Sr. Anne Montgomery's Poetry--Video Links of Book Event
To:

"In this Kairos time of crisis and challenge, may we, like Mary of Nazareth, be open to the Spirit who calls us to new ways of incarnating the Word of truth and love."

                                                                                               --From Sr. Montgomery's Prayer at this Kairos Time

Dear Friends,

Here's the link to the interview Carole Sargent and I did with Claire Schaffer-Duffy regarding Arise and Witness: Poems by Anne Montgomery, RSCJ, About Faith, Prison, War Zones and Nonviolent Resistance that was posted December 3rd on the Global Sister's Report-NCR on-line edition.   

https://www.globalsistersreport.org/qas/qa-carole-sargent-and-art-laffin-poetics-sr-anne-montgomery?site_redirect=1

See also the recording from the Dec. 3 celebration of the publication of the book that was hosted by the Stuart Center in WDC. Here's an excerpt of an email that Clara Callahan, Executive Director of Stuart Center for Mission--A Ministry of the Society of the Sacred Heart (Sr. Anne's religious congregation), sent out with the recording link. 

Dear Sisters, Associates and Friends -

I write with gratitude to all who were able to join us Tuesday evening to celebrate the publication of ARISE & WITNESS: Poems by Anne Montgomery, RSCJ About Faith, Prison, War Zones and Nonviolent Resistance, edited by her friend Arthur Laffin with assistance from Carole Sargent, RSCJ Associate. Carole put together a beautiful program which paid homage to Sr. Montgomery's writings and honored those who shared her life by "arising and witnessing".

I've shared, below, a link to the recorded event. Before viewing it may be helpful to know that we were surprised by the blessing of a professional filmmaker joining us; I point this out because you will see our in-person speakers being asked to be particularly attentive to his microphone and camera equipment...

Here's the link to view the recorded event: https://stuartcenter-org.zoom.us/rec/share/EGfKsr7efvNiQksrtQ4DqlPtsK39avwDOKb7XTXvb97S2e0IZynnnufIvgLh8V0.Oxz1IAoYUtHj4tge?startTime=1733266972000

Passcode: R3?amdmt

Finally, please see the link to the short video of the book event done by David Bradbury, who said to forward it to friends who knew Sr. Anne Montgomery. https://youtu.be/5jYER2_EKjE  (12mins)

 

In Advent hope,
Art

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Arise and Witness: Poems by Anne Montgomery, RSCJ, About Faith, Prison, War Zones and Nonviolent Resistance 

Edited by Arthur Laffin with Carole Sargent, New Academia Publishing/Scarith Books. $18

Sr. Anne Montgomery was a nonviolent witness in war zones in the Holy Land and Iraq, and endured years of imprisonment due to her involvement in Plowshares actions. Her poems are rooted in her love for accompanying the marginalized, borne out of her experience of religious life and community. Most of these poems, now published posthumously, provide unique and rich biblical insights into what it means to be human and a faithful follower of Jesus. This volume serves as both a powerful spiritual anchor and a source of inspiration for all who seek to be a radical witness of truth and hope. Drawing on her experience as a religious, teacher and peacemaker, Anne's poetry offers powerful scriptural insights that can sustain people's hope.

PRAISE FOR ARISE AND WITNESS

Editor Art Laffin provides a portal for beholding Anne Mongomeryʼs extraordinary wisdom and faith. By interspersing her poetry with her compelling life story, he and Carole Sargent illuminate her rare and beautiful courage. The poems also reveal Anneʼs journey into tireless, ever-deepening Christian discipleship. Prepare to be radically challenged by this loving exploration of Anne Montgomeryʼs life and art. 

--KATHY KELLY, board president, World BEYOND War. She knew Sr. Anne through their shared peace work in Bosnia, Iraq, and occupied Palestine. 

If you knew Anne Montgomery, read on! Youʼll find new depth and dimension here that will strengthen love for our dear Resister Sister. If you are picking up this book with interest and curiosity, please hold on tight! You will be moved to tears, moved to action, moved to embrace a life of Montgomerian seriousness… which is to say the work of safeguarding and showing up for the beauty, fragility and sanctity of Godʼs creation. 

--FRIDA BERRIGAN, author of It Runs In The Family: On Being Raised By Radicals and Growing Into Rebellious Motherhood (OR Books, 2015) 

Sr. Anne Montgomery walked with transforming peace to hard places– nuclear bunkers, Alderson Prison, Guantanamo, occupied Palestine, Baghdad streets under the bombs. She embodied courage and compassion. In these poems along her way, we are blessed by Anneʼs song of resurrection for us all.” 

--JIM DOUGLASS and SHELLEY DOUGLASS, Maryʼs House Catholic Worker, Birmingham, Alabama. Jim is the author of The Nonviolent Coming of God (Orbis Books, 1992; Wipf and Stock, 2019) and JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters (Orbis Books, 2008; Touchstone, 2010)

This posthumous collection of poems by activist Anne Montgomery illuminates the heart of a woman who gave her every moment in service to impede ugliness, and to do God’s work. These poems not only tell stories but raise the reader’s consciousness to find what is possible to think and feel beyond one’s own well-being. These works are not sentences of hope strung together, they are real poems with image, idea, feeling and intuition. They are poems of rejuvenation so desperately needed in this cynical time. ‘To drink the wine of wonder’ Montgomery says. And then she demonstrates it with her thoughts.

‘Poetry of contemplation’ does not need to be sonorous. Montgomery’s is alive, animated on the page in forms that take an energetic esthetic. She uses experimental line breaks and juxtapositions, but her meanings are always steady and clear. Most of all, Anne Montgomery gives ‘a name to the nameless.’ She speaks for the beggar, the prostitute, the war-torn—‘…the child who sees with one eye/ or not at all/who walks with one leg/or never again…’ In death, this poet continues to give light.                                             ―GRACE CAVALIERI, Maryland Poet Laureate

To purchase a copy see: https://www.newacademia.com/books/arise-and-witness-poems-by-anne-montgomery-rscj-about-faith-prison-war-zones-and-nonviolent-resistance/