Fr Dave Polich and Frank Cordaro's Aug 6 speeches at St Ambrose Cathedral, DM IA, Nov. 2018 via pacis p. 3

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Frank Cordaro

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Nov 26, 2018, 8:15:48 AM11/26/18
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From Aug 6 speech by Fr Dave Polich at the beginning of  Aug 6-9 St Ambrose Cathedral Vigil: https://youtu.be/gUkSRbq55rI 

As I thought about our gathering on this anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima in 1945, many things come to mind. I look at the political scene in this day and age, and unfortunately, any day and age, and I think about how there is great argument and concern about tariffs, about taxes, about employment. Also, much pressure is put on politicians and legislatures in a variety of ways, yet when it comes to the military, what the military does, what the military spends, who the military is, it seems like they are generally given free reign. Unfortunately, that is the case among the general public and for ourselves, religious people, religious leaders. We critique in many ways and many fashions, and yet what the military does and how it does it seems to be more sacrosanct than even what the Pope tells us. It is more than sad, it is tragic. It is a flaw beyond understanding. We watch, we say nothing, we do nothing, and the evils continue.

Des Moines has become one of the centers for drone warfare, undeclared wars, secret wars, assassinations, and it boggles the mind. It truly does boggle the mind. We are here, yet nobody speaks of it, nobody questions it, nobody counters. Recently, Pope Francis, issued a declaration with regard to capital punishment, saying that in no way and in no time is it permissible, is it acceptable. This declaration should be no surprise to people that have paid attention to Francis and what he believes and what he has said. For that matter, to what has been said by Popes for the last 30 odd years, and yet Francis has brought it to a point, not leaving room for exceptions, and yet people here, unseen, unspoken, assassinate. They are judge, jury, and executioner. We know not who is killed. We know not how many people are officially targeted and killed. It goes on and it goes on. We say nothing and do nothing.
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From Aug 6 speech by Frank Cordaro at the beginning of  Aug 6-9 St Ambrose Cathedral Vigil:  https://youtu.be/LAJNfyLZlPs

For what it’s worth, we really are here to talk to the Bishop (Pates). [While making hand gestures to buildings] This is your church, that is where you live, and that is where you work. We are here because we have to start in our own house, our Catholic house.

There is a real problem in this state, and I think you heard it from Fr. Dave, you are not going to hear it more authentically.

Bishop, we want a moral teaching about this war policy that is going on right now, in our city, 24/7. Bishop, we don’t need your opinion about whether it is a good policy or not. We don’t need you tell us it is easy to look at drones and condemn them, that is a no brainer.

Your statement from Princeton that Fr. Bertoglia passed on to us simply doesn’t cut it. So those folks in Princeton, not even in the state, you say to them, “It’s easy to make the case that drones push us further from peace. Targeted killings sow anger and unrest among countless people whose lives are upended. With a quick missile strike from a drone here and there (or in Des Moines), we imagine our country is made safer. But the reality is that this policy perpetuates violence, terrorizing communities overseas and radicalizing people who otherwise wouldn’t be hostile toward the United States.” Really a no-brainer there, folks: you bomb people, they hate you, and they multiply.

Simple thinking, I am with you Bishop, but that is not a moral statement. You say, “..who otherwise wouldn’t be hostile toward us..”, that is it, that is all you say. It is very simple. We want you to teach whether this war-making in the sky is just, is moral, is illegal. We want you to use the statement you signed in 2014, during the Obama administration, to tell the Obama administration that their armed drone program in 2014 was not legal, was not just, was not moral.

The problem with your teaching as a teacher, Bishop, is when you teach someone you need to test them. You never graded your 2014 Obama Administrations' test! And you never took that statement, and you never brought it home. Now here we are, four years later. Donald Trump is president, and the drone armed warfare is multiplying, over and over. We are killing more people day in and day out. The president doesn’t even want to know about it, he just says do it. He told the American people, if we are going to win this war, we got to kill their families. The man said it in plain daylight, a criminal president. And now we have a criminal, immoral, Christian leadership in Iowa who will not speak out.

Please Bishop, for God’s sake, speak out!

2018 #3 Nov. Via Pacis Des Moines Catholic Worker Newspaper, p 3
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/national-cw-e-mail-list/SQBzzqqNYVE
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News Release: DMCW return to St Ambrose Cathedral for Aug 6 @ 8 a.m. for 2nd annual Aug 6-9 Vigil begging Bp Pates to teach about DM's Armed Drone Command Center

2018 DM Drone & Billboard Campaigns’ Postings
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