Fwd: Activists (including Catholic Workers) Arrested at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor Calling for Abolition of Nuclear Weapons

[Catholic Worker]

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Felice Cohen-Joppa <nukere...@igc.org>
Date: Sun, Mar 8, 2026 at 3:54 PM
Subject: Activists (including Catholic Workers) Arrested at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor Calling for Abolition of Nuclear Weapons
To: Catholic Worker <catholicw...@gmail.com>

Activists Arrested at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor Calling for Abolition of Nuclear Weapons

photo by George Rodkey

from the Nuclear Resister

On the morning of March 5, more than 40 nuclear resisters of many faiths took part in a procession to the entrance of Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor from the nearby Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action in Poulsbo, Washington. Twelve of the Pacific Life Community (PLC) activists, calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons, walked into the roadway to block traffic. They held signs and displayed a large banner with a quote from Pope Francis: “The Use and Possession of Nuclear Weapons is Immoral". Some of them carried small bundles wrapped in white shrouds, symbolizing infant victims of war. 

Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, just 20 miles from Seattle, is home to the largest concentration of deployed nuclear warheads in the world. These warheads arm the Trident D-5 missile-launching submarines based at Kitsap-Bangor and are stockpiled in an underground nuclear weapons storage facility on the base. One Trident submarine carries the destructive force of over 1,000 Hiroshima bombs (the Hiroshima bomb was 15 kilotons).

Shortly after they stopped traffic, Washington State Patrol officers escorted the twelve protesters off of the roadway.  They were all given citations for disorderly conduct and released at the scene. 

Those cited were: Sue Ablao, Bremerton, WA; Richard Bishop, Stevensville, MT; Susan Crane, Redwood City, CA; Clancy Dunigan, Langley, WA; Ed Ehmke, Menlo Park, CA; Kathy Kelly, Geneva, IL; Greg Mellor, Los Angeles, CA; Mary Jane Parrine, Menlo Park, CA; Gilberto Perez, Bainbridge Island, WA; Lawrence Purcell, Redwood City, CA; Rush Rehm, Redwood City, CA; and Caroline Wildflower, Port Townsend, WA.

After her arrest, Catholic Worker and Plowshares activist Susan Crane said: "When we walked to the front gate of Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, where Trident submarines with nuclear warheads are deployed, I could see nothing but the practice of more and more horrendous ways of killing people. There's the stench of the organization of war and the heaviness of a systemized way to kill our brothers and sisters. In light of this horror, in light of the need to stop this insane, wasteful way of organizing death, we stood in the road to block vehicles from going onto the base.” 

In addition to calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons, PLC members also expressed opposition to U.S. wars against Iran and Venezuela and U.S. complicity in Israeli attacks against Lebanon, Syria and Yemen, as well as U.S. provisioning of Israel’s genocidal wars against Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.  

The protesters then returned to the Ground Zero Center, where Buddhist monks Rev. Senji Kanaeda and Rev. Gilberto Perez of the Nipponzan Myohiji Buddhist Temple on Bainbridge Island, Washington gave a presentation on the significance of the Pacific Northwest Peace Pagoda. Built on Ground Zero property, it is a long-time vision that is now nearing completion, with the inauguration ceremony happening in May.

The nonviolent resistance action at the nuclear submarine base was the culmination of the Pacific Life Community’s annual gathering. Members from California, Washington, Oregon, Illinois, Montana and Nevada spent several days together in Port Orchard, sharing discussion, discernment, prayer, meals and social time. There was music by the wonderful Irthlingz Duo, Sharon Abreu and Michael Hurwicz. Speakers included long-time activist and World BEYOND War board president Kathy Kelly, Sean Arent with Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility and Tacoma attorney Blake Kremer. Elizabeth Murray and John Heid (via zoom) reflected on their arrest at Tucson’s Raytheon plant at the end of the 2025 PLC gathering, and subsequent trial and sentencing.   

The Pacific Life Community is a network of spiritually motivated activists from U.S. Pacific coast and other western states who engage in anti-nuclear direct action. They protest at different nuclear weapons-related sites each year on or around March 1, which is Nuclear-Free and Independent Pacific Day and the anniversary of the Bravo nuclear bomb detonation by the U.S. at the Bikini Atoll in 1954.

photo by Glen Milner