Fwd: PLEASE POST THIS VERSION--Message from Art Laffin--Report of March 27th Pentagon Witness to Celebrate Patrick O'Neill's 70th Birthday--100 People Take Part in A Prayer Service for Peace and 27 Are Arrested

[Catholic Worker]

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Art Laffin <artl...@hotmail.com>
Date: Mon, Mar 30, 2026 at 11:39 AM
Subject: PLEASE POST THIS VERSION--Message from Art Laffin--Report of March 27th Pentagon Witness to Celebrate Patrick O'Neill's 70th Birthday--100 People Take Part in A Prayer Service for Peace and 27 Are Arrested
To: Catholic Worker <catholicw...@gmail.com>, Sheila <she...@langleycreations.com>, Renee Roden <re...@catholicworker.org>

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From: Art Laffin <artl...@hotmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, March 28, 2026 10:27 PM
Subject: Correction: Message from Art Laffin--Report of March 27th Pentagon Witness to Celebrate Patrick O'Neill's 70th Birthday--100 People Take Part in A Prayer Service for Peace and 27 Are Arrested

 

Dear Friends,

On March 27, on the occasion of the 70th birthday of Patrick O'Neill, a longtime Catholic Worker, parent and grandparent, about 100 people held a special peace witness at the Pentagon, the epicenter of warmaking on the planet, to pray for peace, decry the US-Israeli immoral and illegal war in Iran, call for the abolition of all war and all nuclear and conventional weapons, and to invite people to follow the nonviolent Jesus. It was the largest anti-war protest at the Pentagon in recent years. 

Since last October, the Pentagon has banned the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker weekly peace vigil in the fenced off "designated protest area" on the southeast side of the Pentagon citing that the needs a permit group and doesn't have "official business" at the Pentagon, thus effectively prohibited protests on Pentagon property. This is the first nonviolent action to challenge this ban.

At about 9:30 AM, following some remarks from Bruce Gagnon, longtime peace activist and director of the Global Network Against Nuclear Power and Weapons in Space, the group processed in the light rain from S. Fern St. through the Pentagon’s South Parking lot, around the construction of a new perimeter fence along the south side of the Pentagon, and to the main southeast entrance of the Pentagon, where surprised Pentagon police were not expecting the anti-war crowd that included several families with children.

Once there, and in the presence of a long line of visitors waiting to enter the Pentagon, as well as some Pentagon workers, the group unfurled signs and banners as Patrick made a brief statement about the purpose of the witness. They then prayed together the Lord's Prayer and sang several songs including "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord, "Seek Peace and Pursue It" and "Vine and Fig Tree." 

By this time a large number of Pentagon police assembled, warning the crowd that they had to disperse or face arrest for not complying with police orders to leave the area. Patrick, his wife, Mary Rider, their daughter Bernadette Naro and Catholic Workers and peacemakers from different parts of the country were arrested as they prayed and sang at the entrance. A total of 27 people were arrested (see below a listing of those arrested). It took more than 7 hours for everyone to be processed and finally released. Everyone was charged with "Interfering with Agency Function--Failure to Obey a Lawful Order." Twenty-five people were given a June 4 court date and two were given a June 18 date. 

When the 27 were arrested and awaiting transport to the Pentagon police processing center. we all sang Happy Birthday to Patrick.

In an invitation to attend this milestone birthday nonviolent resistance witness, Patrick wrote:

Please consider meeting me at the Pentagon where I am inviting 70 of my family and friends to join me in risking arrest for praying the Lord's Prayer - or a prayer of your choice - outside a main entrance to the place that serves as the brain trust of global militarism; where plans have been made that have resulted in countless deaths from U.S. war-making. It is a place the late anti-war prophet Philip Berrigan called “The Temple of Death"...

All this while the Pentagon budget will surpass $1 trillion for the first time as the United States stays focused on global military domination on earth and in space. The annual "War Appropriations Act" will likely fly through Congress with about 85 percent approval: Republicans and Democrats are united in their devotion to warmaking.

This year the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists re-set its "Doomsday Clock" to 85 seconds to midnight, the closest it's ever been to Armageddon. In setting the Clock closer to midnight, the Science and Security Board said it is sending "a stark signal: Because the world is already perilously close to the precipice ... an indication of extreme danger."

Rather than let fear trap us in inaction let us view our resistance at the Pentagon as a “Spiritual Badge of Honor.”

It is up to us to stop global warming, to stop war-making and to save creation from those who believe in violence and killing. Let's create a world without nuclear weapons and without war and a peaceful future for our children and grandchildren. “Let Us Pray.” If we resist at the Pentagon, we join our lives with those of many peacemakers who have gone before us to promote nonviolent options for conflict resolution. As Jesus said in the Beatitudes: “Blessed are the Peacemakers for they will be called the children of God.”

Listing of those Arrested

Bernadette Naro

Philip Krabil

Lisa Savage 

Mark Roman

Brian Winters

Mary Beth Sullivan

Bruce Gagnon

Audrey Schwankl

Bonnie Klein

Bill Ofenloch 

Angelica Fogarty

Anna Marie Pacione

Steve Baggarly

Bill Frankel-Streit

Erik Johnson

Frank Cordaro

Mark Colville

Mary Rider

Martha Hennessy

Patrick O'Neill 

Frank Panopoulos 

Delaney Wilder

Clare Schaeffer-Duffy

Scott Schaeffer-Duffy

Patricia Colthurst

Art Laffin

Francisco Risso