September 2001 Call to Action News

Even during award, Catholic Worker peace action goes on

Somehow it seemed fitting. Most members of the Los Angeles Catholic Worker community were not present Aug. 4 to receive CTA's Leadership Award, because they were away doing what their founder, Dorothy Day, taught them to do: protesting war. They were taking part in the annual Nevada Desert Experience - prayer and non-violent protest at the U.S. nuclear weapons test site. And Jeff Dietrich, one of LACW's founders, was serving time in federal prison for anti-war civil disobedience last May at an air force base in Lompoc, Calif.

Accepting the award for her colleagues, Patty Carmody read an eloquent message from Jeff Dietrich about the feminist gospel perspective that prompts LACW to protest "male pretensions" in both church and civil society. Besides regular action against the nation's war apparatus, the group holds weekly protest vigils at the construction site of the new $200 million archdiocesan cathedral in downtown Los Angeles. Click here for Dietrich's text.