From Chris Hedges at OpEdNews:
Retired Episcopal Bishop George Packard was arrested in Vietnam Veterans Memorial Plaza in New York City on Tuesday night as he participated in the May 1 Occupy demonstrations. He and 15 other military veterans were taken into custody after they linked arms to hold the plaza against a police attempt to clear it. There were protesters behind them who, perhaps because of confusion, perhaps because of miscommunication or perhaps they were unwilling to risk arrest, melted into the urban landscape. But those in the thin line from Veterans for Peace, of which the bishop is a member, stood their ground. They were handcuffed, herded into a paddy wagon and taken to jail.That veterans were arrested simply for their presence in a place dedicated to the memory of those who served in the military is an outrage about which few seem to take note or care. Shame on you, Mayor Bloomberg, for your directions for general heavy-handed treatment of the Occupiers, but double shame on you for dishonoring the veterans by removing them by force from their plaza. Yes, the buck stops with you.
Hedges on George Packard:
Packard's moral and intellectual courage stands in stark contrast with the timidity of nearly all clergy and congregants in all of our major religious institutions. Religious leaders, in churches, synagogues and mosques, at best voice pious and empty platitudes about justice or carry out nominal acts of charity aimed at those bearing the weight of resistance in the streets. And Packard's arrests serve as a reminder of the price that we -- especially those who claim to be informed by the message of the Christian Gospel -- must be willing to pay to defy the destruction visited on us all by the corporate state. He is one of the few clergy members who dare to bear a genuine Christian witness in an age that cries out in anguish for moral guidance.Sigh.... Too true.
And read George's horrifying descriptions of his service in Vietnam.
Vietnam is now the forgotten war, lost in the mists of recent history from which we took no good lessons.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Photo from George's album on Facebook.
Great article, by a great writer, of a great man. God bless you, Bishop Packard!
ReplyDeleteAmen!
ReplyDeleteThe priest who brought me into the Episcopal Church was Russell Theodore Rauscher, who was everything you could want in a pastor -- tall, handsome, deep-voiced, empathetic presence. A parish mother once reported that her pre-school child came running to her calling, "God is on television!" It was Fr. Rauscher. He later became Sixth Bishop of Nebraska.
ReplyDeleteI realized later that Russ was a product of his German Lutheran youth in Iowa, no matter how much luster and credibility he lent to TEC. Which made me wonder: Are the saints advertisements for the church, or does the church take credit for them to enhance its own image? Is George Packard a great example of a bishop -- or does his personal quality make the office of bishop look good?
I know, you can't separate the person, the history, and the office; I'm glad that being a bishop gives the witness of Bishop Packard extra resonance in public awareness. He's harder to ignore than the hundreds of faceless (to the media) Occupiers. [
http://truth-out.org/news/item/8965-the-corporate-medias-attempt-to-kill-the-occupy-movement ]
Is George Packard a great example of a bishop -- or does his personal quality make the office of bishop look good?
ReplyDeleteI don't know that I have an answer to your question, Murdoch, but I know George honors the office of bishop, though I don't know that many of his fellow bishops would agree with me.
Thanks for the link to the article at Truthout, which is excellent. The pretense by the 'Newspaper of Record', that the march was a minor event it its home city is pathetic. I'm reminded of Judith Miller's inaccuracies making the front page, even as the articles by their own staff questioning the presence of WMD and nuclear capability in Iraq were hidden away in the inside pages.