Reprinted from the October 1986 newsletter.

https://catholicpeaceaction.org/wp-content/uploads/1986-10-CPA-Newsletter.pdf

August 1986

By Fr David Standley

Scene One

On August 6th at 7:30 a.m. some fifteen people gather round a child’s coffin in the Embankment Gardens to pray for the victims of Hiroshima.  All round the Gardens strange, sad people waking up from their hard and lonely beds, some declaiming to absent audiences, others cursing God and the world.  They are familiar and welcome, or at least tolerated.  But the gardeners and wardens can’t cope with people praying, let alone coffins.  We are moved on before we can finish.

Scene Two

Three people kneeling before the coffin, placed like a dead baby on the top step of the entrance to the Ministry of Defence. Flurries of security panic — after all that box might contain a little of the same stuff they are in business to manufacture and use themselves, and in the wrong hands… Early workers arrive and are not obstructed.  The three continue kneeling, it seems for a long time, silent and sad and strong.  A little singing and psalming among friends.

Scene Three

Small coffin silent and alone as workers stream past in increasing numbers, some choosing not to notice, some accepting leaflets, a few grinding their teeth.  The jaws of the MoD swallow their daily food.  The three mourners parley with police on the pavement below.  No one is obstructed.  The mourners are bundled away.

Scene Four

Friday 8:30 p.m.  The Eucharist on the steps of the MoD, previously authorised, is now refused by the police, who feel deceived by the action on Wednesday. We remove to the grass on the riverside of the building, and celebrate Mass under the stoney gaze of General Gordon of Khartoum.  The huge bulk of the MoD dwarfs the tiny celebration, as we proclaim our belief that the peace of Christ is stronger than the supposed security of weapons of mass destruction.

Scene Five

August 19th, p.m. The Magistrate’s Court in Wells street. We are shunted from one floor to another as they try to find a vacant court.  As a witness I miss most of the proceedings, waiting my turn.  An hour passes, so the defendants must be being allowed to defend themselves on their own terms.

I am called, and take the oath, resting my hand on God ‘s word.  Theresa asks me why I was there, Margaret asks what significance August 6th has for Christian peacemakers, Clive asks if the Church ever sanctions the right of conscience to disobey the law of the land in order to obey a higher law.

The defendants seem exposed and vulnerable; the magistrate magisterial, not unfriendly, perplexed, in command of the law, listening. I feel the privilege and responsibility of being able to speak openly of the Gospel in a court of law.  Is it mischievous or sincere of the prosecuting counsel to quote Romans 13 about the duty to obey civil authority? He also reminds us that August 6th for Christians is the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord.   Indeed.

The defendants are found technically guilty of the offence of ‘wilfully obstructing the highway without lawful authority.  The magistrate mutters the unexpected sentence, binding them over to keep the peace for a year.

Does this mean they must sign?  Yes, to the Queen, to keep her peace.  Margaret, Theresa, and Clive are led off into a side room.  Later they emerge outside the court.

They have signed.  Tears, frustration, anger.  Sense of failure, even betrayal.  Prison now (the consequence of not signing) is different from prison later, and we are not ready.

But this is not defeat.  We have witnessed in action and word that Christ ‘s peace and the Queen’s peace are not the same.  It is Christ’s peace we must keep and build.  The crisis between the two will continue to break out at the MoD.

I am glad to have had a small part in the play.