Why I Went To Prison For a Nuclear Free World

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 26, 2015

Sister Megan Rice speaks at New Jersey Peace Action’s

Annual Fall Gathering on November 14th

“Why I went to prison for a nuclear weapons free world”

Contact: Madelyn Hoffman, Executive Director of New Jersey Peace Action, (973)259-1126

On Saturday, November 14th, Sister (Sr.) Megan Rice will speak at New Jersey Peace Action (NJPA)’s Annual Fall Gathering on “Why I went to prison for a nuclear weapons free world.” NJPA’s Annual Fall Gathering will start at 1:00pm and continue until 4:00pm at Bloomfield High School, 160 Broad Street, in Bloomfield.

“Yes, Bloomfield, get ready to be wowed by this 85-year old nun – who has been arrested more than three dozen times for her peace activism most recently in July 2012,” said Madelyn Hoffman, Executive Director of New Jersey Peace Action. “Sister Megan Rice will speak about why she went to prison for a nuclear weapons free world. She and fellow anti-nuclear activists were arrested for ‘breaking in’ to the Oak Ridge, Tennessee Y-12 nuclear weapons storage facility, but Sr. Megan Rice believes that she legally entered an ‘illegal facility surrounded by an illegal fence’ because she has a moral obligation to show the world the dangers of nuclear weapons.”

“Our ‘crime,’” Sr. Megan Rice said later, “was to draw attention to the criminality of the 70 year-old nuclear industry itself and to the unconscionable fact that the U.S. spends more on nuclear weapons than on education, health, transportation, and disaster relief combined…It’s idolatry, putting trust in weapons. And weapons are made like gods. … Weapons are always false gods because they make money. It’s profiteering.”

In July 2012, at the age of 82, Sr. Megan Rice and two other activists, members of Plowshares, a group seeking the global elimination of nuclear arms, risked their safety and freedom and entered the Y-12 National Security Complex building in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, supposedly one of the most secure nuclear-weapons facilities in the United States. Although the protesters set off alarms, it took security 2 hours to find the three peace activists. When security finally arrived, guards found the three activists singing and offering to break bread with them. Security officials have termed it “…the biggest security breach in the history of the nation’s atomic complex.” But Sr. Megan describes her actions as “legally entering through illegal fences surrounding an illegal project” to expose the dangers of nuclear weapons.

“I am honored to introduce anti-nuclear activist Sr. Megan Rice at NJPA’s Fall Peace Gathering,” said Kathy O’Leary, coordinator for the New Jersey region of Pax Christi USA, the national Catholic peace movement. “While many of the arguments for nuclear deterrence fell along with the Berlin Wall, the United States still stockpiles a massive arsenal of nuclear warheads. I believe along with Pope Francis and the Vatican that we cannot bring about peace while maintaining a threat of such brutal force.”

To make a reservation visit www.njpeaceaction.org or call 973-259-1126. Reservations required.

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New Jersey Peace Action was founded in 1957 as Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy and is part of one of the largest and oldest grassroots disarmament organizations in the U.S. NJPA works to reduce military spending so money can be spent on human needs, for nuclear disarmament and diplomatic solutions to international conflict.

Pax Christi USA is a membership organization that rejects war, preparation for war, every form of violence and domination, and personal and systemic racism. Ms. O’Leary represents Pax Christi NJ on local coalitions including the NJ Prison Divestment Campaign and NJ Advocates for Immigrant Detainees. She is currently a member of the peace center committee of the Shrine of St. Joseph which she and her family also attend.