Silo N-7

Oblates to Dismiss Kabat for Nuclear Protest
Special to the Nuclear Resister by Bill Strabala

The Roman Catholic missionary order, Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI), is twisting Jesuit guidelines on civil disobedience as a means to clip the wings of Oblate clerics who, in the conservative judgment of superiors, may have flown too freely in their anti-war protests.

Under the Oblate interpretation, the new policy, borrowed from the Jesuits just last year as a procedure for controlling permission to clerical dissenters, can also result in banishing activist priests from their community.

Such a dismissal from the Oblate congregation is now underway in the case of Rev. Carl Kabat, OMI, who recently angered his superiors by staging a nonviolent protest at nuclear missile silo N-7 near New Raymer, Colorado. He and a supporter were arrested there last August 6, the 55th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima.

Rev. Kabat climbed the perimeter fence and placed unconsecrated bread and wine on the silo, along with a small hammer. Dressed in a clown outfit, he issued this statement:

"We are clowns and fools for God and Humanity's sake. We bring bread and wine and a hammer as symbols of life in this damnable place of death. The bomb dropped on Hiroshima by the Enola Gay killed more than 100,000 people. If we calculate what 147 bombs, each 20 times as powerful as that original bomb could do, we come up with a number of dead approaching one billion people. All this just from the small portion of the nuclear arsenal housed in Colorado."

Just outside the gate, supporter Bill Sulzman, a former priest and director of Citizens for Peace in Space in Colorado Springs, vigiled until a squad of more than 50 military police arrived. Both men were taken into custody. Sulzman was issued a state citation and released to appear in Weld County Court November 3. Kabat was held on federal charges and refused to post a $250 bond.

The men were arrested two years to the day after the arrest of Sachio Ko-Yin and Daniel Sicken at the same silo for the Minuteman III Plowshares disarmament action. (see update, page 7)

Kabat was returned to federal court August 18, when he was freed on personal recognizance. While in Colorado awaiting another court date, Rev. Kabat received a letter, dated August 22, from his Washington-based U.S. Oblate provincial, Very Rev. David Kalert, OMI, stating, in part, "I am pursuing your dismissal from the congregation."

A previous letter, dated August 2, which did not reach Rev. Kabat until after his arrest, said: "...in light of the province policy on civil disobedience that was carefully explained to you... I must remind you that this new action on your part constitutes cause for dismissal from the congregation." Rev. Kalert says that Rev. Kabat has been deliberately disobedient.

The history leading up to the Oblate dismissal is long. Rev. Kabat is a lifelong anti-war protester who has served more than 14 years in prison for such nonviolent protests over the past 30 years. In December, 1998, Rev. Kabat was on parole from prison for an earlier protest action. Rev. Kalert assigned him to stay at an Oblate community called St. Henry's in Belleville, Illinois, placing him under a form of house arrest with these words: "Prolonged absences, even overnight, would not be acceptable without my approval." Rev. Kabat had no assigned ministerial duties at St. Henry's, but found volunteer work with the St. Louis Catholic Worker community.

When Rev. Kabat objected to his confinement, another letter from Rev. Kalert, dated March 25, 1999, seems to give Kabat a broad permission. It says: "I assure you I will be very accommodating to your requests, and I will try to be reasonable in those issues."

Rev. Kabat says he is at a loss to reconcile the conflicting statements from Rev. Kalert. Before leaving his Belleville post in late July, Kabat says he gave notice that he would be taking an annually allowed 3-week vacation.

In the absence of his superior, Rev. Kabat left a note with subordinates explaining his intent to stage a protest. He says he did not ask for a specific permission because he feared that his superiors could be arrested as accomplices and advised them of that danger. In the past 30 years, at least five Oblates have been arrested for similar actions without a formal permission to do so.

The Oblates are missionaries with a specialty in serving the poor and homeless, having been founded in France at the time of the French revolution. After teaching and parish work, Rev. Kabat served seven years of his priesthood at missions in the Philippines and Brazil. Ironically, if he is ejected from his community after five decades under vows, Rev. Kabat would join the ranks of the homeless and destitute because his vow of poverty restricts him from owning anything.

When Rev. Kabat heard of plans for his dismissal, he merely shrugged and, after referring to the public anti-nuclear position of the U.S. bishops, said with a smile: "I am fighting evil, and now this. Anything that is dead will fall over of its own weight." He declined to elaborate.

Rev. Kabat is being represented pro bono by Denver attorney Walter Gerash. Gerash has successfully defended progressive political cases in the past and told the court he intends to try the case on international legal precedents set at the WWII Nuremberg war crimes trials. These precedents would establish that Rev. Kabat was trying to prevent the potential crime of genocide by giving public warning, as required by the Nuremberg principles.

As he arrived for a court appearance August 30, federal marshals informed Rev. Kabat that he was to be arrested and returned to Illinois for violating his probation there. Attorney Gerash persuaded the court to release Kabat on unsecured bond from the Illinois charge so he could stay in Colorado until trial, scheduled for November 6 but likely to be postponed.

For more information, contact Citizens for Peace in Space, POB 915, Colorado Springs, CO 80903.

Letters of support for Rev. Kabat may be sent to his superiors: Very Rev. David Kalert OMI, Oblate Fathers, 391 Michigan Ave. NE, Washington DC 20017-1516; and His Eminence Francis Cardinal George OMI, POB 1979, Chicago, IL 60690.