Madison, Wisconsin is hosting the 20th Catholic Worker Midwest Faith and Resistance Gathering, March 24 – 27, 2023. It will be a weekend of relationship-building, reflection, music, art, meals and direct action opposing F-35 fighter jets, militarism and war.
All are welcome at the film on Friday evening, the public talks on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, the services on Sunday morning, and at the direct actions and the war abolition walk on Monday morning. Details below.
Friday Night Film
Friday, March 24 at 7:00 pm – Madison Veterans for Peace present the new documentary Theaters of War: How the Pentagon and CIA took Hollywood (1 hr 28 min). Bradley Geyer of Madison Veterans for Peace, Chapter 25, will lead discussion at intermission and following the film. Location: Madison Christian Community, 7118 Old Sauk Road, Madison.
Saturday Afternoon Panel Discussion
March 25 – 1:30 – 3:00 pm Location: Madison Christian Community, 7118 Old Sauk Road, Madison
Moderator, Rebecca Kemble, Former Alder, Water Protector, Activist
- Kathy Kelly, Board President, World BEYOND War
- Vicki Berenson, Safe Skies Clean Water Wisconsin
- Steven Klafka, Safe Skies Clean Water Wisconsin
(Speakers’ bios are below.)
Sunday Morning Services
11:15 Wild Church in Owen Park, with Eric Anglada, St Isadore Catholic Worker Farm and Sister Maureen McDonnell, Sinsinawa Dominican
Sunday Afternoon Panel Discussion
March 26 – 1:30 – 2:30 pm, Location: St Thomas Aquinas Catholic Parish, 602 Everglade Drive, Madison
Moderator: Marsha Rummel, former alder 2007 – 2021; current alder candidate for District 6
- Danaka Katovich, National Co-Director, CODEPINK Women for Peace, and Facilitator, CODEPINK International Ground the F-35 coalition
- Brian Terrell, Strangers & Guests Catholic Worker & Nevada Desert Experience
Monday, March 27 – Resistance actions to ground the F-35 fighter jet and abolish war
We need you and your friends and relations on Monday!
Several nonviolent resistance actions will happen Monday morning. Affinity groups will prepare and plan the details during the weekend of March 24 – 26. If you can commit to nonviolence, please show up to any or all of these listed times and places, to support and witness.
5:30 am Gather at Truax – Wisconsin Air National Guard Base, 3200 Pierstorff St.
6:00 am Nonviolent resistance action begins. Sunrise is at 6:49 am.
7:15 am Gather at Truax – 3200 Pierstorff St.
7:30 am The war abolition walk begins. We will walk at a moderate pace to downtown Madison (4.8 miles). When we arrive at 10:30 am, we will join nonviolent resistance actions downtown.
9:00 am Gather at OM Village, 304 N Third St. The war abolition walk will make a rest stop and people can also join the walk here. OM Village is an intentional community of activists living in tiny houses, the first of now three sites managed by the collective Occupy Madison, Inc.
10:30 am Gather at St John’s Lutheran Church, 322 E Washington Ave. Choose between several nonviolent resistance actions downtown including vigils with music, visits to elected officials, and bannering.
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To be part of the whole weekend of events:
The focus of the weekend gathering is preparing for a resistance direct action that we will do on Monday, March 27. Want to be part of that? Please rsvp here and plan to be with us on Saturday and Sunday afternoon especially. During those times, we’ll listen to speakers, do nonviolence training, and form affinity groups to plan and act together. We hope that many Madison-area activists will participate. It will be a chance for us to support and learn from seasoned anti-militarism movement leaders who will be coming here from all over the US. We’ll send a detailed weekend schedule to people who rsvp.
Wisconsin Bail Out the People Movement 