From:
Winona Catholic Worker
P.O. Box 102
Winona MN 55987
November 21, 2007
To:
Bro. Louis De Thomasis, FSC
Chancellor
Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota
2500 Park Avenue
Minneapolis MN 55404
Ms. Margaret Mary Richtman
Director of Alumni Relations
Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota
700 Terrace Heights
Winona MN 55987
Dr. Jeffrey Highland
University Provost and Vice-President of the College
Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota
700 Terrace Heights
Winona MN 55987
Board of Directors of the Alumni Association
Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota
700 Terrace Heights
Winona MN 55987
We, core community members and associates of the Winona Catholic Worker, are disheartened and disturbed by news of the Alumni Board’s plan to erect a $100,000 veterans memorial monument on the campus of St. Mary's University.
Our times cry out for an alternative to the status quo of militarism. Gospel precepts as exemplified by Lasallian tradition offer such light. The proposed monument does not.
Memorial architecture is highly symbolic and rife with both explicit and implicit messages. While the intent of this proposed project may be to honor the commitment of those alumni who joined the armed forces and suffered injury or death, a public monument invariably glorifies the institution of war, not its participants. Winona and environs has numerous examples of this sort.
Meanwhile we are inundated these days with news of how our nation’s soldiers are treated—or not—by the government they served. In the current wars with Iraq and Afghanistan, the hero/heroine motif does not translate into authentic post-battlefield support. Our nation tends to honor the ideal of military service but sideline the soldier-turned-civilian when help is desperately needed in the aftermath of war.
If Saint Mary's University intends to honor the men and women who have engaged in the military, then the already accrued monies should more appropriately go to veterans' services. Another use of the funds could be to create scholarships for immediate family members of disabled or deceased veterans.
The cofounder of the Catholic Worker movement, Dorothy Day, wrote in May 1975 about the futility of war, contrasting it with its opposite, the Gospel Works of Mercy: "When we talk means and ends, the most striking means in the world today are the means of war and the means of the Works of Mercy as Jesus taught his disciples. All the wars we have seen since 1933 when the Catholic Worker began--the Ethiopian War, the Spanish Civil War, the second World War, the Korean War, and now the Vietnam War--have not achieved any of the ends we as a people have wanted, or have been told we were looking for."
Assisting veterans and their families with their real needs for rehabilitation, healing, and education (the Works of Mercy) seems to us to be more in keeping with the Gospel mission of Saint Mary’s University than the erection of a monument that glorifies war. We urge you to reconsider this project and look at alternatives that would more authentically serve veterans and Lasallian social justice principles.
In peace,
Mary Farrell John Heid James Allaire (Class of ’64) Barbara Allaire
A follow-up:
Winona Catholic Worker
P.O. Box 102
Winona MN 55987
December 11, 2007
Brother Louis DeThomasis, FSC
700 Terrace Heights #30
Winona MN 55987-1399
Dear Brother Louis,
We appreciate your response to our letter of November 21 regarding the veterans memorial planned for the Saint Mary’s campus. Thank you for taking the time to write us.
Yes, we understand that you and the Alumni Board are not intentionally trying to glorify war by means of this monument. Our concern, however, is that by the very appearance and size of the monument in such a prominent position on the campus, with its five curved pillars representing the five branches of the military, it will be perceived by the typical visitor or student as praising the military, military solutions to human conflict, and the wars fought by the veterans of SMU. Is there any other way to honor those alumni who died in U.S. wars that would be less apt to be perceived as giving praise to war?
We hope that you and the Alumni Board will consider a moratorium on going forward with this project, so that there might be some time to reflect on and look at alternatives. Thank you for your consideration.
Have a blessed Christmas.
Sincerely,
Mary Farrell James Allaire (Class of 1964) Barbara Allaire
Cc: Dr. Jeffrey Highland, University Provost
Meg Richtman, Alumni Director
