We received an email on the national Catholic Worker email list this morning sharing the news that Sr. Anne Montgomery died yesterday, August 27. Sr. Anne was a prominent peace activists within the Plowshares movement and the Catholic Worker. She has been an inspiration to many during a lifetime of witness to the power of gospel nonviolence.
Back in March, National Catholic Reporter ran a story drawing from Sr. Anne’s letter to friends which referenced her declining health. The article also touched on her long history as a peace activist:
Montgomery, who has spent years in jail and prison for acts of nonviolent civil disobedience, mostly against nuclear weapons, joined Josephite Fr. Philip Berrigan, his brother, Jesuit Fr. Daniel Berrigan, and five others for the first Plowshares action Sept. 9, 1980, when the eight activists (the Plowshares 8) entered a General Electric weapons plant in King of Prussia, Pa., and used carpenter’s hammers to disarm two nose cones on a Mark 12A nuclear warhead.
In 2011, Montgomery received a two-month federal prison sentence for her role with members of Disarm Now Plowshares, who entered a weapons facility in Washington state Nov. 2, 2009.
Leonard Eiger has posted on the Disarm Now Plowshares blog an obituary from the Sisters of the Society of the Sacred Heart and will post more details in the coming days.
Truly a great light and an inspiration. Thank God that such a one shared her light and beauty with us.
May she rest in peace. Anne’s inspiration is a lasting legacy for Pax Christi members around the world. In peace, Marie Dennis