This year's 28th annual two-and-a-half-day Feast of the Holy Innocents Retreat was held in the basement of St John's Church on the campus of Creighton University in Omaha. The retreat brought representatives from five Midwest Catholic Worker communities; Omaha, NE, Des Moines, IA, Yankton, SD, Kansas City, MO and Wisconsin Dells, WI.

 

The retreat invited attendees to make their celebration of Christmas complete by exploring the often ignored spiritual meaning of the season through study of the infant narratives of the Gospels and examination of the links between King Herod's killing of the innocents and the murderous deeds of US-backed modern day Herods. The Herods of Jesus' day were backed-up by legions of Roman armies. Our modern day Herods are backed by the United States global military presence and Offutt's nuclear and space commands.

 

On December 28th (the actual Feast of the Holy Innocents), the final day of the retreat ended at 1 p.m. with fifteen people at main gate of Offutt AFB and home of the STRATCom. Offutt security shut down the exit lane of the main drive as we moved onto the exiting lane holding a banner that read, "Herod Killed the Infants, STRATCom would kill the World, Celebrate Christmas, Shut Down STRATCom".

 

We began our presence with a reading the infant narrative of Matthew's Gospel followed by a reading of Luke's "Mary's Magnificent", a short quote from Thomas Merton and ended with personal statements by Dagmar Hoxsie and John Bach, the two people 'crossing the line'. (See Dagmar Hoxsie's personal statement.)

 

Immediately after making their statements 76-year-old Dagmar Hoxsie of the Yankton CW and 33-year-old John Bach of Des Moines IA crossed the line onto Offutt property.  They were stopped, hand cuffed and taken into custody by the Offutt security people. Both were promised "ban and bar" letters in the mail and released within an hour.

 

Since 9/11, line-crossers at Offutt AFB have been charged with Misdemeanor Federal Trespass charges and called to Federal Court in Omaha within a month to six weeks of their line crossing. First-time offenders are often given probation while repeat offenders are given prison sentences. The maximum penalty for a Misdemeanor Federal Trespass charge is a $5,000 fine and a six-month prison sentence.  Dagmar Hoxsie is a repeat offender, and this is John Bach's first line crossing.

 

For more info contact:

 

Frank Cordaro

Phil Berrigan CW House

713 Indiana Avenue, Des Moines, IA 50314

frank.cordaro@gmail.com

(515) 282-4781

 

 

Feast of the Holy Innocents Retreat 2007

Dagmar Hoxsie is handcuffed after crossing the line.

Dagmar Hoxsie’s personal statement may be read here.

 

 

Slide-show of photos; click on the photo for its description.

 

 

YouTube Video of the Action

 

 

Press Coverage

 

http://www.km3.com/Global/story.asp?s=7552934

 

http://www.ketv.com/news/14940738/detail.html