Sister Dorothy Marie Hennessey, peace activist jailed at age 88, dies

Published: 2008-02-01

DUBUQUE, Iowa (CNS) -- Franciscan Sister Dorothy Marie Hennessey, a teacher turned activist who made national news at age 88 when she was sentenced to federal prison for trespassing at a Georgia military base, died Jan. 24 at age 94. The stream of friends who attended her wake and Jan. 28 funeral celebrated the influence and positive impact they said she had in their lives. Franciscan Sister Nancy Miller noted that Sister Dorothy Marie believed prayer and politics -- in the true sense -- went hand in hand. She often said, "I am convinced more than ever that we should get into today's political life with Gospel motivation." In 2001, Sister Dorothy Marie and her sibling, Franciscan Sister Gwen Hennessey, then 68, were sentenced, along with 24 others, to six months in the federal prison in Pekin, Ill., for trespassing at Fort Benning in Columbus, Ga., as part of the annual vigil to close the School of the Americas, now the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. When a judge offered to commute Sister Dorothy Marie's sentence to "motherhouse arrest," she replied, "I'd rather not be singled out. If you wouldn't mind, I would just as soon have the same (sentence) as the others."

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