Response to war, violence must be love, compassion, priest says

Published: 2008-05-08

BURLINGAME, Calif. (CNS) -- The response to terrorism should not be war and violence, but love and compassion, Franciscan Father Louis Vitale said May 1 at St. Catherine of Siena Church in Burlingame. "We should not be using physical energy which can destroy the world, but rather spiritual energy which was a part of what created us," said Father Vitale, who recently completed a five-month prison sentence connected to a protest held at Fort Huachuca in Arizona. Along with Jesuit Father Steve Kelly, Father Vitale unsuccessfully attempted to introduce evidence about torture during his trial for federal trespass at Fort Huachuca. "War reflects a lack of imagination," the priest told nearly 100 people gathered at the church for his talk.

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