Dover-Sherborn Press

Peace Abbey provides sanctuary for soldiers going AWOL

By David Halperin/ Correspondent
Thursday, March 23, 2006

SHERBORN - One day into the Peace Abbey's first Sanctuary Week, the retreat center's founding director weighed the various reasons why a soldier in the United States military might leave the service without permission, but he didn't have to think about it for long.

    "There's hardly a bad reason for not wanting to shoot people," said Lewis Randa, who spoke those words in reference to the more than 5,000 soldiers - according to several media outlets quoting Pentagon officials - who have gone AWOL from the U.S. military since the start of the war in Iraq three years ago.

    Randa and others at the Peace Abbey said their Sanctuary Week is meant to provide support for those soldiers, whether they consider themselves conscientious objectors or not. The event began on Sunday, March 19, and runs through this Saturday.

    "When a soldier arrives who's with the underground, there's a great deal of uncertainty as to what tomorrow will bring," said Randa, "so [in the event of a soldier arriving] we try to look at the options."

    If an AWOL soldier wants to turn himself in to the federal government, said Randa, the Peace Abbey will provide the soldier with various types of support, either directly or indirectly, including legal and spiritual support, as the process usually leads to jail time.

    Randa said the pain of jail time can be eased if deserters understand their own actions - that is, why they left the military without permission - while the length of jail time can be decreased if "conscientious objector" status is obtained from the military.

    "We help them develop a strategy for communicating with family, community and religious congregations as to why they did what they did," Randa said. "And it will help them, I'm certain, to deal with incarceration that is less injurious to their spirit or their soul."

    According to Randa and others at the Peace Abbey, the organization doesn't push anyone into seeking conscientious objector status.

    "Maybe they want to go back to the military [instead of filing for conscientious objector status]," said Peace Abbey volunteer Dan Dick who, like Randa, was a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War era. "We're not making decisions for them."

    "We don't know why they [deserted]," Dick said. "They may be conscientious objectors, and we want to help them understand that there is this tradition of conscientious objectors. [And] they may decide that they're doing that, they may decide they're not."

    If any soldiers come forward this week - and none had as of press time on Tuesday - they won't be the first to use the Peace Abbey as a support system.

    In March 2004, after hiding out for a period of five months, former Army Sergeant Camilo Mejia of Florida turned himself in at a Massachusetts National Guard base with the aid of the Peace Abbey. Also, during his time in hiding, he periodically spent time at the Peace Abbey.

    After an 11-month imprisonment, Mejia was released in February 2005 and granted conscientious objector status.

    While Sanctuary Week may not see any additional military deserters coming forward, Dick said the event is meant to raise awareness of former soldiers living in hiding as much as to provide those former soldiers with direct help.

    "We want it to be known in the larger community that people can get support here," he said.

    Abbey remembers Archbishop Romero

    On Friday, March 24, at 7:30 p.m., on the anniversary of the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, the Peace Abbey, 2 North Main St., Sherborn, will remember this man of peace with his words to the military and the people of El Salvador.

    After the reading of his words, the film "Operation Dreamland" will be shown, which is a documentary made in Iraq with military currently serving there.

    This event is co-sponsored by the Natick Peace Council and Pax Christi. The public is invited, as well as military personnel who are conscientious objectors.

    For information, call Lewis Randa or Dot Walsh at 508-655-2143.