In yesterday’s news conference Bush defended circumventing the constitution in spying on American citizens:
Bush mounted a vigorous defense of his order authorizing warrantless eavesdropping on overseas telephone calls and e-mail of U.S. citizens with suspected ties to terrorists. He contended that his "obligation to protect you" against attack justified a circumvention of the traditional process in a fast-moving, high-tech battle with a shadowy enemy.
Today, the New York Times reveals that one of the "shadowy enemies" that required surveillance is the Catholic Worker Movement:
Counterterrorism agents at the Federal Bureau of Investigation have conducted numerous surveillance and intelligence-gathering operations that involved, at least indirectly, groups active in causes as diverse as the environment, animal cruelty and poverty relief, newly disclosed agency records show.
{…}One F.B.I. document indicates that agents in Indianapolis planned to conduct surveillance as part of a "Vegan Community Project." Another document talks of the Catholic Workers group’s "semi-communistic ideology." A third indicates the bureau’s interest in determining the location of a protest over llama fur planned by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
The semi-communistic ideology of the Catholic Worker Movement is actually the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Here is an excerpt from their Statement of Aims and Means:
The aim of the Catholic Worker movement is to live in accordance with the justice and charity of Jesus Christ. Our sources are the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures as handed down in the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, with our inspiration coming from the lives of the saints, "men and women outstanding in holiness, living witnesses to Your unchanging love."
Founded in the depths of the Depression by the social activist Dorothy Day, the Catholic Worker Movement has always been committed to working for peace and social justice. The movement is absolutely committed to non-violence, so there could never be any connection with terrorist organizations. The most radical aspect is that the members commit to live in "voluntary poverty" : (Day) "By embracing voluntary poverty, that is, by casting our lot freely with those whose impoverishment is not a choice, we would ask for the grace to abandon ourselves to the love of God. It would put us on the path to incarnate the Church’s "preferential option for the poor."
Geroge W. Bush enjoys the support of Evangelical Christians and never tires of telling American audiences of how Jesus changed his heart. But it is clear that those who actually follow the life and teachings of Jesus are too radical for the Bush administration and must be monitored as a subversive organization.
As a side note, the Katholische Arbeitnehmer-Bewegung (KAB) has a separate history from the Catholic Worker Movement . The German group does share some of the charitable goals of the CWM, but is much more tied to the Vatican. The roots of the KAB extend back to the middle of the 19th century; today it claims to have 200,000 members in Germany.
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