Just got this press release in my email box:
August 6 White House Prayer Service Commemorating the U.S. Nuclear Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki--Apology Petition To Be Presented to Hiroshima Survivor
When and Where: Saturday, August 6 -- 8:00-9:00 AM (Anniversary of the U.S. nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and the Feast of the Transfiguration): Nonviolent Witness and Prayer Service of Repentance at White House on north side of White House on Pennsylvania Ave.--directly across from Lafayette Park. (8:15 AM is the exact time that the bomb was dropped in Hiroshima)
What: A Prayer Service to Repent for U.S. nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and to call for the abolition of nuclear weapons. Mr. Toshiyuki Mimaki, Hiroshima Hibakusha (A-bomb Survivor), will speak. He is Vice President of Hiroshima Prefectural Hibakusha Organization and a former Executive Board member of Nihon Hidankyo (The Japan Confederation of A & H Bomb Sufferers Organizations).
An Apology Petition signed by over 450 people will be presented to Mr. Toshiyuki Mimaki during this prayer service.
Why: Seventy-one years ago the U.S. Government did the "unspeakable" and dropped atomic bombs on the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, thus beginning the Nuclear Age. The U.S. has never repented for the use of these weapons of indiscriminate mass murder. Moreover, it has continued to build even deadlier weapons which endanger all of creation. Today the U.S. possesses nearly 7,000 nuclear weapons, many of which are on hair-trigger alert, and proposes to spend $1 trillion over the next 30 years to modernize it's existing nuclear arsenal.
This event is being organized by the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker, Pax Christi Metro-DC, Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach, Isaiah Project and the Sisters of Mercy—Institute Justice Team.
For more info contact Dorothy Day Catholic Worker: 202-360-6416, artlaffin@hotmail.com
