Clergyman breaks the silence Multifaith peace-seekers plan event to air anti-war dialogue

BAR HARBOR – OK. Two Catholics, a Congregationalist, an Episcopalian and a Quaker are having breakfast together.

No, this isn’t the setup for a bad punch line. It’s an organizational meeting on Mount Desert Island, where a small, faith-based group of peace-seekers is exploring ways to open a community dialogue at some local event that coincides with Martin Luther King Jr. Day -Jan. 21 in 2003.

Ecumenical service, peace vigil or public meeting? Open to all or by invitation only? Focused on the current, terrifying situation in Iraq or encompassing the broader themes of patriotism, justice, compassion and social responsibility?

It’s a sensitive thing for some churches to be exploring these issues, and most of the breakfast-eaters didn’t want to be identified or quoted directly. But before and after the meeting, the Rev. Jim Gower – the one with the oatmeal – was happy to go on record.

“I don’t know where this idea that there’s a vast amount of support for this war comes from,” Gower says. He also says he doesn’t know anyone who thinks the Bush administration’s intentions are well-conceived – and this includes members of the Christian clergy, Catholic and Protestant alike.

Gower’s long service to the church includes a three-year association with the Catholic social justice movement Pax Christie, which, according to its Web site, “rejects war, preparations for war, and every form of violence and domination.” His social activism has made his name a touchstone in Maine activist circles.

The passage of the federal Patriot Act, the Bush administration’s full-bore retaliation against Afghanistan’s Taliban regime, and the general military buildup and threats against Iraq – Gower is convinced that the principles of democracy, the heart of a peaceful and just world, are in grave jeopardy. He believes U.S. control of Middle East oil supplies is the administration’s real goal, and global dominion the means. “We’re the biggest bullies in the world,” he said.

At 80, long retired from his official duties and immune to the possibility of backlash and labeling, Gower admits he can afford to be outspoken.

He is sympathetic to the conflicting pressures on community ministers: “There may be sensitive issues of patriotism in any congregation – veterans, or mothers who lost sons in Vietnam,” he says.

Additionally, ministers relying on mainstream news sources may be unsure themselves what to think, what the alternatives to war might be. Still, he says he feels their leadership is sorely missing from the frontline efforts to stop all-out war.

“If they’re Christians following Jesus, it is an egregious omission” to sidestep active opposition to war, Gower maintains. Somehow, the teachings of Christ, along with the official positions of most major religious groups, must filter down through the local minister “to where the rubber hits the road.”

Gower agreed with the breakfast group’s decision to set up a broad-focus, islandwide public discussion instead of staging a head-on protest of impending war. It’s important for members of the community to feel comfortable attending a public event, he says. Otherwise, no one will come. Still, he says after the recent meeting: “Jesus had no truck with comfortable communities. He confronted the powers. But you have to feel free to do that. I have that freedom, but not everyone does.”