Sister Anne Montgomery, Plowshares leader against nuclear weapons, dies [View all]

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http://www.uscatholic.org/news/2012/08/sister-anne-montgomery-plowshares-leader-against-nuclear-weapons-dies

Sister Anne Montgomery, Plowshares leader against nuclear weapons, dies

Wednesday, August 29, 2012
By Catholic News Service

Nuclear weapons posed such a grave danger to all life on earth in the eyes of Sacred Heart Sister Anne Montgomery that she devoted more than 30 years of years of her life to protest their stockpiling by the world's governments.

From participating in the first of the so-called Plowshares actions Sept. 9, 1980 until her sixth and last protest Nov. 1, 2009 -- for which she served two months in federal prison -- Sister Anne epitomized the "heart and soul" of a movement which has spanned the globe, several friends and fellow activists for peace said.

Sister Anne died of cancer Aug. 27 at Oakwood, the Society of the Sacred Heart's elder care center in Atherton, Calif. She was 85.

"Thomas Merton said it best that the highest obligation of Christian discipleship is the abolition of nuclear war taking the precedence over everything else. And she understood that," said John Schuchardt, who joined Sister Anne as one of the Plowshares 8 in 1980 at the former General Electric nuclear weapons plant in King of Prussia, Pa., where they hammered on nuclear missile casings.

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She taught at several Sacred Heart-run schools including those in New York City and Albany, where she experienced the challenges faced by poor and minority people. In 1975, Sister Anne completed training to work with children with learning disabilities and returned to New York to work with school dropouts in East Harlem.

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A funeral Mass was scheduled for 10 a.m. Sept. 15 at Oakwood. Burial will be in Oakwood Cemetery.