Catonsville 9 Reflection – Evelyn

The actions of the Catonsville Nine demonstrate that, while government and religion are and should be separate, our faith must inform our political voice. Men and women of the church took a stand that said the war in Viet Nam was wrong, the forced draft of young men to fight in that war was wrong, and the killing of innocents because of that war was wrong.

Demonstrations of faith are not limited to an hour inside a church on Sunday morning. Our actions in the world demonstrate our faith and understanding of God’s word. When the greatest commandments are to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength’” and “the second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself,” then actively obeying those commandments by protesting injustices done to our neighbors, even by committing an act of civil disobedience, perhaps especially by such an act, is one our greatest callings as Christians living in the world today.

--Evelyn Hooper